Play With Fire (Detective Sheridan Holler) by T. M. Payne

Author:T. M. Payne [Payne, T. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2025-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 57

Tuesday 31 March

Anna came out of the ladies’ toilet and spotted Sheridan glaring at the vending machine.

‘Morning,’ Anna said cheerfully.

‘Morning. Do you want some chocolate?’ Sheridan fed the machine and pressed her selection into the keypad.

‘Is it working?’

‘Yeah. But keep your voice down, it’ll hear you.’ Sheridan smiled in triumph as her Twix dropped into the tray and she quickly opened the drawer to retrieve it. Six bars of chocolate later, they made their way to CID where Sheridan handed out treats to her team. Hill, standing at the front of the room waiting to start the briefing, declined the offer.

Hill explained to the team that the Caroline Crow case had been handed to the misper unit. All heads turned to Sheridan, who raised her eyes to the ceiling.

Hill knew Sheridan well enough to be aware of her reaction without turning around. ‘I know you’ve all worked so hard on the case, and I want to thank you. It wasn’t my decision to hand it over – and I’m sure Sheridan is making faces behind my back. Right, let’s go around the room and see what everyone’s working on. Anna is keeping the burnt hands job, so she’ll be linking in with the misper team if that throws anything up.’

One by one, the DCs updated her on the cases that had been placed on the back burner while they’d worked on the Crow enquiry.

Finally, Hill turned to Rob Wills. ‘I know you’ve got a couple of GBHs but there was one particular job that came in last night. I’ve read the handover and I think everyone needs a good laugh.’

Rob grinned. ‘This guy, Kenneth Blake, comes home and finds his house trashed, so he calls it in on three nines, saying he’s been burgled. When uniform turn up to check around the place, they find scales, bags, cling film and a shitload of drugs. So, he gets himself nicked for possession with intent.’

Laughter erupted around the room and even Hill allowed herself a grin. ‘Okay,’ she finally said, ‘let’s crack on.’ And with that, she headed back to her office. Still grinning.

Sheridan looked around the room as everyone turned back to their computers or picked up their phone. There was a mixed atmosphere in the office – partly disappointment that they hadn’t got to the bottom of the Caroline Crow case and partly a sense of work returning to normal. Everyone had a caseload that they had tried to keep on top of and now they could turn their attention back to it.

Sheridan went to her office and stood at the window for a moment, taking in her view of the Albert Dock. For a moment, she was sitting in one of the restaurants there, sharing a meal with Sam. Then, as quickly as the image came into her head, it was gone, and she was back in her office – the questions about the Crow case nagging at her again.

Everything that Simon Banks had told them made sense. It fitted.

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