Scene guard wasn’t the most inspiring of duties. Tedious, it entailed keeping a log, ensuring the public stayed outside the cordon and registering everyone who entered or exited the cordons and where they went within the area. Preservation of the integrity of the scene was paramount, as was continuity of evidence. The job sounded important, but the truth of the matter was, it was eight hours of boredom, with feet that ached from standing continually. Although he deserved the tediousness of it, Jenna couldn’t imagine anything more miserable than encountering Lee Gardner every day with his face twisted with misery.
With a philosophical shrug, Jenna moved on. The fact was Lee Gardner would be at the scene some time during the day. When that was would ironically clash with when she arrived. It seemed to be her fate.
Cradling her coffee in one hand, Jenna took another sip as she passed Mason’s desk. Attuned so well to her, he raised his head and, as his astute gaze caught hers, she jerked her head in the direction of the door. ‘Mason, you’re with me.’
With measured movements, he rose from his chair, stiff-legged, and Jenna held her tongue as she cruised on past. Perhaps the gym had been a mistake. He wasn’t as young as he used to be.
Ryan leapt from his chair in the corner and dashed towards her across the office, like an excitable puppy, eyes dancing with enthusiasm and hope.
She shot him a smile and a quick wink. ‘Ryan, with me.’
She took the back way down through Malinsgate police station, as the boys exchanged the grunted pleasantries only men understood. Her flat-heeled shoes slapped out a rhythm which echoed in the stairwell as she swept down, with the other three following close behind.
Ahead of them, she leaned in through the front desk window, grabbed a set of keys for one of the police-issue vehicles and held up a pen to show she was about to sign for it before Della Prince’s ice blue eyes could pierce her with a deadly stare.
Jenna whipped around from the window to come close up against Adrian, whose breath puffed out across her ear. ‘We don’t need to take a police vehicle, we can go in mine.’
Jenna grinned, tipping her head back so she could look him in the eye as she raised the car keys and jiggled them in his face, the same as she had the first time he’d tried to persuade her to let him use his vehicle. Then the jury had still been out on her opinion of him. Now, her response was tongue in cheek. ‘Nice try. You know the rules, Adrian, we’re not getting in your car. We’re not insured. We’re on duty.’
He shrugged his shoulders. His lips twitched up at the sides. ‘It was worth a try. It’s better than the heap of metal you’re about to drive.’
As his vehicle was a Range Rover Autobiography LR-SDV8, almost any other car would seem like a heap to him.
Privileged, Mason had called him when they’d first met. He’d called him worse and revised his opinion in a short space of time.
She ran her gaze over Adrian and bestowed him with a sweet smile. Privileged he may be, but he’d never flaunted it, never abused it and the pleasant surprise was that since their first meeting, Mason and Adrian had formed a strong bond of mutual like and respect.
Adrian followed her out of the door to the accompanying rumbling laughter from Mason. She suspected Ryan may be amused, but he kept it to himself. Unlike Mason, Ryan was a little in awe of Adrian, both his rank and demeanour.
Jenna jolted to a sudden halt at the kerb as a police vehicle swept past them a touch too fast, swung in a wide circle around the car park and pulled forwards into the last available space.
Irritation swirled at the ignorance of the driver to have disregarded the pedestrians waiting to cross and even more so, her pet hate, they’d pulled the car in forwards so that it needed to be reversed out. Sheer common sense and etiquette dictated that all police vehicles were reversed into the spaces so that once a shout went up, they could be despatched without delay in the most efficient possible manner.
Jenna pressed the fob to unlock the doors of her assigned car but couldn’t ignore the annoyance at the ignorance of the other driver swirling in the pit of her stomach. ‘Just give me a minute.’ She left the others to make themselves comfortable while she strode over to the police vehicle.
As the uniformed officer climbed from the vehicle, the breath stopped in her throat.
Shit!
Too late to backtrack, she conjured up a weak smile. Of all the people, she couldn’t imagine why fate would fling this one in her path yet again. ‘PC Gardner. How are things going?’
The flutter in her chest increased as he slammed the door closed and turned to skim his insolent gaze from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.
‘Jenna.’
She reared her head back, her eyes shooting wide. ‘Sergeant Morgan, or Sarge will do. Thank you.’
The cocky grin told her he knew he’d managed to rattle her. Tempted to raise her hand and run her fingers through her hair with frustration, she chose instead to curl it into a tight ball at her side, squeezing hard enough to break bones.
‘I don’t know if you’re aware, but we reverse the police vehicles into the spots.’
‘Why?’ His chin went up.
She tilted her head to one side but resisted the temptation to huff out a breath. ‘Convenience and speed. It means we can get out quicker if we have a shout.’
‘But I needed to get in quick. I have something I need to do as a matter of urgency. So, I’ll hope you’ll excuse me’ His eyes filled with contempt.
‘It’s not an emergency, though, and there’s a difference, PC Gardner.’
‘Well, DS Morgan, I’d consider that the next person’s problem.’
As he made a move to pass her, Jenna side-stepped into his path, and narrowed her eyes, but stopped her hand before she poked him in the chest. He’d only have her up on assault charges, the petty little shit. ‘PC Gardner, I’d appreciate it if you got back into the car and turned it around so as not to inconvenience or delay the next person called out on an emergency.’
His dark gaze clashed with hers as he remained motionless, neither pushing past, nor retreating, his jaw a hard line.
‘Sarge, do you have a problem?’ Mason’s calm tones almost whispered in her ear.
She opened her mouth to reply as PC Gardner pushed out his bottom lip while his eyes turned sullen and arrogant.
‘No problem here. PC Gardner was about to move the car to make it more convenient for the next person.’
‘I wondered which wanker had parked it in forwards so the next person to get a shout has to reverse it out while all the rest of them are already on their way to the job.’ Mason stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with her and leaned in to flash a shark-like grin at PC Gardner. ‘Don’t want to be a wanker, do we?’
Faced with another male, dominant, fit and challenging, PC Gardner backed down.
‘I was about to reposition it.’
‘Excellent!’ Mason’s voice roared out. ‘Get it moved then.’ Mason’s fingers encircled her elbow to draw her away. ‘We’ve got a job, Sarge. An emergency, so to speak. I’m pleased to say the last person to park the vehicle reversed it in. Clever little bugger. It must have been me.’ He tugged at her arm and Jenna backed off while the heat in PC Gardner’s eyes flared.
As they made it back to their police vehicle, Jenna resisted the temptation to glance over her shoulder. ‘Do you think he’ll re-park it?’