Page 8 of Little Children

‘Our contact will be with us shortly,’ Bryant said, returning to where they stood. He gave no indication of who was coming to meet them.

They waited silently until the doors opened to reveal a man just short of six feet dressed in a charcoal suit. Kim immediately got the impression that he would have attended work dressed this way whatever his career had been, as though he’d been waiting his whole life to look this smart. He headed straight for her and held out his hand.

‘Red Butler, Detective Inspector.’

Kim offered the briefest of handshakes while raising an eyebrow. Was he really named after a character from Gone with the Wind?

‘Sorry, my real name is Mike, nicknamed Rhett, which somehow became Red. That’s what everyone calls me.’

‘Good to know, Red,’ she said, finding it odd calling him a colour.

She turned towards her colleagues to introduce them, but he held up his hand. ‘Save it for upstairs. The whole team is in, so we’ll address the formalities in one go. Come with me.’

Kim remained silent as she followed him up two flights of stairs.

The man smiled, waved or nodded at just about everyone he met en route. Not all of them acknowledged him. Why was he trying to make it seem that he was so likeable? Likeable people didn’t need to appear to be likeable.

Finally, they stepped through more glass doors into what she assumed to be the CID office.

There were more sheets of paper on desks in this one office than she’d seen during their entire journey through the building.

‘Clear desk policy, but you know, sometimes you just need a hard copy,’ he said as the heads in the room turned to face them.

‘Oh, thank fuck, the cavalry’s here,’ said a man in his early fifties.

While Red gave the man a warning glance, Kim did a quick survey of the space and the people within it.

A team of five: four men, one woman.

‘That mouthy git is Detective Sergeant Roy Moss. He’s my number two.’

‘Yeah, I’m his piece of shit,’ Roy said with a smirk.

‘DS Carly Walsh,’ Butler said, pointing to the woman with red curly hair and freckles.

‘DC James Dickinson,’ he said, pointing to the fair-haired guy who looked to be late twenties, early thirties.

‘And last but by no means least, we have Gonk in the corner.’

The Asian man raised his hand.

There was something unsettling about the only member of the team from a minority background being introduced by nickname rather than rank or real name.

Kim had no choice but to let it pass for now, but she had no intention of addressing the officer as Gonk.

‘So, the top knobs decided we needed some help?’ Roy asked, sitting back in his chair.

There was something instantly unlikeable about the man whose waistband rested below his ample stomach and whose buttons strained against the fabric of a shirt that had probably been white in its previous life.

She decided it wasn’t a good idea to stand down wind of Roy Moss, cos if one of those buttons came flying off, it could take out an eye.

‘We’ve been asked to assist,’ Kim said, keeping her tone even.

Every member of both teams was paying attention.

‘We’ve heard your colleagues are all busy on other business.’

She really didn’t want to make enemies during her first half hour.