"And here's the main office," the DC in the VCU explained to Steve and another new recruit to the unit, a DC who went by the name DC Wilton. "And these will be your desks," he said, pointing out two empty wooden tables.
Their tour guide had met Steve and DC Wilton and given them a quick trip around the police station before showing them where they would be working.
Steve looked around. There were about ten desks in the open plan area, all with a police officer at their seat, busily working away. It was nothing out of the ordinary. But this unit had spectacularly high conviction rates and had caught the attention of the gaffer.
"I'll just let the Guv'nor know you're here," the male DC said before leaving Steve and DC Wilton alone.
"Hi," said Steve, offering his hand which was awkwardly taken. "Steve," he introduced himself.
"Claire," DC Wilton introduced herself.
"Guess we new guys should try and look out for each other," Steve suggested.
"Yeah," replied Claire, a little unconvincingly.
"Good to see the new recruits getting along," a new man said as he approached the pair. Steve and Claire turned to the newcomer. He was suave in his expensive suit and jewellery, and slightly older than Steve with a few grey hairs beginning to show amongst his dark hair. "Detective Superintendent Matt Luckie," he introduced himself as he too shook hands with his new team members. Steve couldn't help but smell his liberally applied aftershave as well.
"DC Claire Wilton,".
"DI Steve Abbott," Steve said, trotting off his fake surname with confidence.
"I must say I'm honoured to have two new members join VCU on the same day," he said in a tone that Steve thought was a bit suspicious. "What with all the cuts to the budget and all,".
Was he being paranoid, Steve thought. Had Det Supt Luckie worked out he had an undercover officer in his team? He had to hope not.
"But Luckie by name, lucky by nature," Matt Luckie joked. It was the same thing he had said to a TV camera after the solving of a very high profile case solved in record time.
"What a load of shite!" the gaffer had said in disgust as he stopped the video footage and threw the remote down in anger. He didn't believe in 'luck', just hard graft and therefore Det Supt Matt Luckie was of great interest to him. His AC radar on full alert that something untoward was going on in VCU.
When a vacant position in the unit suddenly became available it was too good an opportunity to pass up. AC12 had to act and fast.
Kate was their usual undercover officer, but she was away on leave and they couldn't wait for her to get back, so Steve had stepped in to the breach.
"Your reputation precedes you, Sir," Claire flattered her new boss. "It's a great opportunity to work in this unit. You're the envy of every other senior officer in the area,".
"I hope I'm not bad luck, Sir!" Steve attempted a joke which he knew instantly had failed.
"I hope as a DI that you've mastered the basics of police work," Matt Luckie said as he gave Steve a cold look. "I'll let you two get settled in," he said before walking off. Steve was left with the impression that he had terminated their talk prematurely.
Fuck! Thought Steve. I've fucking fucked this up right at the start. The gaffer was going to kill him, he panicked. He really needed Kate right now. She would know how to calm him down and offer her advice.
He was missing her more than he thought he would when she said she had to go and nurse her mother who had broken her ankle. That had been nearly two weeks ago now and just when she had transferred back to AC-12.
Sitting himself down at his desk, Steve soon got physical proof that the Det Supt had taken a dislike to him.
"Past cases that need auditing," the DC that had shown him around the station, informed him as he dumped a load of old case files on Steve's desk with a heavy thump. Steve looked at the large pile before taking a glance around the office. No one else seemed to be doing the same thing. "Guv's orders," the DC added before leaving him alone to his unenviable task.
With a sigh, Steve got to work. He was going to have to turn his bad start around and working hard seemed to be the way.
The morning dragged on as Steve toiled away at his work. It was the most mundane work that even the most junior PC could do and was a complete waste of his DI rank, but he didn't complain. He got the feeling he was being tested by Det Supt Luckie so he put up and shut up.
It was hard though. On his occasional glances up, he caught sight of Luckie getting to know DC Wilton as they chatted and laughed over a cup of coffee. He berated himself over the stupid joke he had made. Kate always told him he wasn't funny but he always thought she was teasing him. Maybe she was right?
"You can take a break, DI Abbott," Steve heard a bit later. He looked up to see the whole VCU team at the office door. "It's lunch," the Det Supt continued and Steve looked at his watch to see that indeed he had been working all morning. "I like us all to eat together when we can," Luckie explained. "Makes us a better team, I think,".
Not wanting to pass the opportunity up to infiltrate his new temporary unit, Steve got to his feet and followed the team to the canteen.
He felt like he was back at school when they entered. The VCU were definitely the 'cool' boys of the station and the Det Supt was the leader. Every one was fawning over him.
They joined the slow moving dinner queue behind some uniformed officers.
"Hey Matt," Steve heard one say to Luckie, "you heard about what poor Alan here has been doing this morning?" he said with a smile, indicating the slightly rotund, bald officer beside him.
"No," replied Matt. "Should I have?".
"The whole station is talking about it," the first sergeant said.
"Do tell," Matt urged, interested as he turned to Alan.
"We got a call from a local funeral home," Alan said. "A temporary worker has been found giving their…. clients, I suppose you'd call them-,".
"One word for it!" the other sergeant interrupted.
"I hope this isn't going where I think it is," Matt Luckie said. "I'm about to eat, gentlemen. There are some truly sick and perverted people out there,".
"No no!" Alan retorted. "Not that," he said. "Thankfully," he added. "No, he been giving some of the female corpses a wash and blow dry,".
"Oh?" replied Luckie.
"The funeral home were worried in case a crime had been committed," the first sergeant continued, "so poor Alan had to go and have a look,".
"And?" Matt asked, beginning to see the funny side.
"I thought he'd done quite a good job actually," Alan joked.
"Says the man with no hair!" The first officer pointed out.
"And had a crime been committed?" Matt asked.
"I dunno really," Alan said. "Not that it really matters. The worker responsible hasn't returned to work and he's given a false address and contact details so I can't trace him to speak to him,".
"Sounds like one for you, eh, Matt?" the first sergeant laughed.
"I dunno," Matt replied. "Sounds like Alan has already got this one under control," he added as they finally arrived at the serving hatch.
The two uniformed officers chose their meals and headed off to a table still talking about Alan's strange case before it was Matt's turn. "Hello Mags, my darling," he flirted with the middle aged head cook who giggled in response. "I'd like to introduce you to my two newest recruits, Claire and er……," he paused, trying to remember Steve's name.
"Steve," Steve prompted him, slightly annoyed.
"That's right, Steve," Matt said. "This is Maggie. She looks after us all here. What treats have you got in store today, Mags?".
Maggie listed off the usual canteen food and Steve found himself choosing a jacket potato with some chilli con carne filling and grated cheese with a salad side.
He followed the rest of VCU to an empty table before sitting down and trying to attempt to make friends with some of the more junior members of the team.
With lunch finished, they headed back to their office and Steve reluctantly sat down ready to continue his case audit. Absentmindedly he removed his phone from his trouser pocket and set it in the table as it was uncomfortable where it was.
"I think it's time I get to know my DI," Matt Luckie said out of the blue as he approached Steve. "I feel like I've been ignoring you," he admitted as he approached Steve.
"That's ok, Sir," Steve replied, sitting back in his chair. Maybe his luck was changing?
"Well let's rectify that," Matt said at the same time as Steve's phone started vibrating on his desk. Both Steve and Matt looked at the object as Steve instantly realised his mistake.
It was Kate calling him. Her name at the top of the screen along with one of Steve's favourite photographs of his friend. One he had taken on his phone when she wasn't aware.
Steve saw that Matt had seen the photo and read the name. He started to concoct some sort of explanation as to who Kate was exactly, but Matt beat him to it.
"The wife?" he asked.
