Читать книгу Dead Inside - Noelle Holten - Страница 20

Maggie Jamieson stretched her legs and looked out the window of her office. It was getting dark but she was pleased with how her first day at DAHU had gone, even though she’d had to put in extra hours. The team had the perfect balance of banter and seriousness. Recent cutbacks made specialist teams a rarity, so Maggie knew she was going to get as much out of this experience as possible. Maybe Rutherford was right.

After the Talbot briefing and interview with Wendy Parker, Maggie met with DI Joseph Calleja – Maggie guessed he was about five feet nine; he had a slim build and he had a shadow of a beard. The DI came across as a force to be reckoned with but a firm and fair boss. Calleja explained the overall workings of the team, and where each agency fit. The more she learnt, the more impressed she’d been. Calleja informed Maggie that she’d be reporting directly to DS Hooper.

Maggie grimaced. Making her way to the communal kitchen, she reflected on the team so far. Her initial impression, during her first meeting with Hooper, was that he would keep her on her toes. He wasn’t a particularly tall man, but he had a certain look about him – stubble adorned his face and despite her colleagues warning her that he could be a right pain in the arse, he had a kindness in his eyes. It was good to know that he always had their back. That’s all she could really hope for. There was nothing worse than a boss who was only interested in furthering their own career, often to the detriment of their team.

Maggie turned the tap on and filled up a cloudy glass with cold water. She also learnt that Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood would occasionally come to the police station with Mark, as he was the most experienced in working domestic abuse cases. Although Maggie had yet to meet Lucy, her colleagues had nothing but praise for her. Maggie was still trying to figure Mark out, though. She was curious why he joined this team as he had very strong, negative views about domestic abuse perpetrators and it seemed he wasn’t afraid to express them openly. She’d need to keep her eye on that. The last thing Maggie wanted was a black mark on her record because of something a colleague had said or done.

Maggie returned to her desk and cleared a spot to place her glass down. Thinking about the rest of the team, she laughed to herself. Kat Everett, the mouth on that one. Every sentence seemed to have a fuck or a shit in it somewhere. Maggie wondered how Kat managed to get through court cases or deal with the public without a ‘fuck’ flying out of her mouth.

Maggie was aware that a civilian, Dr Moloney, would also be joining the team soon to share her insight as a criminal psychologist and Calleja clearly admired her work. What really interested Maggie though was the multi-agency approach. She liked that this team had specific individuals from other agencies working directly with their nominals and based within the police station, even if it was just once a week. She’d see how this all worked now with their first murder investigation – how much collaboration really took place.

Working at Markston Police Station would be a challenge, too. Markston was a relatively average size town, but the station was also responsible for covering Littlefield, Barston, and some of the more rural surrounding areas. Domestic abuse was a big problem in Staffordshire as a county, which was why the Police and Crime Commissioner had decided it was a priority offence that needed to be dealt with by a specialized team.

‘Any further updates that I need to be aware of before we call it a night, Mark?’ Maggie picked up her coffee and walked around to her colleague’s desk.

‘Well you know that Lucy called earlier today. She wanted to flag up Louise Millard’s address as Robert left probation a little pissed off. Robert is one of our regulars.’

Maggie shuddered at the thought of what this description entailed.

‘Safe-and-well check then, I presume?’

‘Yep. All sorted. Two of the field team officers have been tasked with the job. Looks like it has happened, but the system hasn’t been updated with the full details yet. We can pick anything up in the morning from the log but, as nothing has been flagged, it must have gone OK. Any emergency will be dealt with by the field team tonight.’

Looking over Mark’s shoulder, Maggie noted the long list of call-outs to the address. ‘Hmmm … so Robert Millard has recently been bailed for a breach of the harassment order in place?’

‘Yeah. Lucy will send me the details of their session today. She emails over any concerns, especially if she isn’t going to be at the police station any time soon.’

After scanning the records, Maggie’s own experience with domestic abusers told her it wouldn’t take much to trigger Robert.

‘Do you know if Lucy contacted the victim’s support worker? Sorry, I know this is stuff you’re all probably aware of and doing, I just need to check, to satisfy myself before I go home. Once I’ve been here for a few days, I promise the questions will ease up, but only just a bit.’ Maggie smiled.

‘That’s OK. I get it. Lucy said she’d be contacting Sharon – oh, sorry, you won’t know who Sharon is. Sharon Bairden is the victim’s advocate connected to our team. You’ll meet her soon enough as she attends our operational meetings. I sent the details over to her as well. Always good to cover our asses.’ Despite being an integrated team, each agency worked on separate computer systems, so information was often duplicated.

‘So, although it has been one hell of a long day, it’s been a productive one and it really has been great getting to grips with things as much as I can.’

Maggie could tell from Mark’s immaculately organized desk that he would have everything in order. She glanced at her own desk – organized chaos – and hoped Mark wasn’t OCD. She’d only been in the office one day and already it looked like she’d been there years. Despite this, she got the impression that they would work well together.

Maggie felt her mobile phone buzz in her pocket. Pulling it out and seeing his name on the screen always filled her with dread. Why now?