Bye Bye Baby

2

The Scottish police do almost everything in pairs. You'd think we'd have partners like on the TV cop shows, but no, you find whoever's available and invite them along. In our office, we called them passengers.

The office where us lowly constables worked was open plan, blonde wood desks with foot-high partitions on legs that we all kept moving when nobody was looking. Everybody wanted that extra inch or two of desk space.

I glanced around, hoping to spot one of the female officers.

Hell, I didn't need to drag a woman along. I'd be fine with a bloke. Mother's lost her kid, we could deal with that. The mother would be upset, of course, and it'd be hard to begin with, but we'd manage.

Two of my male colleagues, detectives Moore and Temple, were in the kitchen area in the corner, making coffee.

I caught Moore's gaze and nodded towards him. He ignored me, turned to Temple.

I wasn't surprised.

God knows what I'd been thinking when I joined up. I used to be a bus driver, enjoyed that more than any other job I'd ever done. Then Holly got pregnant and we got by for a few years. Then she got pregnant again and we knew we were going to struggle so I applied for the police. No big deal. I don't deny that my uncle was a big help.

After I'd been in uniform for seven years, I applied for CID. They turned me down, despite my uncle. And the next time they turned me down too. Third time, I was accepted. Thanks to my uncle, so I heard.

Becoming a detective was a major step up in the career of Frank Collins. Didn't take long to see that I wasn't going to get any further though.

My uncle told me I had to keep my mouth shut and learn to kiss some arse.

Two skills I didn't possess.

I scanned the office again, still looking for a passenger. A detective I hardly knew was sitting at his desk, making a call. The only other officer around was DC Erica Mason.

I hadn't worked on a case with her in a while. I'd been avoiding her. Or she'd been avoiding me. Maybe a bit of both.

I walked over to her desk and cleared my throat.

She looked up from her computer screen, her olive-green eyes unblinking. She reached behind her head, tightened her pony tail. Her hair was dyed, russet. Her fingernails matched her hair.

"Why do I feel as if I'm not going to want to hear this, Collins?" she asked.

"Might have a missing kid."

She nodded. "And you want me as a passenger?"

"For the mother's sake," I said. "She'll feel a lot more comfortable with a female officer there."

"That's total pants."

"Just grab your jacket," I told her.

"I didn't say I was coming."

"Erica, the boy's only seven."

She took a deep breath and said, "What's his name?"