"Let's get you in to my office and we can have a drink," Ted suggested as he couldn't help but see the distress on Kate's face.
"I'm sorry for bringing Ava and Bonnie but I didn't know where else to go," Kate explained to her old gaffer as she followed him in to his office and took a seat on the sofa. Ava staring widely with interest at this new place her mother had brought her to.
"You did the right thing, Kate," Ted said. He disappeared for a bit and returned with two cups of tea. "So tell me what happened today?" he said as he took his seat.
"I'm fairly sure I've been followed. The same car has been everywhere I've been. Then at the supermarket a man was crouching over Bonnie. I think I surprised him because he gave some shit excuse as to why he had been petting her before getting in his car. It was the same old red car that had been following me and I knew something was wrong,".
Teds ears pricked up at the description of the vehicle. Several victims of the officer they were after mentioned an old red car.
"Old red car?" He asked.
"Ford Sierra I think," Kate volunteered without being asked. "Reg number was L23 XYZ,". It had been quite an easy one to remember.
"Excuse me just a minute," Ted said. He went to one of his officers and whispered to them. "Get DI Arnott back here immediately. I think we have an intended victim of our suspect sat in my office,".
"Kate?" The officer asked. They knew her well and had seen her enter the building. It had been hard to miss a woman with a dog and an infant with cute bunny ears walking through the office.
Ted nodded. "She might have just given us the lead we need to catch this bastard," he added excitedly. "I want to know the owner of a red Ford Sierra registration number L23 XYZ," he ordered before going back to his visitor.
Chloe was in the car waiting for Steve who had popped in to a local coffee shop to get them both a coffee and something to eat when her phone rang. It was AC-12.
"DC Bishop," Chloe greeted as she took the call.
"Gaffer was wondering if you could head back pretty quickly," PC Robinson stated.
"We're about 15 minutes away," Chloe replied wondering what the urgency was.
"We possibly have the next intended victim of our suspect in the office at the moment. She's given us a good lead. We have a make of car and the registration number,".
"Does she want a job in AC-12? She's an excellent witness. Nearly solved this case for us!" Chloe joked.
"It's Kate," PC Robinson said.
"Shit!" said Chloe as she caught sight of Steve, coffee cups in a holder in one hand, sandwiches in the other and a packet of crisps hanging from his mouth as he had no way else of carrying them. How was she going to break the news to him?
"You managed to change the sofa then," Kate noted as Ted re-entered the office.
Ted was quiet as he wasn't quite sure what Kate was going in about. "Last time I was in this office on this sofa, I was giving birth to Ava," Kate explained.
"Ah yes. That was quite a day wasn't it," Ted said as he sat back down. "Only a few raised eyebrows from accounts when I said I needed a new sofa because of that! She's doing ok after that scare?".
"Yeah she's good, aren't you Ava?". Ava giggled at her mum.
"I can see both you and Steve in her,".
"Yeah," Kate said proudly. "Lots of people say that,".
There was a bit of silence as Ted worked out how he was going to broach the next subject. "Do you know much about what we are working on at the moment?" He asked.
"A bit," Kate replied. Steve didn't talk much about work when he was home, mind you he had hardly been home recently.
"All the victims have mentioned an old red car," Ted revealed.
Kate knew instantly what that meant. The guy who had been following her was likely the person AC-12 was after. "You're going to want a statement aren't you?".
"We can leave that until Steve gets here. It will save you going through everything twice," Ted said. He knew Steve was going to want to know all the details. "We're already running that registration plate you gave us. Could you work with an artist to come up with a picture?".
Kate nodded. She would not forget his face. Remembering something else, Kate got her dog's attention. Bonnie was curled up at Kate's feet, asleep and sat up straighter when Kate called her name. She let Kate remove her collar. "He was looking at Bonnie's collar when I came out the supermarket. He wasn't wearing gloves," she said, being careful not to touch the tags. "There could be a fingerprint of his on it," she said as she offered Ted the accessory.
Ted carefully took it before bagging it and sending it off to forensics.
"He knows where we live," Kate said worriedly. That thought wasn't particularly pleasant.
"We'll get him Kate," Ted soothed. "He chose the wrong person to stalk when he picked you. You've practically given us all the evidence to arrest him today,".
"Kate!" Steve said as he barged in to Ted's office. He'd driven as fast as he could when Chloe had given him the news.
"Dada!" Ava informed the room as she pointed at her father with a smile on her face.
"What did you just say?" Kate asked her daughter. The fact that Ava chose just then to say her first word made her forget about her crappy day instantly.
"Dada!" Ava said again.
"That's right Ava!" Steve said happily as he lifted his daughter up to give her a kiss. Ava gave him her best smile. He couldn't believe he had witnessed his daughter's first word. "What's with the rabbit ears?" Steve asked Kate.
"She saw them in the supermarket and I can't seem to remove them from her head without her putting up some sort of protest," Kate replied watching Steve with their daughter.
"You ok?" Steve asked as he took a seat next to Kate. She nodded. "What's happening?" Steve asked Ted.
"Kate has given us a description of the person who she saw today and it matches the others we have. I'm fairly sure he's our guy. We're just waiting for confirmation on the owner of a red Ford Sierra and if the owner matches the fingerprint we now have,".
Steve looked worriedly at Kate. "Did he touch you?".
"No," Kate reassured him. "Bonnie had that pleasure," she continued. "Well her collar at least. He was looking at it when I came out the supermarket. He must know our address,".
"We've got to get him, sir!" Steve vented his frustration. He wasn't going to let his family go back to their house until he was caught.
"Hold your horses," Ted replied. "We will. By the time Kate gives us her statement we should have the results,". Steve calmed down a bit at that news. "We thought we would wait for you to arrive before we began,".
"Thanks," Steve replied.
With Ava still on Steve's lap, Kate gave a very thorough account of her movements that morning and that of the car before finishing with her brief interaction with him outside the supermarket.
"I realised he knew where we lived," Kate started to conclude. "So I came here instead. I didn't want to put Ava, Bonnie or the baby at risk," she said without thinking.
"What baby?" Steve asked puzzled. The only other person who lived at the house was Josh and that was only at weekends. And you would hardly describe an almost teenager as a baby.
Kate froze as she realised what she had just divulged and Steve guessed her secret.
"Kate, are we going to have another baby?".
"I think so,".
"What does that mean?" Steve asked. "Either you are pregnant or you aren't,".
Ted cleared his throat in embarrassment. The statement had rather veered off course and the couple had forgotten he was there and intruding on this rather personal moment. "You two have a lot to talk about, it would seem," he said. "Why don't you go somewhere private and have a chat? I can look after Ava,".
"Are you sure, sir?" Steve asked. "She can be a bit of a handful,".
"I keep you in line don't I?" Ted pointed out. Steve smiled. He looked at Kate who seemed to agree with Ted before carefully handing Ava to his boss. Ted sat Ava on his lap and she seemed happy there. "There we go," Ted cooed to Ava. She smiled at him. "My one regret in life is that Roisin and I couldn't have children. I would have loved to be a granddad," he admitted to Steve and Kate.
"We'll see if you still think that in a bit," Steve said as he led Kate out of Ted's office and to one of the spare ops rooms.
"Don't you want this baby?" Steve asked Kate once they were alone.
"I don't know," Kate admitted. "It's a bit of a shock. I only found out about it last night. We haven't talked about having another child so that's why I'm not sure what to do. Ava's still young. I feel bad that I've taken a year off work for Ava and will have to do the same for the new baby," Kate continued, all of her worries pouring out. "What do you think?".
"I think I want to be a dad again," Steve said, smiling.
"Really?" Kate asked, pleased that Steve was happy with the news. That was the major problem solved.
"Ava's amazing. Why wouldn't I want another child?".
"It will be hard work,".
"We can do it, Kate," Steve argued.
"If we do this, Steve, it will be the last time. Three children is enough for me," Kate admitted.
"That's fine by me," Steve said as he swooped in for a kiss. Kate let him kiss her briefly before pushing him away, a smile on her face at his antics.
"I shouldn't let you anywhere near me without proper protection," Kate said. "We seem to get pregnant at the drop of a hat,".
"You're already pregnant, mate. I can't impregnate you again. At least I don't think I can. We can try if you want,". Kate rolled her eyes.
"Maybe we think about you getting a vasectomy instead?" She suggested.
"Are you joking?" Steve asked. He felt sick at the thought of it. Kate shook her head.
"No," she replied. "We need to think about better contraception, Steve".
"And you want to punish my boys for being good at their job?".
"It's not punishment!" Kate retorted. "It's being sensible,".
"I'll think about it," Steve conceded. "After this baby is born and everything is ok,".
Happy that they were both agreed that they were going to have another baby, Kate and Steve decided to see how the gaffer was going with Ava. There wasn't any screaming or crying coming from his room which was a good sign. Through the blinds to his office they could see Ava still on Ted's lap. Ted was on the phone and his attention was not on the little girl. That was a big mistake.
Steve and Kate watched with horror as their daughter decided to seize the moment and knock a stack of files that were on Ted's desk on to the floor, sending loose bits of paper everywhere.
"Shit!" Hissed Steve.
In the office, Ted halted his conversation as he took in the destruction that had just occurred and then at the culprit who appeared to find what she had just done as very funny. Causing mayhem was obviously a trait she had inherited from her father.
A little arm shot out in an attempt to repeat her trick with another stack of folders but Ted had learnt his lesson and gently halted its progress at the same time her parents entered the room.
"I'm so sorry, sir," Kate said as both she and Steve crouched down and started picking up pieces of paper.
"Don't worry. It was my fault," Ted replied. "I was on the phone. We have a name to the car registration. It matches the fingerprint we have as well,".
"Who is it, sir?" Steve asked, more interested in what Ted had to say than the picking up of papers.
"PC Will Johnson," Ted informed the pair. "Works in traffic,".
"Let's go pick him up," Steve said full of energy. He was going to take great delight in arresting this guy especially after threatening his family.
