‘John Sutton?’
Rachel nodded, glanced at her watch. ‘I need a fag. Is there…’ She whirled a finger in the air, asking for directions.
Janet toyed with the idea of sending her the wrong way, but only because the girl had got her back up. She’d never be that petty. ‘Along the corridor, down the stairs, side door on the ground floor.’
Rachel snatched her bag and swung herself to her feet.
Janet watched her go. Took a breath, lowered her shoulders and returned to her inbox.
The office was open-plan, not a large space, desks crammed together in pairs, each with its computer terminal and phone. There was a bigger meeting room off it, which they used for briefings. Gill had a room to herself, roughly two and a half paces from Janet’s desk. She was generally visible through the glass partition, unless she closed her blinds. It was a bad sign when the blinds went down. The team would wait, people trying to work more quietly, waiting to see who was in for a bollocking.
Gill was in before the others and Rachel was still off having her nicotine fix so Janet went straight into Gill’s office.
The DCI had barely got her coat off when Janet jumped in: ‘Why me?’
Gill froze, tilted her head to one side. ‘It’s an interesting philosophical question, kid, but you’re going to have to give me a bit more…’
‘Rachel Bailey.’
‘She’s here?’ Gill beamed.
‘I don’t want her,’ Janet said.
‘Reason?’
‘I’ve already got one teenager at home, and her sister’s in a permanent state of revolution, I can do without it at work. Why put her with me? Put her with Mitch.’
‘What’s she done to you?’ Gill was shifting through paperwork on her desk now, easing into her chair. ‘She’s only been here five minutes.’
‘Five minutes too long. Who sent her?’
‘I picked her.’
‘You picked her,’ Janet said, appalled. ‘Can’t you unpick her?’
‘She’s a bit rough around the edges,’ Gill allowed.
‘Dog rough,’ said Janet. A pit bull bitch, she thought but that seemed too harsh. Rude. ‘Give her to Pete or Lee, or any of them.’
Gill took her glasses from her case, set them down and stared at Janet for a moment, then slapped her palms on her desk. ‘She stays with you. That’s how I want it.’
‘Gill,’ Janet groaned.
‘End of.’ Gill held up her hands, brooking no further discussion.
‘Six weeks,’ Janet tried. ‘If I still feel the same…’
‘We’ll see.’
‘We’ll see!’ Janet mocked, laughing. ‘We’ll see? That’s what I say to the girls: “We’ll see.” It usually means,
