Surprise on the Links

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

James filled his mug to the rim with black coffee and then leaned his hip on the edge of the desk. His eyes stared out of the window, but his thoughts were on the schedule open on the desk. Nothing important seemed to be on the agenda, and it was only eight-thirty in the morning.

Absent-mindedly, the Detective Sergeant brought the mug to his lips. He sipped some of the hot liquid, even though he was not in the mood to have another cup of coffee that morning. Still, things had been a little slower than usual that summer and boredom did not invite him to do anything else.

Mentally, James calculated that McNamara was supposed to return to work the following day. Immediately, his eyes swept over everything in the office, and the man sighed with dismay.

The Detective Sergeant remembered that the Chief Inspector liked things in a certain way, and James did not have a death wish. He did not feel like being scolded the very day when the Chief Inspector returned from his honeymoon.

James shook his head, and a grin curved his lips. The Chief Inspector and honeymoon did not belong in the same sentence. He, for one, had never believed that McNamara would ever end up married and was sure that none of his colleagues have thought that either.

The Chief Inspector had never shown any particular inclination towards the women who sporadically visited his bed. The man mastered the talent of dissociating any feelings from the physical act of love.

Consequently, people still did not understand how come Bryony had managed to change his mind. Everyone questioned the methods that the woman had employed to achieve that goal. With a shake of his head, the Detective Sergeant remembered that even rumours mentioning witchcraft had reached his ears.

However, his boss had proved to all of them that one should avoid forming definite opinions about people’s behaviours. Sometimes, a person would react out of character and would surprise others when they expected less.

Still, James knew that he could not let his guard down right then. He was smart enough to understand that getting married had mellowed McNamara somehow, but that did not mean that the chief inspector would overlook certain transgressions.

Finding his office changed slightly would drive McNamara mad, and undoubtedly, James would suffer the consequences. The Detective Sergeant was not a betting man, but he would bet on occasion when the result seemed unquestionable. That was the case right then.

Fortunately, the man had thought of taking photos of the office when he started to work there after the Chief Detective Inspector left on his first vacation in years. The Detective Sergeant had imagined that things might get moved around during those two weeks of McNamara’s leave, and he had not trusted his own memory.

Glancing again around the room, the man decided that, that evening, he had to look over those photos and put everything back in the original place.

A knock on the office door pulled James out of his musings, and the man turned, saying, “Come in.”

Jo, one of the Detective Inspectors, opened the door but did not come in. “We have got a murder, James,” she announced with excitement in her voice, and the man’s brows hiked up onto his forehead.

The DS understood that people wanted to keep active and had had enough of pushing papers around all day long. But then, James did not understand to show excitement when a crime had taken place.

“I see,” he said, straightening his shoulders, ready to impart his opinion about the woman’s attitude. But then, he thought better, and with a shake of his head, asked, “Where?”

“At the links,” the young Detective Inspector replied, with a twinkle in her eyes. It was evident for the DS that the woman relished the thought of going out in the field.

“All right,” James sighed with resignation. “I will be downstairs in a moment,” he waved his hand. “Have you called the coroner?” the man inquired while putting the mug back onto the desk and taking his coat off the back of his chair.

“Of course, I did,” the woman replied tersely, affronted that the DS believed that she did not know what she had to do.

After all, that was not her first show in the business. Jo had been working with the Major Investigation Teams for a few years already. She prided herself on being one of the best detective inspectors in the field. McNamara appreciated her skills and work, and sometimes, even above all the other detectives, which often led to jealousy and recriminations from her colleagues.

The DS turned to Jo just in time to notice her displeasure over his words. He waved his hand, trying to find words to explain why he had asked that question, but then the man pursed his lips with a shrug. It did not really matter, after all. They had a job to do, and he could not let a few words take his focus away.

“Are you coming?” he wondered, raising one brow and looking at the DI inquiringly.

The young woman huffed but declined to express her thoughts. She contented to nod briefly in his direction, staring him down with cold eyes. Then, she went out of the office through the door the DS held open for her.

James smiled sheepishly and shook his head. In his opinion, women liked to make a mountain out of an anthill sometimes. A man had to go with the flow. There was no way around that.

He followed Jo out in the commune room of the squad and looked around, trying to locate Claire. He was going out with the young policewoman outside work so that no one knew about their relationship.

His eyes slightly narrowed when he observed her absence from the room, and the man wondered where Claire was. They had come to the precinct together that morning, and he had expected to see her at her desk.

His brows came together, and James asked one of the inspectors, “Hey, Mike, do you know where Claire has gone?”

Mike was in the process of putting his coat on but turned towards the DS with surprise.

“How should I know?” the detective asked with an indifferent shrug. “It is not like I would keep tabs on her.”

A faint blush covered the face and neck of the sergeant when he grasped the meaning of the detective’s words.

James had been trying hard not to show his feelings for Claire in front of the detectives, but, to his chagrin, sometimes he forgot and made a spectacle of himself.

“I was only wondering if it would be better to take her with us,” the man tried to explain his question and save face, but Mike only smirked.

“Aye, that must be it,” the detective stared at the detective sergeant meaningfully.

At the sight of the suggestive grin, tugging at the lips of the detective, James tightened his teeth. The DS would have liked to wipe the fleeting cheeky smile off the mouth of the DI. However, he knew that such an act would not go too well with his superiors, especially McNamara.

The DS did not harbour any illusions about stopping the rumours reach the CDI. It was bound that his actions would get to his ears, and James would never hear the end of it then.

“You and Jo will drive together,” the DS stated in a dry tone of voice. “I will look for Claire and follow you,” James continued.

His steely eyes drilled holes in the DI’s face, daring Mike to elaborate on what he thought about the relationship between Claire and him.

Mike was smart enough not to rise to the bait and merely nodded. Still, then he shook his head.

The DI did not understand how the DS could be so blind about the people around him. James did believe that people were unaware of the relation between him and Claire, the petite blond who just became a detective a few weeks ago. McNamara heartily recommended her for the DI position after the woman had proved her value in their last major case when they thwarted a group of terrorists.

“I suppose that Jo has already arranged for a few constables to follow us,” James added, pretending not to notice the DI’s head shake.

It was not like the DS could express what went through his head. James might have been left in charge while the DCI was away, but that did not mean Mike would react meekly before him. James wondered if the DI even knew the meaning of the word.

“That she did,” Mike said in a quiet tone of voice and nodded slowly, staring at James with unreadable eyes.

In a way, the man felt sorry for the DS. The DI could understand how the sergeant felt. After all, Mike also walked on a tight rope with Jo. He also hoped that no one would guess their involvement one with each other. However, that did not mean that the DI would tease James less if he had the chance.

The DS pursed his lips and stared Mike down with his clear blue eyes for a few more moments, and then he turned on his heel and left the squad room.

Mike shook his head behind the sergeant, and the saucy grin flourished on his lips once more.