Blood Tears (37 page)

The Sarge plonked the
bag of valuables on Mr X’s desk. I felt awkward making eye contact
with him after I went off at him on the phone earlier.

“
Tess,” Mr X said, and I reluctantly looked up to meet his
warm, brown eyes. “It’s okay. We deserved it.”

That was so nice of
him, but I wasn’t surprised. I’d always thought he was a really
good guy.

“
We’ve issued a look out for Annabel and that scumbag to all
the patrol cars in the district. We’ve given them the description
you gave us and the picture of him and Jamie,” Zelda
said.

“
I
have something else you might be interested in,” I said, sliding
over the photos I’d found in the house to her.

She picked them up and
went
hmm
before handing them over to Mr X. He whistled under
his breath as he examined them.

“
The
dirty bastard,” Zelda said with contempt.

“
You
mean the stupid, dirty bastard,” noted Mr X. “Most creeps like him
don’t usually allow their faces to show in these kinds of
photos.”

“
Demonstrates a lot of arrogance,” agreed Zelda.

“
From
what Annabel told me, he would have considered them as part of his
valuables,” I said.

“
Speaking of which,” said Mr X, pulling out a drawer and
taking out some disposable gloves. He unzipped the bag and had a
rummage around inside for a few minutes, Zelda standing behind him
peering over his shoulder. He raised wide eyes to us when he’d
finished. “It’s like Tutankhamen’s tomb in here.”

“
The
guy knows his stuff,” said Zelda, impressed despite herself at the
beautiful goods.

“
It’s
all yours now,” said the Sarge. “We were gloved up the whole time
we handled everything, but I doubt you’ll get many good prints.
They’ll all probably belong to Annabel and her
boyfriend.”

Mr X stood, leaving his
gloves on. “I suppose we better log all these in for evidence and
forensics.”

“
Don’t forget our receipt for handing them over,” reminded the
Sarge.

“
Geez,” Mr X said, rolling his eyes. “Of course I wouldn’t
forget. If you can’t trust a cop to be honest, who can
you?”

The Sarge was about to
offer some retort in response, when we all heard the click-clack of
low-heeled, sensible, but expensive, Italian leather shoes. And it
was doubtful whether even the cloven hooves of Satan himself
approaching with fire-and-damnation menace could have instilled as
much fear in a room full of adults.

The Sarge and I
exchanged glances, and we both groaned.

“
Not
again,” he complained. “It’s like she has a sixth sense about
us.”

“
I’m
not hiding from her again,” I decided. “That was just plain
embarrassing last time.”

The door to the dees
section flung open, and the unmistakable scent of cigarette smoke
wafted in.

“
Which one of you fucking morons left this illiterate report
on my desk? I swear to God, I’m sick of reading this crap. It’s
affect
, not
effect
. It’s
lose
, not
loose
. Fuck! My right tit writes more coherently than
this.”

She noticed the Sarge
and me, her mouth compressing into a thin slit. But her expression
changed when her eyes rested on me, a small frown creasing between
her brows.

“
Tessie, in my office. Now,” she barked.

“
Yes,
ma’am.” Everyone threw me sympathetic glances.

The Sarge stepped
forward to follow me.

“
Did
I also issue you an invitation, Maguire? No, I fucking did not. So,
sod off and do some work for once.”

I shot him a worried
look over my shoulder, which he mirrored in return.

What had I done
now?

Chapter
25

“
Close the door,” she snapped when we reached her
office.

Must be serious
,
I thought with dread as I shut the door. Another uniform scurried
past as I did, deliberately trying not to make eye contact with me.
Nobody wanted to be associated with a colleague in trouble.

“
Take
a seat.”

I took a seat, perching
right on the edge, my hands clasped in my lap, my mind racing with
all my recent transgressions that she hadn’t bawled me out over
already. Surely she couldn’t have heard so quickly about me chasing
Chad? It wasn’t like I’d
done
anything to him, after all. Or
perhaps it was the unauthorised snooping around Merrick’s former
house that was going to get me in trouble?

She lit a cigarette and
went to her window to open it, blowing the smoke outside. Her
searing blue eyes stayed on me for what seemed like an
eternity.

“
What’s the matter?” she asked eventually, when she’d smoked
half the cigarette down.

“
What
do you mean, ma’am?”

“
What’s the matter with you?”

“
Nothing, ma’am,” I said, but my voice cracked
tellingly.

“
Don’t waste my time with bullshit, Tessie,” she said
impatiently. “Look at you. Your eyes are all wet and shiny, and
I’ve seen happier faces in the fucking morgue. If it’s the return
of Maguire that’s making you so miserable, just say the word and
I’ll have him transferred so far away, he’ll need to swim halfway
across the fucking ocean fighting off sharks to get back
here.”

“
No,
ma’am, of course it’s not the Sarge.”

She took a long drag on
her cigarette and ground it down on the outside edge of the window
frame, carrying the butt back inside to drop in her overflowing
ashtray. “Pity. I was afraid you’d say that. It’s not your monthly
visit from the red devil, is it?”

“
No,
ma’am.”

“
Fuck, Tess. I don’t want to spend all day playing twenty
fucking questions with you.”

“
Jake
dumped me,” I blurted out.

“
Good.” She lit another cigarette. “That’s the second best
news I’ve heard all day. It would have been the best news if you’d
told me you’d finally come to your fucking senses and dumped his
sorry arse first. Hope you’re not expecting a hug from me, because
I’m not into consoling people over good news.”

Naturally I hadn’t been
expecting a hug from her, though I wouldn’t have said no if she’d
offered. I was happy to make do with the Sarge’s very comforting
and genuine hug earlier. But still, my face crumpled. I hung my
head, trying not to let any tears escape.

“
Don’t even think about it, Tessie,” she warned. “You know how
much crying shits me to tears. I don’t want you wasting one fucking
teardrop on a Bycraft. Not one.”

“
I
was with Jakey for almost three years, Fiona.
Three years
.
And then he ended it in a few minutes.”

She blew smoke up
towards the ceiling. “Think of it as three years of smoking hot
roots, which, incidentally, most people would donate a kidney
without anaesthetic for, given half a chance. But now it’s time for
you to move on. You deserve more than hot roots with a married man,
especially when that man’s a Bycraft.”

“
I
love him.”

“
You’ll get over it. You got over that arsewipe, Mitch. And
you’ll get over Jake the Arsewipe too. My advice to you is to
organise a few girls’ nights out up here in Wattling Bay soon, and
have a couple of casual shags. Get him out of your
system.”

“
I’m
not a casual shag kind of person. As you well know,
Fiona.”

“
More’s the shame. You would have a lot more fun in life if
you were, believe me.”

“
Jakey was supposed to be coming over tonight.” Tears
threatened again.

“
Tess, I warned you about the fucking waterworks. Stop it
now.” I stopped it. “I’ve heard things haven’t been happy families
between you and Jake since his brother died.”

“
How
have you heard that?” I hoped I didn’t sound as instantly hostile
as I felt.

“
Settle, petal. I haven’t fucking bugged you, if that’s what
you’re wondering. Though I thought about it seeing you’ve been so
incommunicado, and Ronnie was forever on my tits about you.” She
took a puff. “I know things have been shitty between us since then,
so I can’t imagine they’ve been any better with Jake.”

“
Baz
told you, didn’t he?”

She shrugged a shoulder
in a
that’s my fucking business
kind of way, which only
served to confirm my suspicions.

“
Jakey took Denny’s death hard,” I admitted. “We’ve been
fighting a bit, especially about the funeral. He wanted me to lay
off his family for a while. Give them some grieving space. But I
refused to, and well . . .”

“
Damn
right you wouldn’t lay off them. That pack of fucking arse scum
would be waiting for a weakness like this to take
advantage.”

“
That’s what I figured. We arrested Rosie earlier today
because she hit me on the head with a lump of timber.”

Her eyes raked over me.
“Bit of a bump. You’ll live.”

“
I
know that,” I said, indignant. “Jakey said Lola was in tears about
us arresting Rosie.”

At my comment, the
Super laughed so hard she had a choking fit that turned her face
almost purple. Worried that I was about to kill my commanding
officer, and good friend, with an unbelievably ridiculous comment,
I rushed around to her side of the desk to thump her thin shoulders
as hard as I dared. She coughed and choked before she could talk
again.

“
Lola
Bycraft
crying
? That’s the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever
heard since that media whore of a Police Minister assured everyone
this year there’d be no budget cuts. That bitch was born without
tear ducts. And you can decide which bitch I’m referring to
yourself.” She pealed off into another round of tear-inducing
laughter. Eventually she subdued, after a few watery snorts, and
half-a-pack of tissues to wipe up the tears of hilarity she’d
shed.

“
That’s what Jakey told me,” I repeated.

“
I
hoped you laughed in his face at that.”

“
I
did. That’s why he dumped me. I guess I don’t respect Lola enough
for him.”

We looked at each
other, and we both started laughing. It took a while for us both to
stop – her, because she also found that hilarious; me, because I
found it full of sadness. If there were anything on earth I could
have wished for, it would have been that Jake had come from a
family that I honestly could have loved and respected. And
joined.

I stood. “I better go.
The Sarge is probably finished signing in all of Merrick’s
valuables.”

“
Hmm,” she said, grinding out her cigarette and immediately
reaching for another. “You seem to be determined on breaking this
case all by yourself. I hope you haven’t been
investigating.”

“
Of
course not, ma’am,” I said, with the straightest face I could
manage.

“
Glad
to hear,” she said, with the straightest face she could
manage.

I went to the door.

“
Tessie?”

“
Yes,
ma’am?”

“
You’re not still planning on going to that
funeral?”

“
No,
ma’am. I can see that wouldn’t be wise. Especially now. Maybe I’ll
go to Denny’s grave later on and pay my respects then.”

“
Good
girl.”

I turned the handle of
the doorknob.

“
Tessie, wait.”

I waited.

She came up to me, and
we regarded each other. Shorter than me, smaller than me, lighter
than me, older than me – yet somehow she managed to dominate all of
us, including me.

She held her arms out,
and I gladly accepted the hug she offered. And it even lasted a
whole twenty seconds this time, so I knew she’d been worried about
me for an age.

When we separated, I
said, “I’ll be okay, Fiona.”

“
Of
course you will. Who questioned that?” She settled herself behind
her desk again, picking up the phone. “Now, fuck off. I’m busy, and
you’ve wasted too much of my time today.”

“
Sorry, ma’am,” I said with a watery smile.

“
And
despite what I said before, don’t just go taking any old offer of a
fuck you receive now, okay? Only quality ones. You
hear?”

“
Yes,
ma’am. I hear. Only quality, I promise.”

“
I’m
just relieved that Sergeant Happy-pants Maguire is tied up with his
stupid fiancee at the moment.”

“
Um .
. . They broke up overseas, ma’am. They’re not engaged
anymore.”

She stared at me and
stood, instantly enraged. “
What?
What the fuckingest fucking
fuck?”

“
He
called it off when he was overseas on suspended leave. I thought
you knew. Everyone knows.”

She slammed both fists
on her desk and turned to kick at her chair. “Why the fuck didn’t
anyone tell me this?”

“
I
didn’t know until he returned,” I said, feeling rather apologetic,
though I wasn’t quite sure why.

“
I am
not
happy about this. If I’d known that he’d broken it off
with that spoilt princess, I’d never have agreed for him to return
to Mount Big Town. And they had to twist my nipples to get me to
agree in the first place.”