‘Emma,’ Molly murmured. ‘Oh…’
I frowned at her and elbowed my way to the front. I scanned the sheet, searching for my name. When I finally saw it at the bottom, and my eyes tracked my assigned rotation printed next to it, I blinked. That didn’t make any sense.
I rubbed my eyes and read it again. ‘It must be a mistake,’ I said, my voice sounding tinny. ‘That can’t be right.’
Molly’s hand reached for mine and squeezed it. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘It must be an error.’
I spun round, blindly pushing my way through the crowd and into the meeting room. I’d get this sorted out in a jiffy.
Barnes was still standing by the podium, frowning at some papers. She looked up when I entered. There wasn’t any surprise in her expression; I had the impression she’d been waiting for me.
‘Detective Superintendent,’ I began.
‘You’ve called me Lucinda until now,’ she said. ‘There’s no reason to suddenly become so formal.’
I sucked in a breath and marched up to her, my arms swinging. The closer I got, however, the more my confidence leaked away. I stopped a few feet away and my hands dropped by my sides. ‘Supes?’ I asked, in little more than a whisper. ‘I’m going to Supes?’
She regarded me implacably. ‘It’s very rare that trainees like you are given a rotation to Supernatural Squad. You should look on it as an honour.’
But it wasn’t an honour. As green as I was, even I knew that nothing could be further from the truth. ‘I’d been expecting Cyber Crime,’ I said, aware of the tinge of desperation in my tone.
‘That rotation is already full. You should consider this an excellent opportunity to hone your investigative skills, Emma.’
I straightened my back. ‘I don’t think it’s a suitable department for me.’
‘On the contrary, I believe it’s the perfect department for you. And if it proves otherwise, well,’ she shrugged, ‘it’s only for two weeks. Once you’re done and you’ve got your full warrant card, you can request all the long-term postings to Cyber Crime that you want. For now, Supes is where you’re going.’ DSI Barnes nodded, indicating that the conversation was over. ‘Enjoy it while you can. Not many people get this opportunity.’ She picked up her pile of papers and walked out, leaving me gaping after her.
Molly edged into the room. As soon as she saw my expression, her face paled. ‘It’s not a mistake then.’
‘No.’ I bunched my hands into fists.
‘It could be worse.’
I gave her a baleful look. ‘Could it? Only fuck-ups get sent to Supernatural Squad, Molly. Isn’t that what we were told in our first week? That the poor sods in Supes are the ones who haven’t quite screwed up badly enough to be fired, or who are already well on their way to retirement. Why am I going there? I thought I was doing well.’
She swallowed. ‘Supe Squad detectives are allowed to use weapons that the rest of us don’t get access to. Crossbows with silver-tipped arrows. That’s cool. Plus, you’ll get to meet a lot of interesting people. If you play your cards right, you might be able to make some contacts that’ll prove useful further down the line after you’ve graduated.’
‘I don’t need a bunch of vampires and werewolves in my address book!’ I snapped. Then I immediately regretted it. ‘Sorry. I’m just…’
‘I know.’ She tried to smile at me. ‘It’ll be alright, Emma. If anyone can excel at this, you can.’
It was an empty platitude and we both knew it. ‘Yeah.’ I lifted my head and pretended that it would be fine. ‘It’ll be great.’
Chapter Two
My new temporary partner-cum-mentor was waiting for me in the lobby when I returned to the ground floor of the Academy.
At first, I looked straight past him. He certainly didn’t look like the other qualified detectives I’d met. It’s all very well to say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do it. Detective Constable Anthony Brown possessed the sort of craggy, pockmarked, drawn face and shabby clothes that you’d be more likely to see on someone who belonged on the other side of law. If it weren’t for the fact that Phyllis nodded towards him when she saw me looking lost, I’d have ignored him completely.
‘Erm, hello?’
Brown’s head slowly swivelled round. ‘Is that a question?’ he grunted. ‘Or have we started recruiting people who can’t speak English?’
My hackles rose immediately. The last thing I needed right now was a stereotypical hard-boiled detective who hated the world. ‘I’m Emma Bellamy,’ I said, more forcefully. I stuck out my hand. ‘I assume you’re Detective Constable Brown.’
He eyed my hand as if it were a strange foreign object before reaching out and shaking it limply. ‘Tony. I can’t stand all that official title malarkey. It’s a pointless exercise, and a waste of breath.’
Okay, then. ‘Tony it is,’ I said with false cheeriness. ‘Nice to meet you.’
He grunted again and looked me up and down. ‘You look like you belong in an open-plan office in that outfit. Dressing smart won’t help you in Supes. Quite the opposite. Do you see me wearing a tie? I don’t even own a damned tie. We don’t need secretaries or pencil pushers.’ His expression took on a suspicious glint. ‘You any good with computers?’
‘Yes.’ I folded my arms and glared at him. ‘And I’m dressed like this because I was expecting to be placed with Cyber Crimes for the next two weeks. Not with you.’ I sniffed. ‘I’m not any happier about this than you are, but it’s for fourteen days. I’d prefer it if those days weren’t spent with a monosyllabic mentor who does nothing but gripe. And I’m sure you’d prefer it if I could actually be of some help to you. Which,’ I added pointedly, ‘I can be, if you let me.’
From behind her desk, Phyllis stared at us goggle-eyed. I wondered if I’d gone too far and had already blown my chances of getting a good report or learning anything useful during the next two weeks.
Then Tony threw back his head and laughed, before clapping me heartily on the shoulder. ‘Well, well, well,’ he chortled. ‘So the little mouse can roar. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. What did you do, anyway?’
‘What do you mean?’
He waved a hand. ‘What did you do to get yourself lumbered with this gig? We never get trainees at Supes.’
My mouth tightened. ‘I don’t know what I did,’ I muttered. ‘But I’ll make the best of it, regardless.’
He examined my face in a bid to ascertain the truth, then he shrugged. ‘Okay, Emma Bellamy. I won’t say it’s going to be fun because it won’t be. But perhaps it won’t be a complete disaster either.’ He gestured towards the door. ‘Come on. I’m parked right out front.’ And with that, he twisted round and strode out of the building. I swallowed and jogged after him.
Rather than using the conveniently located car park to the right of the Academy, Tony had left his beaten-up Mini parked on a double-yellow line. I gazed doubtfully at the lurid purple vehicle while he removed the sign from the dashboard which read ‘Police. On Urgent Call’.
It was one of the old Minis which, judging by the number plate, had been in service since the 1970s. It wasn’t the car’s age that troubled me, however; it was the broken rear window, taped up with a black bin bag presumably to keep out of the worst of the wind. And the cracked side mirrors and the cloud of black smoke that the exhaust coughed out when Tony started the engine.
He leaned across from the driver’s seat and, with what appeared to be incredible effort, wound down the window. ‘Are you getting in or not?’ he asked.
I wrenched open the passenger door while he shoved a small mountain of rubbish into the cramped back seat. The upholstery was marked with various coloured stains of dubious origins. Holding my breath, I clambered in. The interior smelled strongly of patchouli and something else that I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but it was strong enough to make my eyes water.
‘How does this car even pass its MOT?’
Tony slammed his foot onto the accelerator and swerved into the road without checking to see whether anything was coming. I hastily clipped on my seatbelt and gripped the sides of my seat. It was clear this was going to be a white-knuckle ride. Literally.
‘She doesn’t.’ He tapped his nose. ‘But if you don’t tell, then I won’t.’
‘But how…’
‘Tallulah is special.’
Uh… ‘Tallulah?’
‘That’s her name,’ he said proudly. ‘Don’t wear it out.’
I was travelling in a tin can at breakneck speed with a complete lunatic by my side. I’d take machete-wielding attackers any day over this.
‘Tallulah is special,’ Tony repeated. ‘Don’t criticise her.’ The tyres screeched as we took the next corner at high speed.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ I told him. Then I closed my eyes and began to pray for the first time since I was a small child.
‘So,’ Tony said, ‘what do you know about the supes? Are you at kindergarten level, or do you have a master’s?’
Actually, I did have a master’s but it certainly wasn’t in anything to do with the supernatural. With Tony seeming to warm to me, though, I was determined not to lose any ground and come across as a complete idiot.
I dredged my memory for what little I knew. ‘The vampires live mostly in Soho, and abide by a feudal system of governance. They number around a thousand—’
‘It’s closer to two thousand,’ Tony interrupted. He flicked his fingers in the air dismissively. ‘But please. Continue.’
I drew in a breath. ‘Their leader is a bloke called Lord – uh—’ Damn it. What was his name?