Ice

Copyright 2012 Lyn Gardner

Edited by Bron T.

Cover by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.

http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

To Tanya

May you rest in peace, and know that

when He called you home, tears fell around the world.

After spending the last two hours standing in a cramped, filthy kitchen, as soon as Maggie Campbell exited the dilapidated house on the east side of London, she welcomed the feel of the cool night air on her face. Pausing for a moment to breathe in the dampness, when she saw that her long-legged partner was almost to the car, she mumbled to herself, “Oh, no you don’t.”

The silence of the night was broken by the sound of her sensible, low-heeled pumps on the walk as she ran after Blake. Finally catching up to her near the curb, Detective Inspector Maggie Campbell grabbed the other woman’s arm and spun her around.

“What the hell is your problem?” Campbell shouted, glaring up at the woman.

Raising an eyebrow, Detective Inspector Alex Blake yanked her arm out of Campbell’s grasp. Without saying a word, she reached into her pocket, pulled out her cigarettes and calmly lit one. Allowing the smoke to slowly exit her nose, she said, “Excuse me?”

Taking a step closer, Campbell growled, “What exactly do you call what you just did in there?”

“I call it, doing my job,” Blake said.

“Your job? Your
job
! You’re a police officer, not some sort of fucking vigilante, for Christ's sake! What you did was inappropriate and unprofessional! Do you have
any
idea how many rules you just broke?”

With a smirk, Blake replied, “I didn’t break any, darling, I just bent a few.”

Gritting her teeth at the sound of the endearment, Maggie said, “You threatened his bloody life!”

Alex Blake’s temper began to simmer. Partnered with Campbell for only two weeks, it hadn’t taken long for her to realize that her approach to a kidnapping investigation clashed with Campbell’s, but they had both managed to work through their differences…at least, until now.

Swallowing back her anger, Alex thought twice before saying another word. Looking around, she could see that there was still a least a dozen police officers roaming about. Not wanting any of them to hear what she had to say, she leaned her five-foot ten-inch frame in Campbell’s direction.

Setting her jaw, Blake growled, “I made him talk, and he told us what we needed to know. The boy is safe, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.”

“So, acting like some sort of maniac is your idea of how to properly question a suspect?”

Crossing her arms, Blake said, “It worked, didn’t it?”

“It’s not the way it’s supposed to be done!” Campbell said, clenching her fists. “We have rules to follow, and regulations to adhere to, or did you skip that part of the training?”

Dropping her cigarette on the grass, Blake pulverized what remained until it disappeared into the soil. Barely managing to hold on to her temper, she decided to walk away. It was her only option. If not, she knew that she’d say something she’d regret. Casting a steely glare in Campbell’s direction, she said, “This conversation is over.”

Turning her on heel, Alex began to walk away, but her momentum was stopped when Campbell grabbed her by the arm again.

“No, it’s not!” Campbell yelled. “For two weeks I’ve had to put up with your bullshit. I’ve kept my mouth shut out of respect for the job that we were trying to do, and for the little boy who we were trying to find, but now that he’s safe, I’m going to have my say!”

Invading the other officer’s space, Campbell pointed her finger in Alex’s face. “You’re a lousy cop, Blake. You’re a bully with a warrant card, and you don’t know the first bloody thing about being a
good
detective. You’re impulsive and insolent, and if someone gets in your way, you steamroll over them like they weren’t even there!”

“I do what it takes,” Alex replied through clenched teeth.

“No, you do what you
think
it takes, but I’ve got news for you, being a Detective Inspector takes more than muscle and threats. It takes intelligence, intuition and
tact
. It takes skill to examine the evidence, follow the rules and apprehend the suspect. It does
not
take the promise of dishing out bodily harm, such as cutting a man’s dick off and ramming it down his throat!”

Well past simmering, Alex’s temper was now at a rolling boil. Furrowing her brow, she yelled, “He talked, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did, but if you had allowed me to question him properly, using the bloody rules that we’re
supposed
to follow, I assure you, the results would have been exactly the same!”

With every syllable, their voices were getting louder, and the officers milling about had begun to take notice. With Campbell a full six inches shorter than her partner, at first the exchange seemed almost comical. Most of them couldn’t hide their grins as the smaller woman scolded the towering Blake, but as more and more words were spewed, their grins began to fade.

“I didn’t break any
fucking
rules, and if I did, so what? It’s my file being filled with reprimands, not yours.”

“Jesus Christ, this is not about you! Your actions speak for all of us, don’t you see that? We’re all out there working our arses off trying to make the public trust us, and you come along and piss on everything we’ve tried to accomplish without batting an eye. You’re dangerous, and you give the rest of us a bad name. If it was up to me, you wouldn’t even be on the force.”

“Well, it’s not up to you, is it? You haughty little cow!” Alex Blake bellowed. “And you’re not the only one that’s had to put up with
shit
, Campbell. I have no idea how anyone could be your partner for a day, let alone two bloody weeks! You are, by far, the biggest brown-nosed tart I’ve ever met. You’re like the Chief’s pet, for Christ's sake. Skipping after him as he goes for his coffee so you can give him all your ideas, looking like a bloody dog waiting for a treat! And if that’s not enough, I’ve had to put up with you prancing around in your fucking power suits, jotting down your little notes and offering witnesses cute little smiles in hopes that they’ll talk. I may be a bit rough, darling, but at least I’m not laughable.”

Pointing her finger in Blake’s face, Campbell yelled, “You’re nothing but a thug!”

“Maybe so, but it’s better than being an arse-licking bitch!”

The force of the slap that followed sent Alex Blake to her knees.

Three years later…

“You
cannot
be bloody serious!”

Chief Superintendent Clive Ramsey looked up from his desk and offered a weak smile to the man who had just barged into his office. Most would have been severely reprimanded for such a loud show of disrespect, but when it came to Chief Inspector Andrew Loveland, Clive Ramsey graded on a curve. They had been friends for years, and even though Clive had moved up the ranks a bit quicker than his counterpart, their friendship had always remained strong.

Motioning for Andrew to close the door and take a seat, Clive returned his attention to the papers on his desk, but when he heard the door slam and the metal blind thwack against the glass, he looked up and scowled.

Offering only a shrug of his shoulders as an apology for the noise, Andrew sat in the chair opposite his supervisor and glared back. Andrew Loveland wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Holding up the roster, he mentally counted to ten before he blurted, “Clive, this is a joke, right?”

“I’m afraid not, Andy,” Ramsey said, leaning back in his chair.

“Have you forgotten about that fiasco three years ago?"

Wincing at the memory, Clive Ramsey ran his fingers through his wavy, gray hair. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I don’t think
anyone
will ever forget—”

“Then why the hell are you doing this?” Andy said, tossing the paper on his chief’s desk in disgust.

“It’s only for two days—”

“I don’t care if it’s for two bloody minutes! Those two hate each other. You know it. I know it. Hell, everyone in this department knows it!”

Up until that moment, the two men had always managed to keep their friendship and their work relationship separate. However, staring back at the red-faced man, Clive Ramsey knew that he would soon have to pull rank if his friend didn’t compose himself.

“Andy,” he began calmly, believing his tone of voice would somehow cool the man’s temper. “I am well aware how they feel about each other, but the Commissioner called me this morning. He needs two female officers for this assignment and—”

“We have other female officers—”

“I know that, Andrew.”

“But what happens if they—”

Knowing where his friend was going, Clive held up his hand, stopping Andrew in mid-sentence. “Andy, three years is a long time. People forget,
and
people grow up. Since that time, they’ve both had—” Stopping abruptly when he noticed the other man’s eyebrow arch, Clive quickly corrected himself. “Okay, so Blake’s file has got a bit of paper in it, but Campbell’s been exemplary, which gives me every reason to believe that for
two
days, they’ll be able to put their differences aside.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then they answer to the commissioner, and if they can’t control their dislike for one another, they may very well lose their jobs.”

“But they’re two of our best.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, Andrew,” Clive said, glancing at the papers on his desk, signifying in his own way that the discussion was over.

Resigned to the fact that this was going to happen, Andrew asked, “So, what’s the assignment?”

“All I can tell you is that they’ll be acting as escorts for a government witness.”

Andy’s annoyance level rose again. Having already been left out of the decision to have two of his officers utilized for the assignment, now his chief was offering breadcrumbs instead of answers. With a huff, he said, “Why so cryptic? The last time I checked those two work for me.”

“Yes, they do, but
you
work for me, and
I
work for the commissioner. This is on a need-to-know basis, and as far as I’m concerned, this conversation is over.”

Taking a deep breath, Andrew Loveland stood and walked to the door. “So, I guess you want me to tell them—right?”

“No, actually I had that…um…
honor
earlier today, before they left shift.”

“They already know?”

Nodding his head, Clive replied, “Yes, and believe it or not, neither said a word about it.”

***

Standing on the front porch of her flat, Maggie Campbell rubbed the bridge of her nose. While no headache yet existed, she knew that in a short time, one would start. Unlocking the door, she walked quietly into her house. Setting her handbag and jacket on a nearby chair, she waited for her boyfriend to appear.

At the age of thirty-two, Margaret Katherine Campbell had worked for the Metropolitan Police Service for eight years. Born and raised in Scotland, she was the daughter of an Air Force Group Captain, and her upbringing had been regimented and directed toward the military. However, during her years in university, she developed a passion for the law, and after graduation, she took a job at the Met. Like most, she started out as a Constable, but her drive and hard work enabled her to climb the ladder faster than her colleagues. With a penchant for following the rules and regulations, she crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I’ along the way, and in five short years, she reached the rank of Detective Inspector with only one demerit to her name. Although she longed to continue her education at night to obtain the law degree she so desperately wanted, the demands of her job
and
her boyfriend, more often than not, got in the way.

“You’re late,” Glenn Shaw growled as he came from the kitchen with a dish towel in his hand. “I had to start dinner myself.”

Biting her lip, Maggie took a slow, easy breath before she began to speak. “I’m sorry, but the chief called me into his office about an assignment, and I couldn’t very well tell him no, now could I?”

Scowling, Glenn asked, “What do you mean an assignment?”

“It’s just two days. I’ll be home
Friday
night.”