Only the Good Die Young by George Helman Read Free Book Online Page B

pity. She drew in breath and almost growled as she breathed out. No one made eye contact. She stomped into the kitchen area. She pulled the dishwasher door and it thumped on its hinges. She crashed the cups onto the shelves. Then she washed out a cloth and cleaned the kitchen.
    She had lied.
    She scrubbed at the surfaces, then washed down the side of the cupboards, she swept the floor.
    She had lied to the police. If she was discovered, there would be disciplinaries and potentially dismissal. She was a bad police officer. If only she had gone with Dave to the door. If only she had followed procedure. Now Dave was missing, most likely dead. All because she was too lazy to get out of the car.
    Her lie was to save her own back. There was no point saying it was Dave’s idea that she stay in the car. The rules said don’t go alone. Now she knew the rules were there for a reason. She scrubbed at a coffee stain on the counter.
    ‘Hi.’
    Shirley turned around to see Jayne standing by the entrance with a mug in her hand.
    ‘You can come in,’ said Shirley. ‘Make yourself a tea. Don’t mind me.’
    ‘Are you OK?’ said Jayne.
    ‘What do you think?’ said Shirley.
    Jayne looked at the ground.
    Shirley realised she’d been sent over to talk to her. Probably the lads said she should go as the only other female in the team. Woman to woman or some such nonsense.
    ‘I’m fine,’ said Shirley. ‘You don’t need to worry. In fact I’ll send a memo round to the whole team. I’ll say “Shirley is fine. Dave is not. Shall we get off our arses and find him or what!” What do you think Jayne? Is that a good idea?’
    ‘I’m sorry. Dave was a great police officer. I know you two were good friends. We are all going to miss him.’
    Shirley didn’t have anything left to clean.
    ‘OK. I’m done with the kitchen. What do we do to find Dave? Come on Jayne, you’ve been sent here to talk to me. What is our plan of action?’
    Jayne looked away.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry. You witnessed him being hit in the head. You witnessed him being abducted. I was told to say about seeing the counsellor.’
    Shirley licked her front teeth.
    ‘No thanks. I am fine.’
    ‘Just asking,’ said Jayne.
    Shirley shook her head and walked straight toward Jayne. Jayne stood to one side and Shirley marched to her desk and sat down.
    As she sat, the Chief came in.
    ‘Team meeting!’ he called.
    They all got up and stood by the interactive white board.
    Shirley held her breath. This could be news about Dave.
    ‘I’m sorry to say that one of our best officers is missing,’ he said.
    Shirley tutted. She hoped no one heard.
    ‘I need to be kept updated. This is important. It could affect our ratings as a police force if we do not find the culprit. It is our funding. It is our jobs.’
    ‘It is also our friend,’ said Geoff.
    The team clapped.
    ‘Update me please, Sergeant,’ said the Chief.
    Geoff rolled his eyes.
    ‘We have an address being searched right now,’ he said. ‘We have a van containing finger prints. We do not know where the hide out is. We need to find out. There are elderly people missing. They or their bodies must be somewhere.’
    ‘OK everyone,’ said the Chief. ‘It seems morale is low. We need to find DI McDonald before anyone else does. I’m not having some poor dog walker finding our police officer. We find him. We find him now.’
    Shirley stopped listening. She couldn’t believe it. How could an entire police force lose a car in this city with all the CCTV and all the helicopters. It was a joke. A joke she would have laughed at with Dave.
    She went to sit at her desk. She couldn’t be bothered with this meeting. They would discover nothing and the killer would kill again. There was no point.
    The Chief watched her sit down and nodded. When he’d finished his talk, he came over to her. He patted her shoulder gently.
    ‘You did your best,’ he said.
    Shirley shook his hand off.
    ‘We failed