Bye Bye Baby

33

When I sat down at my desk in the CID office, I noticed the drawer was open.

"Some arsehole's been fiddling with my stuff," I said to Erica.

I spotted something inside that I didn't recognise. A piece of purple cardboard. I tugged the drawer out.

I pulled out the cardboard. Inside was a Halloween-style severed finger. Or there would have been, if the plastic hadn't been torn open and the finger removed.

Erica reached into the desk and picked up a magazine. It was a magazine I'd never seen before. A sailing magazine. She flipped through it. Some pages fell out. Words missing from the headlines. Some scraps landed on the desk. Random words with one or two letters cut out.

"Shit," she said. "What else have you got in there?" She stuck her hand back in the drawer.

"It's Dutton," I said. "Up to his usual. Thinks this is funny."

"That's not usual." Erica held up a brick of cash. A tight little bundle of crisp new fifties. "How in the name of Christ did you get this, Collins?"

When I looked around the room, I saw that all my colleagues were watching me, looking for an answer.

I swallowed. My throat hurt.