Chapter 12

Chapter 12

From her vantage point at her desk, Charlie cast an eye over the busy incident room. Despite her misgivings about her position within this team, her words had certainly had the desire effect on the assembled officers, who were busy bashing the phones and running multiple lines of enquiry. They seemed energized, excited even, by the prospect of a major investigation. DCs Wilson, Malik, McAndrew and Reid were working flat out, setting an example to the others, especially DC Jennings. He had only been with the team a matter of months, but already Charlie could tell he was going to be a problem. Looking at him now, he seemed the very image of entitlement, going to his task with a marked lack of urgency, forever offloading unwelcome tasks onto junior colleagues, so that he could focus on more glamorous assignments. In Charlie's book, that kind of power play, that form of laziness, was completely out of order and she was even now considering marching over to him to remind him of his responsibilities, when she suddenly saw Helen enter. After a quick scan of the room, her old comrade-in-arms made directly for her, her expression serious.

‘Everything all right?' Charlie enquired, intrigued.

Helen gestured to Charlie to join her at the board, out of earshot of the team.

‘Probably,' Helen replied ominously, keeping her voice low. ‘Just had a bit of a discussion with our new boss about priorities.'

‘Oh dear,' Charlie teased, smiling. ‘Are you still friends or …?'

‘As much as we'll ever be. Anyway, I need you to do something for me, but we might need to keep it on the low down, as I'm not sure the chief super would approve.'

‘Sure. What's up?'

‘We've got a missing persons enquiry that I want fast-tracked. Naomi Watson, fifteen years old, missing since last night. I've sketched out the basic details here.'

She handed Charlie a sheet of paper, who ran a quick eye over it.

‘And you want this done ASAP?' Charlie queried, failing to disguise her surprise. ‘As in pull some of us off what we're doing here to pursue this?'

‘Absolutely. I don't like the sound of it, so I want us to do some digging on the street. Perhaps you could talk to the hostels – Tara Bridges at Lime Street would be a good starting point – and maybe send one other officer to Hoglands Park, to ask around. We're pretty sure that was Naomi's last known location.'

Still Charlie paused, uncertain whether to comply.

‘Is there a problem?' Helen asked, frowning.

‘No, no,' Charlie responded quickly. ‘As long as you're sure that you want to prioritize this over—'

‘Please don't make me have the same argument twice, Charlie,' Helen replied firmly. ‘I want this checked out ASAP. If there's nothing in it, if Naomi turns up safe and well, then that's on me. But I want to know for sure that she's not in any danger. She's so young, so inexperienced, and her mum's going out of her mind with worry …'

This swung it for Charlie, as Helen knew it would. As the mother of two daughters, Charlie couldn't resist this blatant tug on her heartstrings.

‘No problem. What sort of resources do you want to throw at this?'

‘Just you and one other. That'll do until we know more. So pick anyone, someone you think we can spare from the main investigation and let me know as soon as you find anything.'

Nodding gratefully at her, Helen headed off, marching purposefully away to her office. Surprised, Charlie nevertheless knew from experience that there was no point fighting Helen when she'd made up her mind, so she turned her thoughts to the task in hand, running her eye over the panorama of colleagues in front of her. As she did so, a thought formed in her mind, a very pleasing thought.

‘DC Jennings?'

The junior officer was busy texting, but looked up sharply now, as if caught out.

‘Could I have a word? I've got a little job for you.'