‘I didn’t, sir, I left it on your desk and he found it when he was looking for you.’
‘The DCS likes to snoop about, so in future put stuff for me in a sealed envelope with my name on it. Get me a coffee and a
‘I’ve been hearing about your successful arrest and the recovery of a large sum of money, WPC Morgan. Good work. Tell me, what uniform shift are you on at the moment?’
Kath explained that she worked alongside Jane and was also on late shift, but had booked a few days’ leave as from tomorrow to visit her sister in Brighton.
‘Listen, Kath, I could do with an extra pair of hands helping on this investigation as I’m short-staffed.’
‘OK, guv, I’ll cancel my leave, but I’ll need to sort it with Sergeant Harris first.’
‘Leave him to me – you’re on board as from tomorrow.’ He turned to leave the room.
Jane raised her hand. ‘I’ve been making some enquiries about Jaguar cars, sir, and I-’
‘Later, Tennison, I’m busy – remember I don’t want tuna or egg, just straight ham and a black coffee.’
Tired out, Jane returned to Bradfield’s office with a coffee and sandwich. The room was filled with clouds of smoke and the smell of the pungent Woodbine cigarettes he favoured. He pulled at his tie to loosen his collar, and handed her back the post-mortem report, telling her to index and file it. She felt as if she was invisible to him and thought he might have at least thanked her or complimented her on the report, like the DCS had done. He also wanted her to write up on the team noticeboard that an office meeting would be held tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, and everyone was to be present without fail. One of his detectives had been back to the Homerton Hospital’s Drug Dependency Unit and made enquiries, speaking to a doctor, nurses and some of the drug-addict patients. Although Julie Ann Collins was known to them no one had seen her for two weeks and, even more surprisingly, nobody knew she was pregnant. The doctor assigned to her case was not forthcoming, stating that patient confidentiality was of the utmost importance when treating drug addicts. The detective had, however, spoken briefly with a social worker at the hospital, a large, mixed-race woman called Anjali O’Duncie, who said she had known Julie Ann well, and Eddie. Bradfield said O’Duncie was being brought into the station at 6.15 p.m., having agreed to be interviewed about the last time she saw Julie Ann.
‘I want you to be present when I interview her. You need to take notes of what O’Duncie has to say and then type them up.’
She nodded and he gave an open-handed gesture.
‘Have you got all that?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What are you waiting for? Go on, hop it.’
Jane went back to the incident room and slumped onto a chair. She was near to tears and bit her lip. Kath put an arm round her. ‘You all right, darlin’?’
‘I am so exhausted, Kath, I’ve been working flat out. Why do I get the feeling I’m just being used?’
‘Cheer up, I’ll be “on board” as from tomorrow, so I can help you,’ Kath said. She understood how Jane was feeling as she’d been through it herself, though she’d been much more savvy than Jane when she’d first joined.
‘I’ve just got so much to do, and he keeps on giving me more things. It’s typing up one report after another and then all the indexing that Sally didn’t do.’
‘Take it easy, luv. At least Bradfield’s trusting you to sit in with a possible witness, so although he may not say it something must have impressed him.’
‘Well, I hope you’re right because I’d rather be in the front office covering the counter and putting up with Harris than being the CID’s general dogsbody.’
Kath cocked her head to one side. She gently hooked a stray strand of Jane’s hair away from her face.
‘No you wouldn’t. But just stay focused, do what you can, and if there’s a problem you have to learn how to handle it. What you mustn’t do is get tearful and act all stressed out. Don’t give ’em any ammunition. If you feel like havin’ a bit of a meltdown do it out of sight in the ladies’ locker room. You’ll see a few dents on the front of the roller towel – that’s where I’ve punched the hell out of it when I’ve been really pissed off. Now, you go and wash your face and then get ready to interview this woman – and take it from me, you’re doing just great.’
‘Thanks, Kath,’ Jane said and left the room.
In the locker room she washed her hands and splashed cold water over her face. She crossed to the roller towel and dragged it down to pat herself dry. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw the dents, and then after a moment stepped back and threw a punch. It hurt like hell and she sucked her knuckles but she felt a great deal better.
An overweight woman in her late thirties was waiting at the front counter. She wore a flowing multicoloured hippie dress, bangles on each wrist and big gold looped earrings. Her dark hair was braided into long dreadlocks and a headband encircled her forehead.
