Two For Mirth

Chapter Four

09:30

Cecelia arrived in her office and took off her long Navy woolen coat before putting it on the hanger behind her office door, shivering as the cool air hit her. She really should contact maintenance to get them to come and sort the heating throughout the building.

March seemed to be such a cold month this year, she just hoped the snow would stay away.

Cecelia put her handbag in her bottom drawer, where it always lived when she was in her office. Going to her mini fridge, she pulled out a bottle of water before sitting back at her desk and booting up her computer. As she leaned forward to pick up the paperwork from her in-tray to start checking through it, a knock came on the door startling her. She turned in her chair to see her fiancée standing in the doorway smiling warmly at her. The man had been her rock since they had been reacquainted back in May last year. His help in getting through some very rough and trying moments and aiding in her struggle to move on from them had been just what she needed. She was grateful for his need to protect her, even if he did at times push it to the extremes.

Not long after re-meeting, they had moved in together and became engaged. Something she had found out he had been planning to do the day she had broken up with him to go to university, it was as if they had never been apart.

“Where did you rush off to so early this morning?” He asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. She took in his perfect figure leaning against the door frame, he wore his own black wool coat and a deep red scarf over his grey pinstriped three-piece suit and deep blue shirt. Her head swooned like it always did when she took in the breathtaking sight that was her fiancé. “I woke up to you gone and a brief note in your place.”

“I needed to talk to Charlie.” She told him getting her handbag and pulling out the scans Charles had given to her earlier. He had printed her two copies of it knowing that she would want to give a copy to him.

“You couldn’t have phoned him?” Riley asked coming into the room and sitting down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk to her. If he had come to see her on his own he didn't tend to bother waiting for an invitation to enter, they had long passed that stage.

“If I had called him I wouldn’t have been able to get these would I?” She said handing him the folded scans that she had fished out of her handbag. He leaned forward and took them from her and unfolded them, a look of confusion on his face as he stared at them, trying to work out what he was looking at.

All of a sudden, it came to him what the black-and-white picture he held in front of him was telling him. It was as if a light bulb had been switched on in his head. He looked up at her, his face filled with shock.

“You’re….” He started, looking back at the scan and then back at Cecelia. A grin spread across his face as the reality of it all began to settle in. “Oh wow.”

“Twins.” She said.

“Hmm?” He said looking up at her, but not actually registering what she had said to him.

“The top scan is baby A and the bottom one is baby B.” She told him.

“Twins!” He exclaimed. “Oh wow. I’m utterly speechless. I’m going to be a daddy, this is amazing. Didn’t think we would see this day yet for a while.”

Cecelia looked at her watch, the day was getting on and she really needed to get started with some work. “That is your copy.”

“How far are you?” He asked suddenly, he was in a daze now, this had been the last thing he had expected to hear when he had come to her office.

“Charlie seems to think I am about ten weeks into the pregnancy.” She told him. “I am going to meet my midwife and have my booking bloods done in two weeks' time.”

“Wow.” He said still staring at the pictures.

“I don’t think we should tell anyone until after twelve weeks, just in case.”

“That’s fine, I only have to keep quiet about it for two more weeks then.” He said with a grin

“Was there an actual reason you visited today?” She asked him

“Oh, yes, I was just popping in to see if you were okay. I was a little concerned when I woke up this morning.” He said with a smile. “Much work today?”

“I have only just got in, all I am aware of is a suspected suicide that Colin was on his way out to just as I was coming in. I was just about to start going through all the paperwork when you arrived.”

“Ah yes, I sent Greg and Suzy to that.” He said as he stood, he knew this was her telling him that she really needed to get on with her work. He put the scans into his wallet which he then returned to the back pocket of his trousers. “Well, I had better return to the station, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I was a little concerned when you had gone and I couldn’t get hold of you on your phone?”

“I’m fine. I had my phone switched off until I had finished with Charlie” She said with a smile. He leaned over her desk and kissed her on the lips before standing back and leaving the office.

Once Cecelia heard the elevator doors open and then shut, she picked up the files and started to read through them again. She had just got to the end of the first one and was about to sign the bottom of it when there came yet another knock on the door.

She looked up to see her Deputy Chief standing in the doorway wearing a white blouse and red skirt with matching red stilettos.

“Sally, have you got a new job?” Cecelia asked with a grin motioning for her friend to come in.

“Huh? Sally asked as she sat down, a look of confusion on her face. She too had learnt not to wait for an invitation into the room, which annoyed Cecelia a little, but the problem with her best friend and deputy, was she just laughed you off.

“Well, you look like an air hostess for an airline company.” She replied as she signed the bottom of a report.

“Nah, I can’t be, they wear black shoes not red,” Sally said with a grin lifting a leg up to show off her new shiny red stilettos. Cecelia liked buying shoes, but Sally was obsessed with them, she owned pairs that were worth hundreds of pounds. The most Cecelia had ever paid was ninety, and she had debated on whether or not the price was a little steep for a while. Now they are kept in their box in the back of her wardrobe only to come out when she has to attend charity events.

“What’s up?” Cecelia asked as she closed the file she had just finished and put it into the out tray ready for her secretary to file it away.

“Was wondering if you were ready to do the daily brief,” Sally said. Cecelia looked at her watch again, it was now 9:50, they normally did the brief at 8:30 but with her being late in that morning, she had thought Sally would have done it without her, well she now knew what thought did.

“You could have gone ahead without me Sally,” Cecelia said with a frown.

“No, we waited for you.” They both stood and as they did, Cecelia knocked her handbag off the desk where she had put it to get the scans out for Riley. The contents were emptied on the floor.

“Damn it,” Cecelia muttered as she knelt down to pick it all up. Sally knelt down to help, picking up Cecelia’s copy of the scan as she did so, she looked at the scan and then looked up to Cecelia.

“You got something you want to tell me about the boss?” Sally asked as she took the scans in.

“This is the first time I have seen you since I found out myself,” Cecelia said. “I got in this morning and as soon as my backside hit the chair, Riley appeared, then within moments of him leaving you appear telling me you haven’t had the daily brief, so forgive me, but I’m telling you now. I’m pregnant,”

Cecelia stood up with her bag and locked it into her bottom drawer whilst she was out of the office. She picked up the files off her desk, took the scans from Sally and put them on her desk before the pair of them walked down the hallway towards the conference room.

“Well that is great news, congratulations,” Sally said as they walked. “Twins as well.”

“We are only 10 weeks along, so we are going to wait to announce it until the end of the first trimester,” Cecelia explained.

“Well that’s fair,” Sally said.

“I wasn’t keeping it from you Sally but as I said I only found out today and it still hasn’t fully sunk in.” She explained as they walked into the conference room to find all of the staff ready and waiting. Cecelia took her place in her normal chair at the head of the table, whilst Sally sat heavily in the chair to her left.

“Good morning all. I apologize for the late start but something came up this morning which I had to sort out before I came in, I had thought you would all have proceeded without me. It would appear to have been a quiet night last night, with only two from the hospital which were a three-year-old girl who has died from unknown reasons and a 29-year-old who is believed to have had an allergic reaction to something, the family have requested an inquest as they believe their son was given penicillin although his notes said he was allergic, they want to make sure of it. Brienne, how did the little girl’s autopsy go?” Cecelia asked one of her techs.

“I have sent tests off, but it looks like she died from an overdose.” She said with a sigh. “The parents apparently brought her in saying that she just went all hot and pale, she was unconscious when they got her to the hospital, but the girl died in casualty. The parents are adamant that they don’t know what she took or what happened. All they had to do was tell the doctor what she had taken and they could have saved her.”

“Okay, let me have your provisional report and I will contact Social Services and the police,” Cecelia said with a sigh, she really hated these cases.

“Will do Boss.”

“Maria. What about the man?” Cecelia asked.

“Joshua Carnes, again toxicology results have been sent to find out what he had taken, but I will let you know as soon as I know,” Maria said, Cecelia nodded. Not a lot more the woman could say on that one.

“Right, that looks like it for today so far, obviously Colin is off to this suspected suicide, but I haven’t heard much else on that front,” Cecelia said. “Right is there anything else that I have missed?”

“There are another two malpractice suits coming in,” Brienne said.

“Okay, well if you and Maria can look after those, keep me informed,” Cecelia said as her bleep started to go off. She took it off her belt and read it. “Well, then, looks like things are going to get busier. Come on Sally.”

Everyone stood, marking this as the end of the briefing. Sally followed Cecelia as she walked out of the room and back down towards her office. “What’s the matter, boss?”

“A Body has been found,” Cecelia said. “Get your warm kit, it’s in a field.”

“Oh, this day just gets better.” Sally muttered as she broke off and disappeared into her own office.