Blood Tears (13 page)

“
Are
you sure you want to go home, Tessie? He probably won’t be too
happy with your recent nocturnal adventures with his
family.”

“
Perhaps, but it had nothing to do with him, and I’d still
like to be there when he wakes up.”
Not that it’s any of your
business
, was the nasty thought that crossed my mind. I busied
myself with my computer. “I’ll print off all our reports on this
boy’s accidental death. We interviewed everybody, so there are a
lot of them. You can read them while you’re watching over
Mark.”

“
Back
here at eight?”

“
S’pose,” I conceded with bad grace. “It’d be nice to get some
sleep for once.”

“
Earlier would be even better as we need to take Bycraft to
the watch house in Big Town. I presume you’re taking the patrol car
home with you right now.”

“
You
presume correctly.” I picked up its key.

“
Don’t get used to it,” he said with a faint smile.

I shot him an
unappreciative glance, and brought up something that had been
bothering me. “What were doing there tonight anyway? You’re not on
duty yet. Did Baz ring you?”

“
No.
I saw the patrol car flying past my house and thought I’d better
come help.”

“
How
did you know where we were?”

“
Lucky guess. Aren’t you glad I turned up? Especially with Baz
knocked out.”

“
I
could have coped by myself.”

“
Looked like they were ganging up on you when I
arrived.”

“
I
could have coped,” I repeated. “What were you doing up at that
hour?”

He reached over to
retrieve the papers from the printer. “Contemplating.”

“
Contemplating what?” I asked, despite myself. I didn’t want
him to start thinking I was interested in his life, although to be
honest, I had a million questions about his break-up with
Melissa.

“
Contemplating my future, and how I can make what I want to
happen, happen.”

I scrunched up my face.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
It’s
meaningful to me.”

“
That’s your problem, Maguire. You’ve always been so bloody
enigmatic. You couldn’t just say you were contemplating what to
have for breakfast in the morning, like a normal
person.”

He laughed out loud.
“Still always thinking about food, I see. Believe me, you have no
idea how glad I am to be back here.”

“
Right. You’d rather be here than gallivanting around
overseas?”

“
I
would, actually.”

I glared at him. “Well,
don’t expect me to believe that for a minute.”

He laughed again, more
softly. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Fed up with his
unfathomable comments, I left him by himself picking up another
report to read.

*****

I yawned all the way
back to the station at seven-thirty.

I’d woken Jake up when
I’d tried to sneak back into bed for another couple of hours sleep.
I’d sidestepped his curiosity by merely telling him I’d been on a
call-out, deciding I’d leave his family to tell him exactly what
I’d been up to. I’d also slapped away his wandering hands, advising
him firmly that I’d
meant
it when I’d said I was exhausted,
happy to snuggle with him instead. But it’d seemed only like
seconds later that Jake was shaking me awake.

“
Bugger off, Jakey,” I’d mumbled. “I told you I’m too tired
for sex.” I’d tried to roll over and resume the very pleasant and
fantastical dream I’d been having about eating at Big Town’s posh
restaurant, Cybele.

“
Why
didn’t you tell me you were at Mum’s place last night,” he’d
demanded.

I’d reluctantly unglued
my eyelids from each other. “You know I can’t talk about police
business.”

“
This
is a hard time for her with Denny’s funeral coming up. She’s really
upset about what happened last night.”

“
Tough shit for her. Baz is really upset about being king-hit
by your cousin. Not to mention being injured.”

“
Tough shit for him. Dorrie said he deserved it.”

I sat up in bed, still
wearing the clothes I’d put on last night before I’d left the
house. “Oh,” I’d said frostily. “Dorrie’s ringing you now?”

“
She
texted me. So?”

“
And
you believe her word about what happened?”

He’d thrown his legs
over the side of the bed, slipping his boxers and jeans over his
lithe hips. “She was there.” He’d cast me a sideways glance. “And
she’s not as biased as some people”

With that, I’d stormed
off to the bathroom and stayed there until I’d heard his ute
driving away.

At the station, I found
the Sarge making himself a coffee, whistling quietly to himself. He
turned around at my entrance, pulling a face when he saw mine.

“
You
look chirpy today,” he smiled.

I ignored him, clomping
over to the kitchenette to dump spoonfuls of the cheap instant
coffee I paid for in a mug, my face like a thundercloud.

“
I
have good news and bad news,” the Sarge said, taking a sip of his
brew.

I stared at him,
silent.

“
Choose one,” he insisted.

“
Good.”

“
Baz
is feeling fine this morning, with no apparent repercussions from
last night.”

“
That
is good news,” I said quietly, staring at the steam rising from my
mug. “I’m glad about that.” I meant that sincerely, though I’d
thought about killing him myself a few times over the last few
months.

“
Yeah, but the bad news is bad. Very bad.”

I met his eyes. “What
is it?”

“
The
Super wants to see us this morning. In person.”

Chapter 9

I groaned. “Oh, man.
Why? I haven’t done anything wrong.” I desperately wracked my brain
for anything I felt guilty about, but Baz had kept me on too short
a leash to let me get up to anything I’d get into trouble over
later.

“
Don’t go assuming it’s because you’ve done something wrong.
It’s not the only reason she ever summons us.”

We exchanged a
glance.

“
Only
ninety per cent of the time, right?” I said, conceding to him the
barest uplifting of my mouth that could be called a
smile.

“
I
would have said ninety-eight per cent,” he smiled. “Lucky we were
going there anyway today. Car key?”

I handed it over to
him. “Maybe she wants to congratulate us for arresting Mark
Bycraft?”

“
Sure, because she’s
always
doing that, and
complimenting us on our policing skills,” he said, rolling his
eyes. “Maybe she wants to welcome me back?”

“
Hmm.
Don’t hold your hopes out for that.” I almost made it to a full
smile then, a sensation that felt as if it would make my face
crack, it was so alien.

He sighed, casting me a
sly sideways glance. “It would be nice to have
someone
welcome me back.”

“
I
bet it would,” I replied, not giving in to his implied invitation
to thaw a little.

“
God,
it’s like reliving my first day all over again.”

“
I
could
make you eat dirt and arrest you again, if you like,
Maguire.”

“
Always the sweet charmer, Fuller. I really missed that about
you,” he said dryly. “Okay, let’s retrieve our man and get moving
to Big Town. The Super was expecting us an hour ago.”

“
She’s so bloody unreasonable all the time,” I muttered,
abandoning my coffee, grabbing my cap and doing up my utility belt.
Despite knowing she’d be watching the second hand on her clock, I
took a few minutes to print off a couple of copies of my report on
Mr Mansfield’s visit for Mr X and Zelda.

He shot me a sharp
glance. “You’re not still angry with her, are you?”

“
I’m
still angry with everybody,” I said, barging in front of him out
the back door.

At Mark’s cell, I
banged with little consideration loudly on the wall.

“
Get
up! It’s time for a little trip to Big Town,” I yelled, only to be
greeted with a thunderous round of snoring.

“
We
should probably give him some breakfast,” said the Sarge, looking
in the cell with little enthusiasm.

“
Nah,
stuff him. Open the door, will you? He’s not rousing.”

“
Not
surprising. He was smashed when we took him.”

Inside the cell, we
were both assailed by a horrible smell.

“
Oh,
yuck. He’s spewed everywhere,” I said, trying not to heave
myself.

The Sarge wrinkled his
elegant nose. “Smells vile. Let’s try to get him awake and out of
here.”

“
We
can’t leave the cell like this. What if we need it
later?”

“
Leave it for the cleaning woman.”

I gave him a withering
stare. “What cleaning woman? The second you took off, she stopped
coming. We haven’t had one for months.”

“
Oh.
I didn’t think of that. Sorry.”

“
Were
you paying for her out of your own pocket?”

He nodded. “I didn’t
want you wasting your time doing chores. That’s not what you were
trained for.”

“
Yeah, well, tell that to this stupid dropkick.” I nudged Mark
with my boot. “Let’s move him into the next cell. You can clean him
up, and find a fresh shirt for him to wear. I’ll give this cell a
quick mop up.”

He looked down at Mark
dismally. “The Super’s going to rip us both a new one for being
late.”

“
Welcome back to Little Town.”

“
That’s not really the welcome back I was looking for from
you.”

“
Tough luck,” I said, stomping off to find the station’s
ancient old bucket and mop.

Twenty minutes later,
in which the Sarge also had a speedy shower, shave, and changed
into uniform, we were speeding to Big Town, breaking a few road
rules along the way.

I let my gaze linger on
his face.

“
What?” he asked, darting a quick glance at me.

“
Decided to get rid of that fungus on your face, huh? Afraid
of what of the Super might say about it?”

He ran his fingers over
his clean-shaven top lip. “I miss it already.”

“
Was
it the reason you broke up with Melissa?” I asked with a
smirk.

“
She
quite liked it, actually,” he said mildly.

I desperately wanted to
ask him what had happened between them, but I didn’t want him to
think I was at all interested.

“
So
how was it with Baz?” he asked, breaking the silence as he sped up
to overtake a road train.

I cut him a sour look.
“How do you think it was? I couldn’t blink without his permission.
It was stifling.”

“
I
haven’t ever worked with him –”

“
Of
course not. That’s only for bad cops like me.”

He ignored my acidity,
continuing, “But he’s a decent fellow by all accounts.”

“
He
was all right, but he just got on my nerves. I’m glad it’s
over.”

“
So
you’re pleased I’m back?”

“
I
didn’t say that.”

His mouth compressed,
but he determinedly carried on. “It could have been much worse for
you, Tessie. You could have been demoted. Would you really want to
be a constable again?”

I stared out the
window. “No. I would have quit if they’d decided that. I didn’t do
anything wrong.”

“
You
did one thing wrong.”

“
What
was that?”

“
You
tried to stick up for me. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“
You’re right. I shouldn’t have,” I said to myself, not
forgetting the misery that had swamped me when he’d willingly
agreed to leave town.

“
You
should have just let me cop my suspension on the chin. No matter
how I feel about taking his life, I knew I had no choice but to
shoot Dylan, or he would have seriously injured or killed you.
There was no reasoning with him. I knew that after their
investigation, the PIU would come to that conclusion too. I knew
I’d be exonerated eventually.”

“
It
must be nice to know everything.”

“
Tessie . . .”

I didn’t reply or look
his way, so we finished the drive in silence, pulling into one of
the police vehicle car spaces at the Big Town station. We virtually
had to drag Mark into the watch house, trying to spare our boots
when he vomited again on the bitumen.

“
Oh,
gross,” said Senior Sergeant Daisy Yu, the duty officer on the
processing counter, screwing up her nose and turning her face away.
“Who’s this revolting specimen you’ve dragged in?”

“
Mark
Bycraft,” I told her. “He king-hit Sergeant Chives early this
morning. Knocked him out cold.”

“
Poor
Baz. He’s all right, isn’t he?” she asked sharply.

“
He’s
been examined by a doctor, and he told me he’s feeling fine this
morning,” assured the Sarge.

“
Good
to hear.” She turned to a couple of watch house officers who leant
on a wall chatting near the entry to the holding cells. “Oi! You
two! Get over here and take this piece of scum into one of the
cells. And keep an eye on him. He smells like he’s been spewing
recently.”