Page 32 of First Blood
‘Guv,’ Bryant interrupted.
She ignored him. ‘This is not a competition, Dawson.’
The jumping muscle in his cheek told her she’d made her point.
‘So, let’s get back…’
‘I’ve got something, boss,’ Stacey said. ‘Umm… sorry, I day mean to…’
‘It’s fine, Stacey. What have you got?’
‘An address for Lisa Bywater, the woman Luke contacted on Facebook.’
‘Good work. Text it to Bryant,’ she said, heading out the door. ‘And once I’ve got this second case transferred to us we’ll find out what this woman has to say and who exactly she is to Luke Fenton.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kim knocked the door of DCI Woodward for what she felt was a foregone conclusion. If he was worth his position he would already have been making calls to Wolverhampton.
‘Enter,’ he called back.
She stood just inside the door, as far away from the seat as she could be. This shouldn’t take more than a minute and she could be on her way to speak to this woman, Lisa Bywater.
‘Take a seat, Stone,’ he instructed, looking over his glasses.
‘Sir, I’m fine stand—’
‘Take a seat, Stone,’ he repeated, but in a deeper voice as though she was a child refusing to put her toys away and the request process had increased a defcon level.
She moved forward and sat. She had learned with her superiors to choose her battles wisely.
‘How was your first day with the new team?’
She narrowed her gaze. ‘Sir, if there’d been any problems I’d have let you know.’
This wasn’t why she’d requested the meeting. Any issues with her team she would deal with one way or another. She’d never yet sought her superior officer’s help with people management and she wasn’t about to start now.
‘I understand that Sergeant Dawson can be a bit…’
‘Sir, can we talk about?…’
‘And I understand that having an officer so fresh to the job might be difficult.’
‘Honestly, I have no complaints at the moment about—’
‘But Bryant appears to be a steadying influence which can only—’
‘Sir, they’re all good, now when can I collect the case file for Tommy Deeley?’
‘We won’t be taking the case from Wolverhampton.’
‘Wh-what?’ she spluttered. Nowhere in her proposed chain of events was that even an option. Now this was a battle worth fighting.
‘May I ask if you’ve requested it?’
No matter how she phrased the question in her head it sounded rude on her lips.
‘I spoke to DCI Redford late last night.’
