Hmmm.

Tony and I had just finished eating, so we packed up our stuff and left Steve to sit out the rest of his break alone.

“Have you ever suspected he might be up to something dodgy?” I asked my friend once we were out of earshot.

Tony shot me a cynical look. “Is the sky blue?”

I sighed. “He needs to be dealt with.”

“You’re telling me. As soon I have even the slightest bit of evidence, I’m turning him in.”

I nodded, wondering how long it’d take Steve to slip up. A little while later, we were on the beat, walking down the high street, when I caught sight of a disturbance outside a greasy spoon.

“I’m not letting you spend time with Jonathan until you clean up your act!” a woman yelled, levelling her hands on some tall guy’s chest and pushing him away from her. A kid stood in the doorway to the café, his thumb in his mouth and tears running down his face. I’d only seen her once before, so it took me a second to recognise Lee’s cousin, Sophie. The guy she was arguing with was about her age. He was tall and thin, and, if I was being honest, sort of slimy-looking. I was guessing from the nature of the argument that he was her son’s father.

“Is everything all right here?” I asked, stepping up to them as Tony went and bent down in front of the boy. He spoke to him quietly, asking if he’d been hurt.

Sophie turned to see who was interrupting and frowned when she saw me. “You again.”

I nodded. “Is this man bothering you?”

It took her a second to answer, as she glanced between me and the man. “Yes, he is bothering me. I want him to go.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, I turned to the guy and gestured down the street. “Sir, I’ll have to ask you to leave now. You’re upsetting this young woman.”

“That’s only because she’s trying to keep my kid from me,” he spat.

“Yeah, and can you blame me when this is the kind of attitude I have to deal with?”

“Maybe if you’d quit being such a fucking bitch, I wouldn’t have an attitude.”

Tony stood and shot the man a hostile look.

He bristled, his posture stiffening, before he backed away a few steps. “This is bullshit. I’m outta here,” he said, and skulked off.

A moment passed before Sophie glanced up at me, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “Thanks for that. I promise I don’t normally go around having domestics out on the street, but David showed up unannounced and tried to take Jonathan.” She turned back to her son, who hurried to her side and buried his face behind her leg. For some reason, my eyes went to her left wrist, where she was tugging her sleeve down as far as it would go. A small bruise peeked out, and I knew she was trying to hide it.

I stepped closer and lowered my voice, speaking softly as I asked, “Has he ever tried to hurt you?”

She stared at me, unshed tears shining in her eyes, and I knew the answer was yes. She didn’t say anything, and a moment later she sucked in a deep breath. “We should get going.”

I stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. “I can help you, you know. All you have to do is file a report. We can have a barring order put in place so that he can’t approach you or your son.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do that. Come on, honey, let’s go.” She took hold of Jonathan’s hand and walked away. I let out a breath, my eyes meeting Tony’s. We both knew there wasn’t much we could do if she wasn’t willing to cooperate.

For the rest of the day, my encounter with Sophie was stuck in my head. I wondered if Lee had any idea what was going on between her and this David character. I couldn’t imagine he did, judging by how fiercely he told me he’d do anything for his family. I doubted David would’ve gotten within ten feet of Sophie if Lee had known.

I was so preoccupied by these thoughts that I almost forgot I’d organised a girls night for Alexis. I’d invited Reya over, and Alexis’ friend, Bradley, who was an honorary girl. We were going to watch chick flicks, order pizza, and, well, try to make her feel better about being pregnant. She thought she was alone, but she really wasn’t. I planned to be by her side through all of it, but I was worried about her falling deeper into depression. It wouldn’t be good for her or the baby.

Everyone was already at the flat when I arrived, so I said some quick hellos and went to take a shower. I always liked to wash after a shift; it was almost a compulsion. Somehow the water felt like it cleaned away all the crap I’d seen that day, leaving me fresh and new.

Alexis was scribbling down a list of everyone’s pizza orders when I came out, my hair in a towel and wearing a pair of clean pyjamas.

“Can I have a meat-lover’s pizza, chicken tenders, potato wedges, and some coleslaw?” said Reya. “Oh, and a diet Coke.”

I couldn’t help teasing her. “Yeah, because that’ll undo all the damage.”

“Hey! I actually prefer diet,” she argued, and Bradley chuckled.

“Can’t get enough of that sexy chemical taste, huh?”

I laughed and leaned forward to give him a high-five.

“You two, stop ganging up on little Reya,” Alexis butted in, throwing her a sympathetic look. “Don’t mind them. They’re a pair of bullies.”

I found it funny how Alexis called Reya little, since she was more woman than us two put together. I guessed we considered her little because she was six or seven years younger than all of us. I didn’t know her exact heritage, but I thought I remembered her telling me once that her parents were Spanish, which was where she must’ve gotten her dark looks from. She was actually quite statuesque, with skin the colour of honey and curves that went on forever. I mean, Alexis did plus-size modelling, but she had nothing on Reya.

Once the food was ordered, Bradley hit play on the DVD. We were watching a movie called He’s Just Not That Into You. Needless to say, I hadn’t been a part of the selection process. The title was so fucking condescending it kind of made me want to hurt someone. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for our food to arrive, distracting me from my daydreams of grievous bodily harm.

It was later on, while Bradley and Reya were chatting in the living room, that I managed to corner Alexis in the kitchen. I knew she was going to give me endless amount of stick for this, but I had to put my pride aside for a minute. I just didn’t have it in me to ignore the fact that Lee’s cousin was being hounded by her ex. If he’d been violent with her in the past, then I had to do something to prevent it from happening again.

“Do you have Lee’s number?” I asked quietly as I washed dishes and she dried.

She gave me a shrewd look. “Maybe I do. And why, pray tell, are you looking for it?”

“It’s complicated. But I assure you, I have no romantic designs on him whatsoever, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I dunno, you’d make a good cougar.” She smirked. “They’d call you ‘racy red’.”

“Shut your face,” I whisper-hissed, trying not to laugh. “I’m way too young to be a cougar. And he’s way too old to be my boy toy. If I was going to go down that route, the guy would have to be in his, like, late teens or something.” Good grief, I was rambling.

Alexis full-on chuckled. “Ooooh, I didn’t know you were into the barely legal scene, Constable.”

I grew impatient. “Do you have his number or not?”

She sighed. “Yes, I have it. And just so you know, if you were thinking of hitting that, I’d be in no position to judge, especially after the shit I pulled with Stu the other night. However, being in your line of work, it’s probably not the best idea.” Her brows rose meaningfully on the none-too-subtle hint.

“It’s a good thing I have no intentions of hitting anything,” I said, drying my hands and returning to the living area.

“Well, you’ve got to hit something every once in a while,” she called after me.

I turned back around long enough to give her an Italian chin flick that said something along the lines of, “piss off.”