Page 77 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘I’m okay. It’s just been—’

‘You don’t have to explain. I understand.’

And he did. He knew her like no one else. He was also feeling the pain of the last few days, the whole department were. All that time Briggs had been trying to keep Gina on the team even though she did doubt him. He was really stuck in the middle and trying to cling onto his position within the investigation. She missed Jacob so much and she was ready to see him now. She wiped her face, fanned it dry and smiled. ‘Pull yourself together, Harte,’ she said.

Briggs stepped back and she got out of the car. He opened the door, and she entered the pub to laughter and hugs. Jacob was in the centre of it all. Wyre turned and saw her, then O’Connor put his drink down. She noticed how many soft drinks they were all holding because most of them could be called in at any time. Kapoor and PC Ahmed stood together. PC Smith swivelled around on a bar stool and grinned as he held a green cocktail. Jacob smiled at her and walked over. ‘I have missed you, guv. I’ve missed you all.’ He flung his arms around Gina, she hugged him back.

‘Speech,’ PC Smith called out, obviously having had more than one drink. ‘Come on Briggsy.’

Gina laughed as she wondered what Sullivan would make of this scene. She wanted to laugh even more when she’d heard that Sullivan had handed in her notice and opted to finally retire. If she’d have heard Briggs being called Briggsy by a drunken PC she’d have made sure he’d been fired, but Briggs was a good person to work for and not just because Gina loved him.

‘I don’t do speeches. You’ll have to settle for glad to have you back on the team, Jacob. You’ve been through the absolute pits, and I can’t even pretend to understand how you must feel but what I can tell you is, we are all here for you and that’s a promise. If you need to talk, well there’s always Smith.’

The crowd laughed as Smith put his miniature cocktail umbrella between his teeth and gurned.

‘Seriously, we missed you. Onwards and upwards, as they say. Right, let’s drink to Jacob.’

Everyone roared and cheered.

‘And congratulations to trainee DC Jhanvi Kapoor and PC Shafiq Ahmed who will be assisting major crimes.’ He turned to Shaf. ‘Whatever you do don’t turn out like him.’ Briggs nodded to Smith who smiled widely, showing his stained green lips. Shaf laughed. ‘Right, it has to be time to grab our table and order some food before we all wilt like the delicate little flowers that we are.’

As everyone made their way through the busy pub to the reserved table, Gina remained at the bar waiting to be served. Briggs ambled over. ‘Great job, Gina.’

‘Yay, let’s do it all again tomorrow.’ She let out a laugh but inside, she wanted to weep. Everyone was happy but the last few days had really knocked her sideways. When she finally settled tonight, she would give a thought to everyone whose lives were ruined by Kieron and Lauren. The road to recovery was infinite. The trauma would rear its ugly head at the most inconvenient of times and at other times, life just might feel normal for a while. She knew that it never left. It remained dormant, waiting for an excuse to pop back up and say hi.

‘What do you want to drink?’

She stared at the optics. ‘You know, I’m not on call tonight and I think I’ll come back to yours. Make it a fruity gin and tonic.’ Why not. Life was for living and tonight, she was going to live a little.

* * *

---