by Lyn Gardner
Ice
by
Lyn Gardner
Copyright 2012 Lyn Gardner
Edited by Bron T.
Cover by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.
http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
To Tanya
May you rest in peace, and know that
when He called you home, tears fell around the world.
Prologue
After spending the last two hours standing in a cramped, filthy kitchen, as soon as Maggie Campbell exited the dilapidated house on the east side of London, she welcomed the feel of the cool night air on her face. Pausing for a moment to breathe in the dampness, when she saw that her long-legged partner was almost to the car, she mumbled to herself, “Oh, no you don’t.”
The silence of the night was broken by the sound of her sensible, low-heeled pumps on the walk as she ran after Blake. Finally catching up to her near the curb, Detective Inspector Maggie Campbell grabbed the other woman’s arm and spun her around.
“What the hell is your problem?” Campbell shouted, glaring up at the woman.
Raising an eyebrow, Detective Inspector Alex Blake yanked her arm out of Campbell’s grasp. Without saying a word, she reached into her pocket, pulled out her cigarettes and calmly lit one. Allowing the smoke to slowly exit her nose, she said, “Excuse me?”
Taking a step closer, Campbell growled, “What exactly do you call what you just did in there?”
“I call it, doing my job,” Blake said.
“Your job? Your job! You’re a police officer, not some sort of fucking vigilante, for Christ’s sake! What you did was inappropriate and unprofessional! Do you have any idea how many rules you just broke?”
With a smirk, Blake replied, “I didn’t break any, darling, I just bent a few.”
Gritting her teeth at the sound of the endearment, Maggie said, “You threatened his bloody life!”
Alex Blake’s temper began to simmer. Partnered with Campbell for only two weeks, it hadn’t taken long for her to realize that her approach to a kidnapping investigation clashed with Campbell’s, but they had both managed to work through their differences…at least, until now.
Swallowing back her anger, Alex thought twice before saying another word. Looking around, she could see that there was still a least a dozen police officers roaming about. Not wanting any of them to hear what she had to say, she leaned her five-foot ten-inch frame in Campbell’s direction.
Setting her jaw, Blake growled, “I made him talk, and he told us what we needed to know. The boy is safe, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.”
“So, acting like some sort of maniac is your idea of how to properly question a suspect?”
Crossing her arms, Blake said, “It worked, didn’t it?”
“It’s not the way it’s supposed to be done!” Campbell said, clenching her fists. “We have rules to follow, and regulations to adhere to, or did you skip that part of the training?”
Dropping her cigarette on the grass, Blake pulverized what remained until it disappeared into the soil. Barely managing to hold on to her temper, she decided to walk away. It was her only option. If not, she knew that she’d say something she’d regret. Casting a steely glare in Campbell’s direction, she said, “This conversation is over.”
Turning her on heel, Alex began to walk away, but her momentum was stopped when Campbell grabbed her by the arm again.
“No, it’s not!” Campbell yelled. “For two weeks I’ve had to put up with your bullshit. I’ve kept my mouth shut out of respect for the job that we were trying to do, and for the little boy who we were trying to find, but now that he’s safe, I’m going to have my say!”
Invading the other officer’s space, Campbell pointed her finger in Alex’s face. “You’re a lousy cop, Blake. You’re a bully with a warrant card, and you don’t know the first bloody thing about being a good detective. You’re impulsive and insolent, and if someone gets in your way, you steamroll over them like they weren’t even there!”
“I do what it takes,” Alex replied through clenched teeth.
“No, you do what you think it takes, but I’ve got news for you, being a Detective Inspector takes more than muscle and threats. It takes intelligence, intuition and tact. It takes skill to examine the evidence, follow the rules and apprehend the suspect. It does not take the promise of dishing out bodily harm, such as cutting a man’s dick off and ramming it down his throat!”
Well past simmering, Alex’s temper was now at a rolling boil. Furrowing her brow, she yelled, “He talked, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did, but if you had allowed me to question him properly, using the bloody rules that we’re supposed to follow, I assure you, the results would have been exactly the same!”
With every syllable, their voices were getting louder, and the officers milling about had begun to take notice. With Campbell a full six inches shorter than her partner, at first the exchange seemed almost comical. Most of them couldn’t hide their grins as the smaller woman scolded the towering Blake, but as more and more words were spewed, their grins began to fade.
“I didn’t break any fucking rules, and if I did, so what? It’s my file being filled with reprimands, not yours.”
“Jesus Christ, this is not about you! Your actions speak for all of us, don’t you see that? We’re all out there working our arses off trying to make the public trust us, and you come along and piss on everything we’ve tried to accomplish without batting an eye. You’re dangerous, and you give the rest of us a bad name. If it was up to me, you wouldn’t even be on the force.”
“Well, it’s not up to you, is it? You haughty little cow!” Alex Blake bellowed. “And you’re not the only one that’s had to put up with shit, Campbell. I have no idea how anyone could be your partner for a day, let alone two bloody weeks! You are, by far, the biggest brown-nosed tart I’ve ever met. You’re like the Chief’s pet, for Christ’s sake. Skipping after him as he goes for his coffee so you can give him all your ideas, looking like a bloody dog waiting for a treat! And if that’s not enough, I’ve had to put up with you prancing around in your fucking power suits, jotting down your little notes and offering witnesses cute little smiles in hopes that they’ll talk. I may be a bit rough, darling, but at least I’m not laughable.”
Pointing her finger in Blake’s face, Campbell yelled, “You’re nothing but a thug!”
“Maybe so, but it’s better than being an arse-licking bitch!”
The force of the slap that followed sent Alex Blake to her knees.
Chapter One
Three years later…
“You cannot be bloody serious!”
Chief Superintendent Clive Ramsey looked up from his desk and offered a weak smile to the man who had just barged into his office. Most would have been severely reprimanded for such a loud show of disrespect, but when it came to Chief Inspector Andrew Loveland, Clive Ramsey graded on a curve. They had been friends for years, and even though Clive had moved up the ranks a bit quicker than his counterpart, their friendship had always remained strong.
Motioning for Andrew to close the door and take a seat, Clive returned his attention to the papers on his desk, but when he heard the door slam and the metal blind thwack against the glass, he looked up and scowled.
Offering only a shrug of his shoulders as an apology for the noise, Andrew sat in the chair opposite his supervisor and glared back. Andrew Loveland wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Holding up the roster, he mentally counted to ten before he blurted, “Clive, thi
s is a joke, right?”
“I’m afraid not, Andy,” Ramsey said, leaning back in his chair.
“Have you forgotten about that fiasco three years ago?”
Wincing at the memory, Clive Ramsey ran his fingers through his wavy, gray hair. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I don’t think anyone will ever forget—”
“Then why the hell are you doing this?” Andy said, tossing the paper on his chief’s desk in disgust.
“It’s only for two days—”
“I don’t care if it’s for two bloody minutes! Those two hate each other. You know it. I know it. Hell, everyone in this department knows it!”
Up until that moment, the two men had always managed to keep their friendship and their work relationship separate. However, staring back at the red-faced man, Clive Ramsey knew that he would soon have to pull rank if his friend didn’t compose himself.
“Andy,” he began calmly, believing his tone of voice would somehow cool the man’s temper. “I am well aware how they feel about each other, but the Commissioner called me this morning. He needs two female officers for this assignment and—”
“We have other female officers—”
“I know that, Andrew.”
“But what happens if they—”
Knowing where his friend was going, Clive held up his hand, stopping Andrew in mid-sentence. “Andy, three years is a long time. People forget, and people grow up. Since that time, they’ve both had—” Stopping abruptly when he noticed the other man’s eyebrow arch, Clive quickly corrected himself. “Okay, so Blake’s file has got a bit of paper in it, but Campbell’s been exemplary, which gives me every reason to believe that for two days, they’ll be able to put their differences aside.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then they answer to the commissioner, and if they can’t control their dislike for one another, they may very well lose their jobs.”
“But they’re two of our best.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, Andrew,” Clive said, glancing at the papers on his desk, signifying in his own way that the discussion was over.
Resigned to the fact that this was going to happen, Andrew asked, “So, what’s the assignment?”
“All I can tell you is that they’ll be acting as escorts for a government witness.”
Andy’s annoyance level rose again. Having already been left out of the decision to have two of his officers utilized for the assignment, now his chief was offering breadcrumbs instead of answers. With a huff, he said, “Why so cryptic? The last time I checked those two work for me.”
“Yes, they do, but you work for me, and I work for the commissioner. This is on a need-to-know basis, and as far as I’m concerned, this conversation is over.”
Taking a deep breath, Andrew Loveland stood and walked to the door. “So, I guess you want me to tell them—right?”
“No, actually I had that…um…honor earlier today, before they left shift.”
“They already know?”
Nodding his head, Clive replied, “Yes, and believe it or not, neither said a word about it.”
***
Standing on the front porch of her flat, Maggie Campbell rubbed the bridge of her nose. While no headache yet existed, she knew that in a short time, one would start. Unlocking the door, she walked quietly into her house. Setting her handbag and jacket on a nearby chair, she waited for her boyfriend to appear.
At the age of thirty-two, Margaret Katherine Campbell had worked for the Metropolitan Police Service for eight years. Born and raised in Scotland, she was the daughter of an Air Force Group Captain, and her upbringing had been regimented and directed toward the military. However, during her years in university, she developed a passion for the law, and after graduation, she took a job at the Met. Like most, she started out as a Constable, but her drive and hard work enabled her to climb the ladder faster than her colleagues. With a penchant for following the rules and regulations, she crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I’ along the way, and in five short years, she reached the rank of Detective Inspector with only one demerit to her name. Although she longed to continue her education at night to obtain the law degree she so desperately wanted, the demands of her job and her boyfriend, more often than not, got in the way.
“You’re late,” Glenn Shaw growled as he came from the kitchen with a dish towel in his hand. “I had to start dinner myself.”
Biting her lip, Maggie took a slow, easy breath before she began to speak. “I’m sorry, but the chief called me into his office about an assignment, and I couldn’t very well tell him no, now could I?”
Scowling, Glenn asked, “What do you mean an assignment?”
“It’s just two days. I’ll be home Friday night.”
Throwing the dish rag on the floor, he yelled, “What?”
With a sigh, Maggie picked up the towel. “Glenn, please don’t start.”
Snatching the green and white cloth from her hands, he wound it around his fist. Glaring at her, he said, “Have you forgotten that we have plans?”
“I’ll be home Friday night,” Maggie repeated, walking to the lounge.
“Tell them no,” he said, stomping after her.
“Glenn, I can’t do that, and you know it. It’s my job.”
“I want you to quit!”
“What?”
“You heard. Quit that bloody job. It’s not a career for a woman anyway!”
Up until that moment, Maggie had managed to keep her annoyance in check, but Glenn had just pushed the wrong button, and her Scottish temper flared.
“And what the hell are we supposed to live on—eh? Or have you miraculously solved all your business issues?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Maggie winced. For months, she had refused to allow her frustrations to show. Hiding behind false smiles, she had moved through endless nights and weekends with him by her side, hoping that things would get better. They hadn’t, and she had finally reached her breaking point.
“Fuck you, Maggie!” he yelled, throwing the towel in Maggie’s face. Grabbing his jacket, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door so hard that the glass rattled in the frame.
Sitting on the arm of the sofa, she shook her head and muttered, “Shit!”
They had met three years earlier when they had both been invited to a mutual friend’s wedding in St. Albans. With yet another failed relationship under her belt, Maggie had gone stag and Glenn, having not yet met the girl of dreams, had done the same. Seated together during the reception, they struck up a conversation, and before the evening was over, they had agreed to a date.
The son of a vicar, Glenn Shaw was as polite and well-mannered as they came. Having just started a small landscaping company on the outskirts of London, most of his time and energy was directed toward getting his business off the ground, but he always managed to find time for Maggie. Dutiful and attentive, he took her out to dinner, to the cinema, and for short walks in the park, and eventually, they became lovers.
Over the next two years, their relationship grew, albeit slowly. As Maggie worked her way up the law enforcement ladder, Glenn spent his days trying to keep his business afloat. Although he had a degree in horticulture, he had very little business sense, and it wasn’t long before he had made enough bad decisions, that his bank account began to suffer.
After weeks of hearing him moan about money troubles, Maggie graciously suggested that he move in with her until his business got back on track. Believing her offer to be only temporary, when Glenn showed up and announced that he had sold most of his belongings to pay the bills, Maggie’s heart sank. Even though they had been lovers for quite some time, Maggie always thought of Glenn as more like a friend with benefits rather than a man with which to build a life. In her attempt to do the right thing, she had tried to help a friend and ended up with a partner she didn’t want.
Taking a deep breath, Maggie walked into the kitchen and looked around. Thankful that Glenn’s idea of making
dinner was simply heating up yesterday’s leftovers, she pulled the dried chicken from the oven, and debating only for a moment, dumped it into the rubbish bin. Turning off the cooker, she poured herself a small glass of wine, flicked off the kitchen light, and as she slowly climbed the stairs, a distant ache began to invade her brain.
As she expected, the bedroom was in shambles. Disregarding the mess, she removed her suit jacket, and hanging it in the wardrobe, she reached down and pulled out a small overnight bag. Gathering what clothes she would need for two days, she packed her toiletry case and placed everything neatly inside the carry-on before going into the bathroom and turning on the taps. As the water began to steam she stripped out of her clothes, and as she stepped under the hot spray of the shower, she let out a long, relaxing breath. Thirty minutes later, feeling better than she had in hours, she emerged from the bathroom, but as soon as she saw the state of the bedroom, her head began to pound again.
Throughout their courtship, Glenn had always been the perfect gentlemen, almost to the point of being old-fashioned, and as far as Maggie had been concerned, it had been a refreshing change. She enjoyed that he preferred taking her to quiet restaurants over noisy pubs for their dinner dates, and when he suggested visiting a neighborhood park for a walk, it hadn’t been because he had wanted to join the football game being played. From opening doors and pulling out chairs, to paying for dinner and chastely kissing her goodnight, Glenn Shaw seemed to be a man born a hundred years too late. Unfortunately, men born in the early nineteen hundreds also had other beliefs, and that fact became all too clear a few weeks after Glenn unpacked his clothes and hung them in her wardrobe.
Suddenly, he was content to stay at home so she could prepare him dinner, and whenever Maggie suggested that they go out to eat, he balked. Although not a sports fanatic, Maggie always enjoyed meeting her friends at a local pub during football season to enjoy a game and drink a few pints. It had been a way to unwind and to catch up with all of her mates, but Glenn didn’t want to unwind, and Glenn didn’t drink. A devout teetotaler, he loathed anything to do with alcohol and cigarettes, and even though they had visited a few pubs while they had dated, once he had moved in with Maggie, he no longer saw the need. While they continued to go for short walks in the park, the trips to the cinema also ended. No matter which movie Maggie would choose, he would find something about the film that he found appalling to the point that even trying to rent a video became impossible. However, of all the things that Maggie hadn’t known about Glenn, the one that absolutely floored her happened only a few days after he had placed his slippers under her bed. As far as Glenn Shaw was concerned, housework was women’s work.