Helen Phifer - The Face Behind the Mask

He walked over and kissed her forehead.

‘Who’s Adele?’

Annie tried to make the question sound casual, not like she was being a paranoid wife, but a small flutter of panic had formed in her chest when he’d first said her name.

‘Adele Dean – she’s transferring from Carlisle to Barrow. I suppose she’s Stu’s replacement although it hasn’t been officially said. I did my training with her; she’s lovely and very happily married with two grown-up kids. Does that answer your questions?’

Annie felt her cheeks begin to burn. ‘Sorry, it’s just I’m stuck at home all day and I kind of miss my old life a little bit. I’ve just never heard of her and wondered, that’s all.’

Will almost choked on the last bit of his bagel that he’d shoved into his mouth. ‘You miss your old life? You mean the one where demented killers were following you and kidnapping you every couple of weeks?’

‘Don’t be daft; you know what I mean. I miss the going out to work and stuff, keeping up with the gossip and general banter. Of course I don’t miss that other stuff.’

‘Phew, that’s a relief. Look, why don’t you come outside and say hello to her? Then you can meet her and know what she’s like instead of sitting here worrying over nothing.’

‘And look like some crazy, jealous wife? No, thank you. I’m not worried at all. Have a good day and I’ll see you later.’

Will smiled. ‘You know how much I love you both, right?’

She nodded.

‘Well, don’t be worrying yourself over nothing.’

Annie lifted her hand and waved. ‘Bye, Will.’

He blew her a kiss, grabbed his suit jacket off the back of the chair and took one last mouthful of coffee. He waved at her as he went out of the front door to the woman waiting in the car outside for him. Annie couldn’t help herself and walked across to the window to take a peek. The woman was talking to Will as he got inside her car, then, as if she knew she was being watched, she turned and smiled at Annie, giving her a wave.

Annie waved back and let the curtain drop, mortified she’d been caught. Bugger. Today she was going to move some things around in their bedroom to make enough room for Alfie’s cot, which was a bit of a monster. Then she would take him for a walk into the village for some fresh air. See, her life was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Then she remembered about phoning Father John. Scrap that; she might go and visit him and move the furniture around later.

Pleased she had something slightly more exciting planned for the morning, she picked up Alfie, who was wearing more of his breakfast than he had consumed. She took him upstairs with her so she could get them both ready.

***

Will clicked his seat belt in.

‘I could get used to this being chauffeur-driven to work.’

‘Well, don’t bother. I’m not travelling every day; I can’t be bothered. It’s far too long and will cost a fortune in diesel. Steve’s agreed we can move back to Barrow. His mum still lives in Holbeck so we’re going to move in with her until we find a place of our own. Was that the famous Annie Graham I just saw looking out of the window?’

Will looked at her to see if she was taking the piss, but she seemed genuinely interested.

‘Yes, it was. Well, she’s Annie Ashworth now. I think she’s still a bit annoyed with me.’

‘Because of yesterday? I should bloody well think so. I heard you were pissed as a fart and had to be escorted into the back of a van because you were that drunk. How did you manage that in less than two hours? I’m impressed.’

She winked at him and he laughed.

‘How the hell did you know that?’

‘News travels fast in this job, my old friend; you should know that. Actually it was Kav. He rang Steve about something last night and happened to mention it. In fact it was Kav who suggested I offer to pick you up this morning. That bloke was as hard as nails back in the day when he was our sergeant. Now he’s retired he’s turned into a right old softie.’

‘I guess seeing the stuff he’s seen over the years has made him appreciate family and friends a lot more. And I think when you’re not dealing with the shit day in, day out it makes you turn back into a relatively normal human being. It’s certainly made me more grateful for every single day.’

Will’s phone began to ring and he tugged it out of his trouser pocket.

‘I’m on my way; well, we both are. Adele picked me up. Yes, I know. I saw it on the news last night.’

Will listened as the male voice on the other end related something to him.

‘Be there soon, traffic permitting.’ He ended the call and glanced at her. ‘Did you see that murder on the news yesterday?’

She shook her head.

‘There’s a full briefing and they’re waiting on us before they begin. Bollocks, my head’s pounding and I’m not even at work yet. This is going to be a long day.’

‘Aren’t they all?’

The morning traffic wasn’t as bad as Will had anticipated and before long they arrived at the brand-new, shiny police station that had replaced the old one, which had been deemed unfit for purpose. The only problem was that the shiny new one was crap compared to the old one. It was all open-plan and the sound carried. There were no private areas that you could go to have a good old slanging match with someone or to discuss just how much someone was pissing you off. Will would have moved back to the old station in the blink of an eye.

Adele whistled. ‘I bet this cost them a pretty penny.’

He nodded. ‘Yep, wait until you see our office. It’s awful. Don’t get me wrong, the canteen’s handy and the chairs are comfy, but there’s nowhere to hide from any of them now.’

‘There’s nowhere for anyone to be having a quick shag either by the looks of it. This building should do wonders for marriage survival. Divorces rates will be going down.’

He chuckled. ‘I doubt that. Are you nervous?’

‘Yes and no. I don’t particularly like change, but I hated it at Carlisle. I wanted to come back, so it’s on my terms, sort of. I think I’m looking forward to it and, besides, there are much uglier bosses than you.’

‘I take it that’s a compliment?’

‘You can take it how you want. I won’t be calling you boss unless there’s anyone around. I hate all that.’

‘Good, I don’t expect you to. I’m plain old Will. I only get Sarge when they want something anyway.’

‘Excellent. Shall we?’

She’d parked her car outside the front of the building, instead of going into the secure car park around the back. Will got out, wondering if he was going to be able to stomach the crime scene photos. He felt like crap, although he’d not admitted that to Annie because he didn’t want her to gloat too much. Hopefully, because he was off work yesterday, Mikey – who had been the duty DS – had already taken over the case.

They walked through the front doors of the huge building and Adele whispered, ‘At least it smells new and not of sweaty boots and cannabis.’

Will nodded. She had a point. He swiped them in through the double doors that led into the atrium – as it was called – leading Adele to the spiral staircase in the middle of the floor. She followed him upstairs to the first floor and the major incident room where there was an assortment of bosses, detectives and OSU officers, all sitting around waiting for them. She went and stood at the back of the room, leaving Will to take the last seat at the front. The Chief Super began to talk. Will took his notebook out and wrote things down. He didn’t realise his name was being called until the room went silent and he looked up to see that everyone was staring at him.

‘Nice of you to join us, William; I was just explaining how you would be taking over the running of this. Mikey is going on holiday tomorrow and then he’s on a week-long course at headquarters on his return, so you might as well take over as OIC.’