When Kate arrived at T0-20 a little later she saw that if Steve did visit as he said he would, he was going to be subjected to more harassment by her colleagues. Granted it wasn't a shit in his car although it wasn't much better.
"Is that really necessary?" she asked them, pointing to the large photo of Steve that someone had enlarged and put on the wall. There was a large WANTED sign across it with the words 'for shooting the wrong man' under it.
"Yes it is," replied Nigel Morton, defending his boss's honour as he hobbled around using his walking cane. He needed help walking after suffering an injury in the line of duty. "Tone is the best copper there is. He doesn't deserve the hounding he's getting off that twat,".
Kate bit her tongue and tried to get on with her work for the day, but it was difficult with Steve's giant face looming over her. She kept getting flashbacks of last night.
She remembered the tickle of his stubble against the skin of her thighs. Steve had had to press down on her knees to keep them open as he devoured her with his tongue. She'd never been a fan of oral sex until last night but had been converted after coming twice in rapid succession.
She felt her cheeks redden at that particular memory and glanced around to see if any of her colleagues had noticed. For once she was glad to be surrounded by men as her sexy day dreams appeared to have escaped their attention.
Something caught her attention however. Tony Gates showing a woman she hadn't seen before in to his office. Kate looked at the clock. Eleven o'clock and still no sign of Steve so she decided to make herself a cup of tea.
The talk between Gates and his visitor looked uncomfortable and tense by the time Kate made her way back to her desk. She briefly wondered who the woman was before getting back to work.
Steve arrived in the afternoon and things got pretty intense between him and Gates as they discussed someone called Jackie Laverty. Kate watched hopelessly from the sidelines while Dot and Nigel took aim at him again. She wished she could do something to help him but she remembered what they had decided earlier that morning.
Kate didn't know whether to contact Steve that evening or not. Would he think she was stalking him after one night together? In the end she decided to bite the bullet and try.
"Hey," she said when he picked up.
"Hi," he replied and she thought he seemed genuinely pleased to be hearing from her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?".
"Just seeing how you are," Kate said as she took a sip of wine form a glass she had in her hand. She'd opened a bottle to give her confidence to make the call. "Sorry they were acting like twats again,".
"It's ok," Steve said. "I've put up with worse," he added, remembering Osbourne's threats about how he was finished before leaving London. "How's your evening?"
"I'm taking a bath," Kate said.
"Right now?" Asked Steve, trying not to think about a naked Kate phoning him.
"Yeah," admitted Kate. "Scented candles are lit. Glass of red wine to enjoy-,".
"Stop torturing me," Steve groaned. "I'd be there in the bath with you if I could," he said as he remembered the previous night. Her soft body beneath his as he pressed it in to the mattress as he rocked above her.
"What's stopping you?" Kate flirted.
"Working late," Steve said as he put his feet up on his desk settling in for a chat. It was far more enjoyable than work.
"How's it going?" Kate asked.
"Not sure I should be talking about it with you," Steve said cautiously before changing his mind. "Maybe it would be good to get a female perspective," he mused.
"On what?" Kate asked.
"Do you think Gates could be having an affair?" he asked Kate. He had a theory that Tony was seeing Jackie behind his wife's back. Gates had told them of a previous relationship they had but Steve was sure they had rekindled it.
Kate thought about her boss's behaviour. She had the feeling he was definitely being cagey about something, but whether it was an affair she couldn't say. "I don't know," she replied. "What makes you ask that?".
"Well you know how we started this investigation over Gates getting a free morning coffee, turns out he was in the coffee shop with a woman who wasn't his wife. I'm fairly sure it was Jackie Laverty,".
"What's she like?" Kate asked, suddenly remembering the woman in Gates's office that morning.
"Tall. Slim. Well dressed. Dark hair," Steve described.
"I think she was visiting Gates this morning at the station,".
"Really?" Said Steve, making a note. That was interesting.
"Don't know what they were talking about but things seemed a little tense," Kate revealed.
"Thanks Kate," replied Steve. Definitely something to consider and ask Gates about another day. "I better go," he admitted begrudgingly.
"Yeah," agreed Kate. "Probably time for me to get out the bath as well. I'm getting a bit wrinkly and the bubbles have all gone," she admitted.
"Please stop," Steve begged. He was getting hard just thinking about the view he would have right now if he was in the bathroom with her.
Kate giggled. "Night," she said before hanging up.