Page 23

‘Problems at home, DI Brooks?’

Chief Superintendent Rebecca Holmes smiled at her subordinate, but it did not reach her eyes.

On the wall behind her, the office clock ticked loudly and Charlie could not resist glancing at it, annoyed to discover that she was twenty minutes late for her regular Friday morning meet with the station chief.

Punctuality was something Holmes prided herself on and Charlie’s tardiness had clearly not gone unnoticed.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary,’ Charlie replied with forced cheerfulness. ‘Just a last-minute homework crisis.’

This was a lie. In fact, Charlie had had to drag her youngest to school, kicking and screaming, for the third time in as many weeks.

Charlie was sure something was up, though Orla flatly denied this, and in the end she’d had to leave her at the school gates quietly sobbing to herself.

It was a sight that broke Charlie’s heart, a sorry indictment of her skills as a mother.

‘I trust it’s all resolved now?’ Holmes enquired.

This was at best forced politeness, at worst a way of twisting the knife, so Charlie moved the conversation on quickly.

‘Absolutely. Anyway, I’ll need to be brief, as I have to check in with the team. Was there anything specific you wanted us to discuss?’

‘Well, I’ve digested your report on yesterday’s episode.’ Her choice of words could hardly have been more damning, ‘episode’ a euphemism for ‘farce’. ‘And it doesn’t make for pretty reading. Do we have anything to show for your considerable outlay of time and resources?’

‘Nothing concrete yet,’ Charlie conceded, ‘but we do have a lead which I think is promising, a possible link to the smuggling operation.’

‘Who is it? An end user? A contact at the docks?’

‘Probably the latter,’ Charlie replied swiftly.

‘A local man, possibly connected to the docks, who may be the active accomplice of a major trafficker. We’re hoping that if we can find him, he will lead us to the people smugglers.

That’s what the team are working on right now.

They know how important it is that we make tangible progress in this area. ’

Charlie knew she was over-egging it, that this might come back to bite her, but was nevertheless pleased with the cloak of management speak she’d managed to throw over their abject failure. Perhaps she was getting better at this.

‘I’m glad to hear it. Things can’t go on as they are.’

She was staring at Charlie intently, the latter shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. Was this a damning verdict on their fight against trafficking? Or a withering assessment of her tenure as leader of the MIT? It was hard to tell.

‘Couldn’t agree more, so if we’re done …’ Charlie replied, making to leave.

‘There was one more thing.’

Charlie paused, turning back to face her boss, a thin sheen of sweat forming on her brow. She suddenly felt nervous, as though the real reason for her presence in Holmes’ office was about to be revealed.

‘I just wanted to give you a friendly piece of advice,’ the station chief continued, sounding anything but amicable.

‘Ma’am?’ Charlie responded, standing a little straighter.

‘I think it might be wise if you chose your drinking buddies a little more carefully in future.’

Charlie’s spirits sank. Clearly, she and Helen had been spotted in the Cross Keys, the spy promptly reporting their encounter back to the station chief.

‘I appreciate Helen is an old friend of yours, but I’m not sure that continued exposure to her is in your best interests.’

Charlie bristled – she made Helen sound like some kind of toxic substance – but held her tongue.

‘She might have been an effective, if wilful, officer once, but she is yesterday’s news.

She turned her back on our community, betraying her colleagues and her vocation in the process.

As such, I’m surprised that you would have any desire to meet with her, or indeed anything to gain from such an association, especially as you’re still trying to make your mark with the new team. ’

The word ‘trying’ was all-important here, Holmes’ inference clear.

‘I know you’re pressed for time, so let me just say this,’ the station chief continued briskly.

‘Helen Grace is history. This is your team now, your responsibility. So whatever personal loyalty you might feel to Helen, I would strongly suggest that you cut her adrift. She has already detonated her career. I’d hate for her to do the same to yours. ’

Charlie remained silent, aware that her views were not required.

‘Does that sound sensible?’

Charlie stared at Holmes, trying to quell her surging emotion.

She was annoyed with Helen for putting her in this position, furious with Holmes for talking to her like a child and angry with herself for once more handing her boss an excuse to undermine her.

When Superintendent Holmes had first suggested Charlie step up to the role of detective inspector, Charlie had been shocked, even a little uncomfortable about the idea of stepping into Helen’s shoes.

But she’d also felt buoyed up, pleased that Holmes thought her capable of such an important role.

Now, however, it was plain as day that she was on probation, both her competence and her loyalty under constant review.

Holmes had been apoplectic at the negative headlines in the Southampton Evening News , Holmes’ competence and honesty questioned on more than one occasion.

The station chief had ridden out the storm, hanging on grimly to her post, and was determined to clean out the stables, ridding Southampton Central of Helen’s influence once and for all.

Charlie’s elevation, her continued leadership of the team, depended on her total loyalty to Holmes and a definitive split from her former mentor.

In years gone by, Charlie would have dismissed this notion out of hand, as a grotesque affront to common sense and decency.

Today, however, she wondered if it might be a price worth paying.