Free The Major Crimes Team - Vol 1: Lines of Enquiry by Graham Smith Page A

the room had cast their vote.
    Lauren’s podium was surrounded by two-thirds of the men in the room making her the clear winner. Katya face twisted into a vicious scowl when Scruffy announced the result despite nobody needing to hear the official verdict.
    Lauren received several requests for a private dance and by the time she’d worked her way through those prepared to wait their turn, Scruffy and the barman had served all the beers Katya had to stand.
    Scarlett and Candy were kept busy with dances but Katya was getting nowhere. Every time she approached someone they shook their head. Had she not hated Katya with every fibre of her body, she would have pitied the woman.
    Once the free beers were consumed, the place started to empty out.
    Having decided to take the bull by the horns, Lauren approached Scruffy. ‘I was asked for a superior dance earlier. What are those?’
    His eyes flickered left indicating he was using the right side of his brain. The creative side. A lie was on its way. ‘I dunno. Maybe it’s what the girls call a two girl experience. Ask the girls. They’ll tell you.’
    Lauren thanked him and turned away. She needed time to think about the best way to approach the girls.
    Candy seemed to be the friendliest, but both she and Scarlett obeyed Katya’s every command. To get the answers she needed she’d have to engineer some time alone with Candy.
     
    *    *    *    *
     
    Harry Evans stamped through the corridors of Durranhill Station. Janet had endured another restless night interspersed with nightmares and uncontrollable sobbing fits. When he’d left their flat she had only just fallen into a dreamless slumber.
    Finding Lauren absent he demanded Chisholm tell him where she was.
    ‘She’s on her way Guv. I reckon she’ll be here in five minutes.’ Chisholm followed his words with a pointed look at his watch. Their shift wasn’t due to start for another fifteen minutes.
    ‘She better be here soon.’
    Chisholm kept quiet and refocused his gaze on the twin computer screens on his desk, while Evans scowled at the piece of paper clutched in his hand.
    ‘What the fuck is this supposed to mean? I mean what the fuck do Mungo and Martins think they are playing at? This report is so full of shite it should have been sent to a sewage farm.’
    ‘Morning all. Is there a problem Guv?’ Lauren greeted them with a smile and passed around the containers of coffee she brought in every morning.
    ‘Aye there’s a fucking problem. I should’ve been a proctologist the number of arseholes I have to deal with.’
    ‘The M&Ms?’ Lauren directed her question to Chisholm who nodded in confirmation.
    ‘Nevermind that just now.’ Evans pointed at the door. ‘Shut that and then sit down.’
    Lauren took her usual seat and then looked at Evans with innocent enquiry all over her face.
    ‘What’s up?’
    ‘What did you learn at Shakers last night?’
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘Don’t even try and deny it. I had Jabba trace your mobile yesterday. You went to Shakers for an hour in the late afternoon then you were there from nine until just after one.’ Evans took a sip of his coffee. ‘When you came to me with those allegations, I could tell you weren’t going to take no for an answer. I know what you’re like. There’s no way you’d let it go after what happened to your cousin. The next logical step for you was to get a job there and try to get enough evidence to convince me to look into it.’
    Lauren’s face flushed with anger as she rose to her feet and leaned across the desk at Evans.
    ‘I thought you’d try to stop me if I told you what I planned to do. Instead you worked it out and let me do it anyway. I don’t like being used. I don’t like it one little bit.’
    ‘And I don’t like members of my team going behind my back taking unauthorised undercover roles. Especially when they’re stripping.’
    ‘Then why didn’t you stop me?’
    ‘Would you have listened if I tried