"He's not bloody listening again, Croydon, what is it, am I not important enough? Am I not blonde enough?" Christophe glanced at the picture that held the detective's attention. "Someone took a shot at Milly, for god's sake!! What if it was her?" Christophe reached over and snatched the photo from the desk. 'What if it was blondie here that was shot? What if someone put a bullet in her?"
And that was when it all went to hell in a handbasket. PJ lunged across the desk, his only coherent thought directed at getting the photo back. Christophe lurched back in fright as PJ advanced on him, dropping the picture in his haste to get out of the way. Tom had stepped forward, pulling Milly out of harm's way, and stayed silent as PJ recovered the photograph, his blue eyes blazing with emotion. Standing nose to nose with Christophe, his voice was low and ominous.
"You never - EVER - touch that picture again. You never touch it, you never think about touching it, and you never mention her again. You keep your filthy maggot like fingers away from her, and -", he brushed past Tom and was gone, the front door of the station slamming shut behind him.
Silence reigned in PJ's office, and then a voice called out from the main area of the station.
"Tom? Tom, what's going on?" Zoe Schultz poked her head around the door. "Tom, Nick's gone after PJ, he looked like he could do with a friend. What the hell happened here?" she asked, her confused expression taking in the angry young man in front of her, the shaking young woman and a worried Tom Croydon.
Kay De Vandoorn chose that moment to arrive at the station, along with her younger son Luka. Luka was nineteen, but had a mental age of eight, and was as innocent and friendly as his intellect allowed him. Sitting him down in the waiting area, Kay opened her bag, and gave him his colouring book and his crayons, and Luka was in seventh heaven.
"Seargant Croydon?" she asked, "Hello?"
Tom led Milly out of the office, the rest of them following his lead. Zoe glanced at a shaking Milly, and led her to one of the chairs in the outer office, making the obligatory calming cup of tea. Tom nodded his thanks, and ushered Mrs De Vandoornand her still furious son into his office closing the door behind them. Moments later he opened it to let an agitated Luka in, quietening down once he could see his mother once again.
"What the hell was that all about?" Christophe demanded. "That man's a menace. He's not safe to be around, and I want to report him. I'll have his badge for this."
"That man – " Tom roared, catching himself as he saw fear race across Luka's face, "That man is in mourning. That man – the photo you took? That photo is of his fiance. It's Maggie, it's - " Tom stopped, forcing himself to calm down, forcing himself to gain some sort of composure as his heart broke once more at the memories. "Maggie was shot dead two years ago today. She died in his arms, she bled to death in his arms, so you can see why you picking it up and asking him how he might feel about her being shot might just hit a nerve. You can see that, can't you?"
Christophe was silent for a few moments, then he looked around. "Well then, you must have someone else who can deal with this? Someone a little less volatile? Someone took a shot at Milly and I want it sorted out, depressed Detective or no depressed Detective"
Tom Croydon was quite sure that he would be found justifiably restrained if he only took one swing at the pompous little man sitting in front of him. Just one punch, right there, on his revolting little mouth. The sound of the main door opening once again broke his train of thought, however, and through the window of his office, Tom felt relief when he saw Jones and Raynor arrive back at the station after completing their patrol.
"You two!" he yelled, having moved over to his office door. "Jones, you and Raynor talk to Mr De Vandoorn here and see what you can find out." Christophe stalked past Tom, and with a disdainful sneer towards Susie Raynor, he followed Jones into the interview room.
Closing the door behind him, Tom closed his eyes, leaning back for a few moments so as to regain his calm. A quiet voice broke his reverie.
"I'm sorry Tom. I'm sorry about his behaviour, he always was loud, takes after his father in that way. Will you – will you apologise to the Detective as well for me? Christophe shouldn't have said those things, he shouldn't have touched that picture, but he was scared. He was scared for Milly."