AN: Sorry for not posting the new chapter few days ago. I was at the hospital with my husband who just had a high risk hunia and skin removal operation. He made it through the operation and the surgeon said that the skin and large hunia (size of 2 basketballs) weigh in at 20kg. Now is going to take time for Peter to recover and learn how to straiten up as he walk since the large hunia cause him to bend over to use a walker to walk around for over two years and causing back and balance problems. He going to be in hospital for a while and i'll try to update in few days.
CH 2
"No worries,... and look at what the sunburned cat dragged in," she said smiling.
"Very funny, hello again," PJ said walking over to their table.
"You two met?"
"Yes, briefly."
"PJ breathalyzed her this afternoon," Nick said. Elle grinned.
"Really and let me guess, you asked her out for coffee or drinks."
"He did," Maggie said.
"Well, then you should take him up on his offer."
"That's ok, I can get my own, thanks," Elle leaned forward.
"Make it the most expensive drink in here," She said with a smirk.
"OH no... I'll buy all of your drinks. So, what will it be? As long as it's not the expensive ones," PJ said with a wink.
"Take it because he's never said all of your drinks before," Elle said, giving Maggie a wink.
"Ok vodka on the rocks."
"Right, and you Elle?" She passed him her glass.
"A beer, thanks, PJ."
"Sure, Nick?"
"Beer thanks, mind if I join you?"
"Maggie, it's up to you."
"Sure." Nick sat down.
"So, You two where deep in conversation. What were you two talking about?"
"Work and family," Elle answered.
"Ahh, so what do you think of Mount Thomas so far?"
"It's very different from the city."
"That it is."
"I was telling Maggie here about the houses that I buy."
"Yeah, she has done a great job fixing old homes up and she employs many workers. She's got a lot of respect in this town."
"Has she."
"Yeah, hey where are the kids?"
"At home with the babysitter. Watch out with this one, when the kids are in the station he gives biscuits especially Boss' Tim Tams"
"Boss' Tim Tams?"
"His favourite," Elle said.
"Ahhh." PJ arrived back at the table and put the glasses on the table and sat down to join them.
They talked for the next hour while enjoying dinner. PJ and Nick were shocked with the way Maggie was knocking back her drinks. Elle only had two beers and the rest was orange juice. After dinner and asking Maggie questions about herself while sitting at the bar, when Maggie needed to go to the ladies room. PJ sniffed Maggie's empty glass and gave Chris a warning about what she'd done.
"Make sure it's vodka this time Chris, and make it a triple." PJ watches her pour the ice and drink in the glass.
Maggie returned, "so what's fun to do in this town?" Maggie asked as she picked up her drink.
"Oh, we make our own fun," PJ said with a chuckle.
"Really..." Maggie said then she went to scull her drink when she realized it wasn't water and sprayed it all over PJ making Chris, Nick and Elle laugh.
"OH! Sorry PJ."
"What is that for?" he asked, wiping his wet face.
"Just making my own fun!" Maggie said laughing.
"Maggie, I predict you're going to fit in very well here in mount Thomas," Elle said
"thanks"
The next morning Elle went to clean the station and the cells. She had dropped them off at the daycare at 7:30. Tom walked in just as she was finishing.
"Morning Elle."
"Morning Boss, you missed out on the fun last night at the pub."
"What happened?"
"Maggie sprayed PJ with vodka," she said grinning.
"She did what?" Tom said, a bit shocked.
"PJ had been buying her drinks all night. He and Nick thought it was vodka she was sculling. It took ten glasses of water before PJ realized that she had been drinking only water. Chris was in on the joke and had been pouring her water instead of vodka so that it looked like she was sculling vodka all evening. When he figured it out he had told Chris off and made her pour a triple shot of vodka. So when Maggie went to skull it and realized it was vodka, she sprayed it all over PJ," she said, now laughing.
"I hope he doesn't come in here smelling like vodka."
"If he does I'll send him home." Then she went to clean the cells before going home to have a shower and breakfast and then return before nine to start her secretary work for the day.
Later when she walked into the station she could hear laughter. "Morning all" Elle said.
"Morning Elle, Nick just told me about what happened at the pub last night," Wayne said.
"Yeah, it was very entertaining. Where's PJ?"
"In his office."
"Ah... and Maggie?"
"In with the Boss"
"OK. " The phone was ringing and she answered it.
When Maggie walked out of Boss' office, Elle asked her if everything was ok.
"Yes, fine."
"Here are the photos of the houses. Take your time. Also a list of every event that happens here in Mount Thomas." Elle passed her five photos and the list. Then she returns to her desk to start on her paperwork.
Over the next few days, Maggie slowly got used to the way Tom ran the station. She got to meet Elle's three kids on Friday night at the pub.
"Maggie, this is Timothy Junor, TJ for short, Victoria, and James. Kids this is constable Maggie Doyle."
"Hello, it's nice to meet you," they all greeted a bit shyly.
"Don't worry, give them a chance to get to know you."
"I will. Oh, here the photos of each of the homes," she passed them back to Elle.
"Did you choose one?"
"I did, the one on top."
Elle looked at which one it was and smiled.
"Great! I'll get the ball rolling on Monday."
The evening went and everyone had a great fun evening, kids included.
Monday morning Elle walked into the listing real estate office and brought the house Maggie had chosen. As it was a mortgagee sale, she got a good price and everything would move quickly. Once done there she contacted Richard and then went to work.
Two days later Elle was needed at Bendigo so Wayne's wife Roz took over the cleaning for a few days. Tom and Nel looked after the kids while she was away. When she returned four days later she went to get the keys and paperwork for the newly bought house. She got a builder and an architect and brought them with her when she looked through the house while planning the renovations. She had the architect draw a rough layout of the house while they talked. After looking at the drawing, she draws on the next page what she wanted to be done while continuing to talk to the builder and architect.
"Can this be done?" She showed the head builder what she had drawn.
"Yeah, we can do that."
"Great. Roughly how long to complete the project?"
" It'll take about four months."
"Okay, let's say five just in case of any hiccups and weather."
He smiled, "Ok, that sounds good."
"Great, as for the bathrooms and colour scheme, Emma, give me a couple of weeks. That will give you a chance to design the house."
"I'll get onto it."
"That's great."
When Elle checks on how things are coming along with the rebuilding of three business buildings that had been empty for years and had water damage and dry rot. The buildings were to be taken down despite that the people in the town weren't happy. Once the town saw what the three buildings were going to look like when completed, everyone realized what Elle was doing. They were very pleased.
She also checked on the three houses that were in the process of being fixed up before being put up for sale.
When she returned to work she passed Maggie some stuff for her to look at over the next few days. Then for the rest of the day Elle to work on all of the paperwork that needed to be typed up.
She and Maggie got on well and on Tuesday nights Maggie would arrive at Elle's large two-story house for dinner. They would talk about different things including the house.
"Maggie, keep this in a safe place," passing Maggie an envelope.
"What is it?"
"Letter from Inspector Falkner stating that you can stay in the pub until the end of November. By then the house should be ready for you to move in."
"That's great, thank you."
"Your welcome. Your place is taking longer because of all of the changes being done to it."
"I thought you fixed them up?"
"Yes, I am, here let me show you," and she showed Maggie the two drawings.
"This is what it used to look like and what it is going to look like when complete. The master bedroom will be bigger with a walk-in closet and an ensuite with the bath and walk-in shower. Remember choosing the hand basins, the bath and what sort of shower you would like? And the tiles for the floor and walls?"
"You mean..."
Elle smiled. "Yes, and the two bedrooms with ensuite between them, this is what it's going to look like," she pointed to the second bathroom.
"The old and now new kitchen is being extended to include a dining room. Just off that is a larger lounge and a laundry room and toilet," She pointed out.
"This is incredible but will it fit?"
Elle laughed. "The back of the house is being extended by six meters, the back of the house is large"
"Wow, that is big."
"That's not all, there's also a large double garage and garden shed connected. That will be at the back so you can park your car in the garage."
"That's great news, anything else?"
"A white picket and concert fence just like you asked,"
"I still can't believe it."
"Wait until you move in. Knowing these guys they will want you to put on a house warming party."
Maggie laughed,"you're joking right?"
"Nope, they did it when PJ and Nick moved into their homes and let me tell you this, by the next morning they all were sick as dogs from drinking too much," She said laughing.
"I never had or been to a housewarming party before."
"Well, it's usually a potluck dinner where everyone brings some finger foods with them and a gift. But you will provide drinks."
"I can handle that."
"Great, you will have plenty of time to plan and save for it."
"That's true."
Over the next three months, Maggie fit right in with the guys but there were still problems with Roz, Wayne's wife. She started up her business in town but hated to do the cleaning on Sundays which is Elle's day off and when she had to attend business out of town for a few days.
One Sunday morning Elle showed up at the station. PJ had called because he couldn't find a file. Everyone could hear Tom and Roz's loud voices coming from Tom's office.
"What's going on?" Elle asked.
"Roz's complaining about the cleaning," Wayne said
"So it's only one day a week and two or three days when I'm out of town once every two, three weeks, at least she gets paid for it."
"I know that, but she hates it."
She walked into PJ office,"sorry for calling you in Elle."
"It's ok, I said to check your inbox, here it is" she picked it up and hit him on top of his head with it then passed it to him. "Happy now?"
"Yes thank you."
She turned to leave and saw Maggie standing in the doorway.
"Morning Maggie."
"Morning Elle. PJ have you got time to go over yesterday's burglary?"
"Ah, yeah sure."
"I'll leave you two alone," Elle said leaving his office closing the door behind her.
Elle went over to Nick and said, "Are they still at it?" Then the door opened and Roz and Tom walked out of the office.
"Roz, what is your problem?" Elle asked.
"I hate doing your cleaning job, I have to clean up someone else's puke after they've been drunk. It's disgusting."
"So, it's only once a week. I do it six days a week and do you hear me complain about it… no. The only thing I complain to the Boss about is that there is no disinfectant for cleaning products that I used to clean up the puke and piss on the toilet when the guys hit and miss the bowl. But do I complain about it, no. I don't. I've seen the way you treated everyone in this station here including your own husband. I'm telling you right now I'm sick of you treating everyone like shit, like they are beneath you. And especially Nick because you got caught speeding and could lose your license. Nick was doing his job and you had to pull him down. Yeah, I heard you going on and on about it to Wayne. You want your licence back right?" Elle said, angrily.
"Yes, I do. Without it my business is gone"
"Right, you want your licence back but Nick here, he wants his wife and daughter back... But that's not going to happen."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Roz said, giving Elle a dirty look.
"Nick attended a motor vehicle accident five years ago, a drunk driver who was speeding crashed into a car killing a mother and daughter, his wife and daughter. And all the bastard got was a fine and loss of licence for eighteen months thanks to a powerful lawyer who got him off. And when he got his licence back he went out drinking and driving again and he killed a family of four, mother, father, four-year-old boy and two-month-old boy. The bloody idiot lawyer tried to get him off again but instead now serving ten years in prison where he should have been in the first place then that family would still be alive today. You think about that. You Miss snobby high and mighty. Get off your high horse, if not next time there is a bad accident, I'll personally drag you down to the site so you can see for yourself first hand on what speeding can do. I can tell you it would make you puke and yes I have seen and witnessed it happen and it will give you nightmares. These officers here have to attend to the accidents even though they don't want to but it's all part of their job." She turns around and walks out of the station.
Everyone went quiet. PJ and Maggie were in the doorway listening to what Elle had said.
"Roz, Elle's right, you had no right complaining about a cleaning job and getting a speeding ticket. Now you know why Nick gave you one. I told you time and time again not to speed. It's your own fault for speeding, so don't blame someone else or complain about it again" Wayne said.
She looked around and then over the radio came a call of a three-car accident with two dead.
"Off you go, all of you. I'll man the station," Tom said.
They all ran out of the station grabbing what they needed along the way. Leaving Roz and Tom alone. Tom walked over to the radio to keep in contact with the three patrol cars and CI car. Roz returned to the watchkeepers house.