(Part One)
Detective Sergeant Tilly Donnally was, a fiery thirty-two year old red head, and she headed up team two of the Abbottsford CID.
Which she led by example relying heavily on her instincts, which rarely failed her.
She has been married for nearly a year to Jimmy Donnally, captain of Abbottsford Town football club.
Under her immediate command were Detective Constable Ben Clubley a surly thirty eight year old heavy drinker and ex gambling addict.
Though he was still a very capable officer on his good days they were getting fewer and farther between with every passing year.
Tilly realized he was not really a team player so she dealt with that by using him on single handed tasks.
Detective Constable James Pidd on the other hand was a different proposition.
He was thirty years old and a quiet unassuming man, though very calm and a very capable detective, not a leader, but blessed with a very analytical mind Tilly used him to great effect.
There was a great deal of raucous laughter and gallows humour in the squad room which turned to a chorus of cheers as DCI Overend entered.
The reason for the jollity was the news that morning of the demise of a local career criminal Tony Conway, who had inadvertently set himself alight while syphoning fuel from a van.
“Great news eh Guv, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person” said Detective Sergeant Katarski Brandishing an A3 colour photo of the spare rib formerly known as Conway.
DI Tom Adamson had obviously imparted the news of Conway’s demise ahead of his arrival.
“Every copper in the station must have pulled him at one time or another” said Tilly Donnally “He was like a training tool for probationers to practice on. He will be greatly missed”
“He certainly got his fingers burned this time,” added Boris.
“Well I’m pleased to see that the death of a fellow human being
Is the cause of such amusement” Bill said sternly
Everyone went silent and lowered their eyes.
“Especially when this particular human being did us the great service of setting fire to himself” Bill finished and laughed.
Everyone else joined in the laughter.
“Now while I have you all conveniently gathered” Bill paused “The untimely death of the late lamented Mr. Conway has uncovered a potential problem.
Namely, how did a career criminal with more form than “Desert Orchid” manage to get a job working for Olympic Security, the largest private security firm in southern England?”
They looked at each other.
“Did he use his own name?” asked DC Chute
“Apparently so.” answered Tom Adamson.
“Tilly I want your team to investigate, find out if he was vetted and if not why not, and if he was by whom.” Ordered Bill.
“Yes guv.” she said and turned away.
(Part Two)
About a week after the death of Conway, there were some additions to the squad PC Philippa Mead, a plain emaciated looking girl, stick thin with straight shoulder length blonde hair was added to Tilly’s team on a temporary secondment.
Sgt Donnally was very pleased with her addition to the team, she had worked with Pippa in the past and she felt very sure it would not be long before she would gain permanent promotion to CID.
There were several other additions to the squad, two permanent and two more seconded PC’s, these reinforcement were very timely as towards the end of the briefing the telephone rang in the Chief Inspectors office and Tom Adamson went in and answered it.
“Sir” he put his head round the door and caught Bills attention. “It’s the CAD room.”
Bill nodded.
“Ok take ten minutes for introductions and such like then back here for assignments.” He turned and walked into his office.
After what seemed to be only a matter of seconds Overend reappeared looking grave.
“Ok can I have some attention please?” Overend shouted.
“There’s been an armed robbery in Millmoor.”
He now had their attention.
“Tilly?”
“Sir” DS Donnally responded.
“Tilly, you take Khan and Griffin and get over to big Cyril’s betting shop in Millmoor and take statements. DI Adamson and I will follow.”
“Yes sir.” They chorused and left.
(Part Three)
Detective Sergeant Mathilda Donnally was named after her Grandmother, whom she loved greatly, her name however she hated with a passion.
Which was why she went by the name of Tilly, only her mother dared call her Matilda, even her Grandmother preferred to be called Mattie.
She was a fiery character with sparkling green eyes and was blessed with a sharp incisive mind and cursed with a quick temper.
Her tall slender frame in full flight with her flame red trailing behind her and her flashing green eyes was an exhilarating site.
The only thing more exhilarating was her driving although in truth it was more terrifying than exhilarating.
Marty Griffin was in the passenger side and he had his left hand on the door handle and his right hand gripping the underside of his seat.
Oh yes and his eyes screwed tight shut.
Ali Khan was in the middle of the back seat and braced himself with one hand on the back of each of the front seats.
Khan’s eyes were wide open and filled with terror, this was his first experience of Tilly’s driving.
Sergeant Donnally turned the wheel violently to the left and shot across both lanes of the dual carriage way and onto the slip road, sign posted Millmoor, in one motion and Ali Khan let out a scream.
After several more stomach-churning maneuvers, Tilly screeched the car to a halt, half on the pavement, in front of a small parade of seven shops the middle one being Big Cyril’s betting shop.
Tilly was out of the car and striding towards the bookies, as Khan and Griffin struggled out of the car, once Marty had regained the use of his legs he turned to Khan.
“You know I think she’s getting better.” He said encouragingly patting Khan on the back.
“Definitely.”
He walked gingerly in the directing DS Donnally took.
Khan remained leaning on the car oblivious to the fact he was getting wet.
(Part Four)
Bill Overend and Tom Adamson pulled up outside the row of shops.
They saw another CID car slewed halfway up the pavement and looked at each other.
“Tilly was driving then guv.” Said Tom.
“Hmm.” Said Bill raising his eyebrows.
Bill got out of the car as Tom’s mobile went off.
Sgt Donnally walked over to meet him.
“I see the advanced driving course was a great help Tilly!”
“Sorry Guv.” She said sheepishly.
“Ok fill me in.” Bill said.
“SOCO found nothing.” Replied Tilly. “We’ve completed door to door, several people did notice a dark colored car parked outside the shop and a couple thought it unusual for the lights to be on, on Easter Monday night. But that’s about it.”
“Who found him?”
“Sue Yardell, chief cashier, found him when she turned up for work this morning.”
Tom switched off his phone joined the others.
“That was Boris, they don’t have much more than we do here.” Said Inspector Adamson.
“Mrs. Curtis has been sedated so we won’t get anything from her until tomorrow best case. There will be a uniform staying in the house.”
“Thanks Tom.” He said then he turned his attention back to Tilly.
“What’s the story with Big Cyril?”
“Cyril’s in a bad way, he’s been taken to the Churchill, DC Khan went in the ambulance with him.” Tilly said as they walked towards the shop. “He’ll be on hand to get a statement.”
“Do we know what happened to him?” Inspector Adamson asked.
“We’ll according to the Paramedics the injuries were probably inflicted after the blaggers had what they wanted.”
“Where’s the cashier now?” Asked Bill
“I had uniform take her home, she was to shaken up to give a coherent statement.” Tilly replied. “She’s going to come in to the Millmoor station tomorrow.”
“No we’ll go to her Tilly, make the arrangements.”
“Yes Guv.”
“Ok let’s have a quick look round and then we can get back to the station.”
“Tilly try and get back to Abbottsford without killing anyone.” Overend shouted.
(Part Five)
Whereas the month of April had definitely gone with a bang, May had with out a doubt began with a whimper.
By eleven o’clock Bill Overend had taken just one phone call, which turned out to be a misdial, and cleared his in tray.
Tom Adamson had jetted off somewhere warm and sunny for two weeks, on holiday, so Bill turned his mind to the minor problem of who was to ride shot gun for him in Tom’s absence.
After due consideration Bill decided on DS Boris Katarski.
Boris’s normal sidekick DC Frank Chute could partner DS Tilly Donnally, he might act as a calming influence on her.
At twelve o’clock Bill decided he would take an early lunch and was on his way out of his office door when his phone rang.
His first impulse was to ignore it, because if he answered it and it was another misdial he would just get angry, but if he ignored it and it was something important.
So he answered it.
“Overend?”
He sat down and picked up his pen.
“Yes, I know it, it’s near Quarry Hill.”
“Ok thanks.”
He put down the phone and headed out of the office.
“Boris? Tilly?” He shouted.
They both emerged almost simultaneously from opposite directions.
“Sir?”
“We have a body in the Pepperstock Pits. Boris you’re with me. Tilly you take Frank.” Bill instructed.
“Oh, Tilly let Frank drive. The body’s dead so there’s no need for the infamous Donnally Warp speed.”
“Oh come on Guv?” She pleaded.
(Part Six)
Tilly Donnally was not the happiest person in the world and was in fact sulking.
Not only had she been forced to ride as a passenger by the DCI as if that wasn’t bad enough he had also cast aspersions over her driving abilities, an opinion shared by almost everyone in CID, apparently.
On top of this her husband, Jimmy, had forgotten her birthday, which was that very day.
As she sat in the passenger seat, sulking, she thought about how happy he had been the night before after he had helped the Knights escape relegation, even scoring the decisive goal, and how proud she was of him.
And then he forgets her birthday.
“Bastard.”
“Sorry?” Said Frank.
“What?” Not realizing she’d said it out loud.
“No not you Frank.” She said
“Well the DCI was only winding you up, you know.” Frank said calmly.
“I know that, it’s not him I’m mad at either.”
“Well who then?” Frank asked
“Jimmy.” She almost spat the word out.
“What’s he done then?” Asked Frank.
“He’s forgotten my birthday.” She said sulkily.
“Is that all?”
“Yes that’s all.” She said angrily.
“I’ve given him plenty of hints.”
“What kind of hints? Were they subtle hints?” Frank asked.
“Yes.”
“Well what do you expect, let’s be perfectly clear on this one Serge hints don’t work on men.
Subtle hints don’t work! Even heavy hints don’t work! You just have to remind him.”
He paused. “We don't remember dates. We don’t mark birthdays and anniversaries on the Calendar.”
“Norma start’s reminding me weeks beforehand, in plain English.”
Tilly said nothing.
“Anyway there’s still plenty of the day left for him to remember.”
Tilly looked unconvinced.
After a few minutes of silence Tilly spoke.
“Do you and Norma ever argue?”
“Of course.” He said
“What about?”
“Anything and everything.” Frank said.
“At the weekend for instance. We were decorating the lounge. And we argued about the colours because I refused to call them Peach, Pumpkin and Pear because they are fruit’s, not colors.
They are sometimes the names celebrity’s call their children but they are not colours”
“And I don’t have a clue what tope is. So we argued about the color scheme for an hour and then we found out we both wanted the same colors, we had just been calling them by different names.”
He gave a rich fruity chuckle.
“Anything else?” She asked
“We argue about her having enough clothes or having too many shoes.” Frank answered. ”And the time it takes her to get ready, when we go out.”
“And what about you? What do you do to make Norma mad?”
“Watching sport all the time.” Frank said.
“And she doesn’t like it when I ogle women.” Tilly threw him a look.
“Look it’s perfectly natural and it is only looking.”
Just then as they drew to a stop for a red light there was a bright yellow sports car parked by the curb.
“Do you see that car? I can look at that car, I think it’s beautiful, in fact it’s gorgeous, but just because I like how it looks doesn’t mean I’m going to get in and drive it.”
“How typical.” Tilly said. “Only a man could try to justify drooling over another woman while he had his wife on his arm.”
“And you’ve never looked at another man while you’ve been with Jimmy?” Asked Frank.
“I think we should change the subject.” Answered Tilly trying to suppress a smile.
“That’s a yes then.”
(Part Seven)
At the end of the afternoon, back in the squad room, Tilly was sitting at her desk still sulking about Jimmy forgetting her birthday.
She looked at her watch, it was time to go home, and in fact it was ten minutes after time.
She had just tidied her desk and gathered her belongings into her handbag.
Just as she stood up to put on her coat the phone rang.
She sighed, put down her bag and answered the phone.
“Donnally?”
“Hello Serge, There’s a Mr. Niven in reception to see you.” It was PC Deacon.
“Well what does he want Sticky?” She asked.
“He says he needs to talk to you.”
“Ok I’m on my way down anyway.”
She hung up the phone and put on her coat, picked up her bag and started for the door.
“Good night all.” She called.
“Night Tilly.” Said Bill.
She pushed through the door and was seemingly unaware that most of the squad were following her down the stairs.
When she reached reception PC Deacon pointed her in the direction of a smartly uniformed man with a cap under his arm.
“Sergeant Donnally?” He said as she approached.
“Yes.” She answered. “And you are?”
“Jim Niven.” He said with a little bow.
“I’m your driver madam.”
“My what?”
“Your driver.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arm and then pointed in the direction of the car park.
She turned her head in the direction he was pointing.
She stood for a few seconds before what she was seeing finally registered.
It was a gleaming black limousine.
“I don’t understand.” She said.
“My instructions were to collect Detective Sergeant Donnally from Abbottsford police station.” He explained.
“It’s for me?” She stammered. “Where are we going?”
“I can’t answer that.” He answered. “All will be revealed in due course.”
It was at this point that she became aware that she had an audience.
“Did you lot know about this?” She asked.
“We had an inkling.” Answered Bill.
“Now off you go before it turns back into a pumpkin.”
Tilly could only manage a nod and a smile.
“Oh, Tilly, I don’t want to see you back here until Tuesday.”
“Ok Guv.” She said still slightly dazed.
Jim Niven, the driver, held open the door and she walked through the opening slowly.
Then as she reached the limousine, the driver already had his hand on the door handle, and he opened it and her husband, Jimmy, stepped out.
Tilly was stopped in her tracks with surprise when she saw Jimmy.
After a few seconds she threw her arms around his neck.
“You Bastard. You didn’t forget.”
As the car drove away the crowd in reception began to disperse.
“Well that was nice.” Bill said.
“You old softy.” Jenny Hack said. “You’re a romantic old thing.”
“Yes, but luckily only you and I know that. My little flower.”
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