Blood Tears (21 page)

She seemed a little
startled by the friendly start to what she was obviously expecting
to be an interrogation. Her eyes flicked between the Sarge and me.
I wondered if she thought it was a trick question.

“
We
always thought we’d call a girl Holly,” she said, barely above a
whisper.

“
Holly’s a beautiful name.”

“
Annabel,” said the Sarge, “when you said ‘we’, did you mean
you and the father of the baby?”

“
I
meant me and Jamie.”

The Sarge and I
exchanged a quietly triumphant glance.

“
Is
Jamie your boyfriend?” I asked.

She nodded, her eyes
moving nervously between us again. “I don’t know where he is.” She
started crying again. “He left me, and he didn’t come back. He
wouldn’t do that. Jamie wouldn’t do that to me.” She looked over at
her slumbering baby. “To us. He just wouldn’t.”

I pulled out the
printed scan of the photo of her and the boy. “Annabel, sweetheart.
Is this Jamie?”

She looked and nodded,
confusion in her eyes through the tears. “Yes. Where did you get
this photo? Where is he?”

“
Was
he wearing a checked red shirt and jeans when you saw him
last?”

“
Yes.
What’s happened? Tell me.”

The Sarge and I locked
eyes again. Oh boy, it was the one thing every cop dreaded – being
the bearer of tragic news.

We both opened our
mouths at the same time, but I deferred to him. He told her in the
most gentlest, kindest way he possibly could, but her immediate
wailing had a nurse running in, accusation contorting her face.

“
What’s going on here?” she demanded.

“
I’m
sorry. We had to tell her some very sad news about a friend of
hers,” I explained, feeling like a monster.

“
Couldn’t it have waited? What’s the matter with you people?
She’s just had a baby, for God’s sake. You can see she’s in no
state to be hearing bad news.”

The Sarge stood,
looking down with infinite compassion at the distraught girl. To
the enraged nurse, he said, “I’m sorry. We had no choice. We’ll
leave her be for a few hours. But a couple of detectives will want
to interview her soon. There’s nothing we can do to stop that. She
has information critical to a current investigation. And we’ll
probably pop back in later today to see how she’s faring.”

“
Don’t bother,” the nurse muttered, but loud enough for us to
hear as we left.

“
I
don’t think she liked us much,” he noted on our way out.

“
I
don’t like us much either for having to tell poor Annabel that
straight after she just had a baby. What a horrible thing to
hear.”

“
What
else were we supposed to do, Tessie? Yes, it was cruel to tell her,
but it would have been equally cruel not to tell her. I’m sure
she’d prefer to know that her boyfriend didn’t abandon her and the
baby like she’s probably been thinking.”

“
I
wonder how’s she’s been surviving all this time since he
died.”

“
Not
so well by the looks of things. She’s pretty thin, and you heard
the social worker say the baby is underweight.”

“
It
wouldn’t be easy looking after yourself being so young and
pregnant, especially living rough.”

“
She’s had a tough time.”

“
To
which we’ve just contributed.”

“
Yes,
but now we can make sure that she and the baby receive the care
they need,” he said, leaning on top of the car. “We’ll go to the
station to tell X and Zelda what we’ve found out.”

“
What
if we run into the Super? She was pretty clear about not wanting to
see us for quite a long time. I believed her.”

“
I
don’t know. We’ll hide behind some posts or something.”

“
That’s the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” I complained. “You
know she can smell us a mile away.”

“
It
must be that sheep shit she thinks we roll around in all
day.”

I genuinely giggled at
that, despite what had just happened. “Don’t forget the pig
poop.”

“
And
the donkey dung.”

“
Not
to mention the cow crap.”

“
And
the delights of the mice manure.”

“
And
the toad turds.”

“
Ah,
what’s not to love about living in the country?” he sighed with
mock happiness.

Chapter
14

For once, we were in
luck at the station. We found Mr X and Zelda chatting and drinking
frothy cappuccinos made from the detective section’s expensive
coffee machine.

“
Nice
life for some people,” I said, not without a hint of bitterness.
Instant coffee was as fancy as it got for us at the Little Town
station.

“
Hey,
there have to be some perks to being a dee,” smiled Mr X, slurping
the rest of his coffee and holding out his empty mug to Zelda. She
let it dangle in his hand, shooting him a look of pure poison. “Oh,
come on, Z. Humour me. Just once.”

“
Stop
oppressing me all the time,” she complained. “And clean your own
damn cup.”

“
You
could at least take it to the sink for me. Please?”

“
You’ve got legs, haven’t you?” And with that she took her own
cup to the sink, leaving him still holding his.

He shook his head
sadly. “It’s so hard to find a good partner these days.”

I could feel the
Sarge’s eyes sliding in my direction.

“
What
are you looking at me for?” I demanded of him.

“
No
reason,” he said innocently, pulling up a spare chair in front of
Mr X’s desk.

“
I
hope this isn’t a social call and you’ve got some news about that
accident,” Mr X said, unwrapping a chocolate muffin. “Because we’re
really busy.”

“
Looks like it,” the Sarge snorted to himself.

“
Are
you kidding?” I said, perching my butt on the edge of Mr X’s desk.
“The Super’s banned us from here, so we’re literally risking our
lives to talk to you. It’s no social visit.”

“
Jamie’s girlfriend is in hospital here. She didn’t know he’d
been killed, but she’ll probably have useful information about him
for you,” started the Sarge, not wanting to prolong the danger of a
surprise assault from the Super.

“
But
take it easy on her. She’s very upset, and she’s just had a baby,”
I said.

“
A
baby?” Mr X queried, and our eyes locked together. I suppose he had
babies on his mind a lot these days. “How old is she?”

“
About sixteen.”

“
Geez. And she didn’t know about her boyfriend?”

“
Nope.”

“
You
had to tell her?”

“
The
Sarge did.”

“
How’d she react?”

“
How
do you think she reacted? She was devastated.”

He looked at the Sarge
gratefully. “Thanks for pulling that duty, Finn. You know how much
we all hate it. And you’ve saved Z and me from having to do it.”
The Sarge nodded abruptly, looking away. I knew it wasn’t any kind
of duty he wanted to do either. “Where’s she been living all this
time?”

“
Dunno,” I answered.

“
You
didn’t ask her any questions?”

“
Didn’t get a chance,” said the Sarge. “A nurse chased us out
as soon as we told her about Jamie.”

“
Okay,” said Zelda, taking out her notebook. “What’s her
name?”

“
Annabel. We don’t know her last name yet. Don’t know Jamie’s
yet either.”

“
How
did you find out about her?”

“
Last
night, we . . . well, Tessie really . . . delivered her baby,”
informed the Sarge.

“
What?” exclaimed Zelda. “Wow. That’s pretty full-on,
Tess.”

“
Yeah, well, you know what it’s like,” I mumbled, rather
embarrassed by the attention. “You do what you have to, when you
have to.”

“
Z
wouldn’t do it,” said Mr X with a wink in her direction. “She’d get
one of her designer suits dirty.”

“
You’re a laugh a minute, X,” she said witheringly. “But at
least one of us in this alleged partnership has some
style.”

He clutched his heart
in fake distress. “You’re killing me, Z. I dress up especially for
you every day. You think I wear these suits around at home?”

“
Don’t tempt me. And stop calling me Z,” she muttered,
standing and reaching for her, very expensive and tailored jacket.
“Let’s get moving to the hospital. It would be good to have this
written off as a solve under our belt this week. Otherwise the
Super will –”

We all froze at the
sound of that very woman’s voice bellowing down the corridor,
coming closer and closer.

The Sarge and I stared
at each other.

“
Shit, shit, shit,” he said. “We’re dead.”

“
I
told
you she could smell us,” I accused in panic. “Just
great. Just bloody fantastic.”

“
Quick,” directed Mr X. “Get in the bathrooms. She won’t find
you there.”

We didn’t need telling
twice, each scattering to our respective gendered bathroom. I hid
in a cubicle, locking the door behind me, and feeling extremely
foolish to be hiding from her.

The Sarge was probably
safe. I was mostly sure she wouldn’t enter the men’s room, though
it was always impossible to guarantee anything with the Super.

I heard her ranting and
yelling at someone in the detective section for a couple of
minutes, and then all went quiet. Hoping she’d moved on to berate a
cop in a different section, but just to be sure, I decided to stay
in the cubicle for another five minutes. Or until Zelda advised me
it was safe to come out.

The door to the
bathroom opened, and someone took the cubicle next to mine. I held
my breath and rattled the toilet paper dispenser noisily to make it
sound as if I was merely an innocent user of the facilities, not
some perverted lurker who needed investigating. My fellow officer
flushed, and meticulously washed and dried her hands, taking her
time about it.
Would she never finish?
I thought in
desperation.

But instead of leaving,
I heard the crisp sound of sensible heels on the concrete floor
coming closer to me.

“
I
know you’re in there, Tessie,” spoke that quiet husky voice
directly at my door.

I almost stopped
breathing completely at her voice. “Yes, ma’am,” I managed to
finally splutter.

“
I
hope you have a good reason for being here.”

“
Yes,
ma’am,” I squeaked. “We’ve found someone who knows the
boy.”

Silence, then, “Okay.
Good. But do me a favour, and fuck off quietly for me. I have a
massive headache today, and I don’t feel like ripping you and
Maguire several new ones in front of your colleagues.”

“
Yes,
ma’am. Will do.”

“
Oh,
and Tessie?”

“
Ma’am?”

“
Don’t ever fucking hide from me again. It’s demeaning for
both of us.”

Suitably admonished, I
reluctantly opened the door and faced her. “Yes, ma’am. I agree. It
is. But I think the Sarge and I should be allowed to –”

“
I’ve
already suggested you fuck off quietly, Tess. I won’t suggest that
again today.”

“
Yes,
ma’am.”

I escaped through the
bathroom door, my face blazing. I barged into the men’s bathroom,
startling one detective who was zipping himself up. I grabbed the
Sarge’s arm and dragged him from the office.

We fucked off
quietly.

*****

“
Was
it bad?” asked the Sarge sympathetically when we were safely back
in the patrol car, heading out of the parking lot.

“
She
was quite moderate – for her – but I felt ashamed for being so
juvenile. We shouldn’t have to hide from our commanding
officer.”

“
She
shouldn’t threaten us then. We should be allowed to go about
legitimate police business without worrying about upsetting
her.”

“
I
know. I tried to say the same thing to her, but she cut me off.
Perhaps we should just stay away from the station for a
while.”

“
As
long as it doesn’t affect our policing.”

“
I
don’t know why she can’t see that.”

“
It’s
because she doesn’t like me.”

“
Don’t say that. She doesn’t like anyone.”

He laughed briefly.
“No, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me in particular.”

“
Why?”

He ignored my question.
“Will we get something for lunch before we go back to the
hospital?”

“
Do
you really need to ask me that? Are you paying?”

“
I
think it’s your turn,” he said with a smile.

Remembering what he’d
said about Melissa expecting him to pay for everything while they
were overseas, I turned away from him and pulled out the wallet I
used when I worked because it fitted into my back pocket. I
discreetly counted out far less than five dollars, and that was
taking into account every five-cent piece I’d shoved in there. And
I knew I’d already maxed out my credit card for the month, so
couldn’t use that. It seemed an absolute eon until payday.