Chapter 38

Chapter 38

He had searched everywhere. The canteen, the common room, even the ladies' locker room, but still his quarry eluded him. But as Dave Reynolds was about to give up, frustrated and enraged, he spotted her, fiddling with her bike chain in the station car park.

Hurrying out of the main doors, he marched across the tarmac towards Beamer. The young probationer had just unlocked her bike and was stowing her chain when she heard his approach, looking up sharply at her colleague with an anxious, uneasy expression.

‘Yes, you might well look worried,' Reynolds hissed at her. ‘Being the station grass and all …'

Beth Beamer stared at him, cornered and helpless, unable to formulate a response.

‘You're not even going to bother to deny it?' her irate colleague demanded. ‘It was a mistake. DI Grace misinterpreted what I said.'

‘Listen, Dave, I—'

‘Don't you fucking call me, Dave. You're not my mate. You're a worm, a snitch, a parasite …'

He was gratified to see tears threatening. She deserved this and more.

‘Look, I'm sorry,' the probationer blustered, unable to meet his eye. ‘I didn't mean to get you into trouble or cause any problems between us, really I didn't.'

She was staring at him beseechingly, but it cut no ice. ‘I was just trying to help the missing girl. I thought maybe it had slipped your mind …'

‘Jesus, how stupid do you think I am? You were trying to drop me in it. To make me look negligent, incompetent …'

‘I wasn't, I swear!' Beamer protested.

‘Then why did you go straight to Grace?'

As expected, this silenced her, so he was quick to double down.

‘If you really thought it had slipped my mind, if you really thought reminding me might help Naomi Watson …'

‘That's all it was, please believe me …'

‘If that was the case, why didn't you come to me first? Why go to Grace telling tales?'

‘I don't know, I … I wasn't sure what to do for the best. And I happened to see DS Brooks in the corridor …'

‘Sure you did.'

‘Honest to God, it's true. So I told her. I thought I was being helpful. And now all this …'

She looked distraught, which was something. Even so, there could be no room for mercy.

‘PC Beamer, you are a very young, very inexperienced officer. You have been entrusted to my care so that you can learn the ropes. Your job is to keep your mouth shut and do as you're told, whilst you find your feet here. Is that clear?'

Beamer nodded, seemingly unable to speak.

‘You are very green, you are very clumsy. And you've got a long road ahead of you if you're ever to make the grade here. Maybe your inexperience is the root cause of this gross error of judgement, but you better make sure it's your last. People don't get second chances round here.'

Beamer blinked, then nodded, too intimidated to offer any resistance.

‘Rule Number One – respect your superiors. Got it?'

‘Of course, yes.'

‘Good. Now piss off home.'

The startled probationer was only too happy to oblige, scrambling onto her bike and hastening away. Dave Reynolds watched her all the way down the road, his blood boiling, then he turned away, stalking back towards the station. But no sooner had he set foot in the lobby than the custody sergeant called out to him.

‘DI Grace was after a word with you,' he offered cheerily. ‘It's about that missing fifteen-year-old.'