Hunt guffawed.
‘I told him not to get too excited, ma’am. You’ll be cramped in cattle class on a twenty-four-hour flight from the UK to Perth, refuelling in Bangkok, then a four-hour flight to Sydney... and less than a day later, you’ll be on your way back again. I doubt you will have any time for sightseeing...’
‘Thank you, Sergeant Hunt,’ she said, cutting him off. ‘Can you please ask Tim if he can be ready to leave in about half an hour as we need to go to the Australian Embassy to get a visa?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Hunt said, still smiling as he walked out.
Jane knew the entire incident room would have the same attitude as Hunt, thinking the whole trip was a ridiculous waste of time and money, but she would just have to ignore it. She also knew she had now made a real enemy in Carter and the pressure was on to get a result. If she didn’t, he would be waiting to stick the knife in.
Jane had just left when Sergeant Hunt received a call from Arnold Hadley asking to speak to her. He was informed that she was not available and when he requested her home number, Hunt remembered the kerfuffle over Jason Thorpe being given Jane’s number, and his request was denied.
Hadley sounded anxious and upset. ‘Please tell her it’s an urgent matter in connection with Helena Lanark.’
Jane and DC Tim Taylor were at the Australian Embassy for nearly three hours. When each of them had their interview, they were told that their visa would not be approved for forty-eight hours. Jane was loath to return to the station, so instead she told Tim to ask Sergeant Hunt to contact whoever at Scotland Yard would oversee the tickets and travel arrangements, booking a flight as early as possible to give them as much time in Australia before they had to return the following day.
It was rather challenging trying to explain to Tim that it was probably best to fly out on Thursday night because of the time difference. He couldn’t get his head round the fact that they would be eleven hours ahead of the UK. If they arrived early on Saturday, about 6.30 a.m., they would have two full days to speak to Beatrice as their return flight could be on Saturday evening, giving them one night in Sydney. She also instructed him to see if they could get a police car to take them to Beatrice’s house in Mosman, and to book a hotel for them both for the one night.
On returning home, the cacophony of transistor radios in Jane’s house was at its usual deafening level. The bathroom suite was just being carried up the stairs as Eddie called out to her from the top landing.
‘Your new bathroom has arrived... and your bedroom has been stripped. We finished plastering in the bathroom and should be ready to put the tiles up at the end of the week!’
The station received a second call from Arnold Hadley asking to speak to DCI Tennison. DC Tim Taylor took the call and then went over to Sergeant Hunt.
‘He seems to be pretty upset. What do you think I should do, sarge?’
‘You can’t give him Tennison’s number, Tim. Just take his number and then give her a ring, passing on the message.’
Jane went into the kitchen which was piled with workmen’s clothes, stacked Tupperware boxes and flasks. There was a mountain of used tea bags sitting in the sink. Jane decided she would go to the shops to top up supplies. As she went back into the hall, the corner bath was being carefully hauled up the stairs. Eddie was at the top, making sure the boys didn’t damage the new plaster.
‘I’m going out to do a grocery shop,’ Jane called out. Eddie waved to her but was clearly more concerned about the new bathtub.
Still balanced on one of the stairs, Jane’s phone rang. The answerphone had not been reconnected and eventually one of the workmen picked up the receiver. Eddie heard the workman shouting up the stairs.
‘It’s a call for her!’ he said loudly.
‘Tell whoever it is that she shouldn’t be too long, she’s just gone to the shops for some groceries.’ Eddie saw the receiver being replaced before he had time to instruct his worker to take the details of who was calling.
Jane went to the local Tesco and bought enough bread to make sandwiches, along with tea, coffee, milk, and some other essentials. By the time she returned home it was almost seven and the lack of blaring radios told her that Eddie’s team had left. She staggered into the kitchen with the bags and found Eddie standing at the kitchen sink washing up the mugs.
‘Here, let me...’ He crossed over and took the bags from her.
‘I’ve done a major shop. The boys can make sandwiches if they like... and there’s more teabags, coffee, milk and sugar.’
Eddie unloaded the shopping smoothly, seeming to know exactly which cupboard to put everything in. He picked up one sliced loaf.
‘Shall I put one in the freezer as you’ve got three?’
She nodded, taking off her coat and throwing it over the back of the chair.
‘I’ll show you around so you can see what we’ve done today,’ Eddie said.
‘I’d like that, but first I need a cup of tea.’ Eddie picked up the kettle and filled it as she sat at the kitchen table. ‘I’ve not had a very good day.’
He turned to her. ‘What happened?’
She sighed. ‘Just something I should have dealt with maybe less forcefully than I did.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘One of the officers I work with came on to me. You’d honestly think that by now I’d be used to it, but I just didn’t see it coming. I know there will be repercussions and that’s what is so shit about this job. Sometimes, I don’t know why I do it.’
Eddie nodded sympathetically. ‘Do you want sugar?’
‘No, thanks.’ He put her mug down in front of her.
There was an awkward silence, then Eddie said, ‘Do you want to have a look at your bathroom? I think it was a good choice to make it a corner bath — it’s going to look very classy.’
Even though she didn’t really want to, Jane picked up her mug and followed him up the stairs and into the bathroom. Nothing had been plumbed in but there was a new wash basin, a shower with a glass-fronted sliding door and the most enormous corner bath.
‘Wow! It’s quite big, isn’t it?’ she said.
‘It’ll look better when all the tiles are up. I’ve decided to tile the whole bathroom white. We should start to get it plumbed in tomorrow and then you need to decide on the floor, because now we’ve taken up all the carpet.’
‘What do you suggest?’ Jane asked.
‘I think you should tile the floor as well as the walls. You don’t want wet wood, and definitely not carpet.’
‘OK, that’s fine with me,’ Jane said, unable to really focus on what he was asking her.
He moved ahead into her bedroom. All the bedroom furniture had been piled into the centre of the room and covered with dust sheets, and the walls had been stripped of wallpaper.
‘This room doesn’t need plastering so we can hang the new wallpaper sometime this week.’
Jane sipped her tea, wondering where she was going to sleep, as everything in the second bedroom had been piled high with junk.
‘I’ll need to get some things out of my wardrobe.’
Eddie looked at her. ‘You just need to take the dust sheets down. The lads cleared the other bedroom, so you’ve got somewhere to sleep tonight.’
‘I need to get out some summer clothes. I’m going to Australia and it’s summer there.’ She caught the look of astonishment on Eddie’s face.
‘You’re going to Australia?’ Eddie asked, plaintively. Jane nodded, unsure whether he was saddened she was leaving or concerned that he would be out of a job.
She laughed. ‘It’s only for a couple of days. It’s for work.’