Page 29 of Child's Play

‘Either talk to me about the weather or piss off,’ Kim advised.

‘Jeez, Kim. You’re really following the rules?’

Yeah, even she was surprised. Her response to rule following was selective at best but not when it came to the welfare of her team.

‘So, that shower we had earlier…’

‘Not a chance,’ Bryant said, edging off the stool. ‘Not sitting here discussing weather. I am gone.’

Kim smiled at his retreating back.

‘Good, go home and get relaxed.’

‘I am fucking relaxed,’ he shouted at the top of his voice before he slammed the front door.

She had the sudden feeling it was going to be a very long week.

Twenty

‘Okay, guys, look lively eh?’ Kim said, glancing around the room at her team.

Penn was looking at something on his mobile phone, Stacey was staring over his head at something out the window and Bryant was wearing the same scowl that had been on his face the night before.

Oh yeah, her team was looking totally energised from their extra downtime.

And from her point of view she almost felt as though she hadn’t seen them for days.

She had followed the rules herself, to set an example, and hadn’t entered the building until 7.45 ready for the mandated 8a.m. briefing. She wouldn’t mention the half hour she’d spent sitting in the car.

‘Penn, anything to offer before you get off to court?’

He put his phone aside. ‘Just checking if I need to go, boss. Not sure what’s happening.’

‘Thought the case was pretty straight forward?’

She’d been hoping to have him wrapped up and returned to her by the end of the week. Having to trust Inspector Plant and his team with the follow up interviews did not sit well with her.

‘Defence witness went AWOL yesterday. Uniforms went out looking but no update yet.’

‘Everything else, okay?’

He hesitated. ‘Fine boss, but I could easily have come back for a few hours last night.’

‘You read the memo,’ she reminded him.

‘We really still sticking to that?’ he asked, causing another two heads to raise in hope.

Jeez, Kim thought, it was like trying to force a kid to eat their greens. You knew it was good for them but they fought you at every mouthful.

‘Yeah, we’re sticking to it,’ she said, as Penn’s phone sounded receipt of a text message.

He read it. ‘Still no neighbour but the defence is calling their only other witness, which is his wife, so that should be fun seeing as she’s a hostile witness.’

Kim nodded as he pushed his chair away from the desk. This was what happened sometimes. Witnesses were rearranged to provide continuity and keep disruption for the jury to a minimum. Once a case had started no one wanted it interrupted, schedules had been cleared, meetings postponed, experts booked, family members primed for a result one way or the other. Every effort would be made to keep the trial going.

‘And then there were three,’ Kim mused as Penn disappeared out the door.

She headed over to the board.