Lips White As Snow

1-New Secrets And A New Case.

D.I. Cynthia Hawes was on her second cup of coffee of the day when her sargeant plodded into her office, grunted a good morning, and plonked himself down at his desk opposite her.

It took Hawes approximately half a second to realise why this was wrong.

"You're back early" she commented.

Edmund looked up at her darkly.

"I am."

Hawes studied him carefully, resting her chin on an elbow and that elbow on the desk.

"Your cruise should be docking in Italy today" she pointed out.

"We got a bit stuck" her sargeant replied. "In France."

"I see." Hawes drummed her nails lazily on her oakwood desk. "Are you going to tell me why you got a bit stuck in France?"

Edmund sat up abruptly and smiled at her.

"No" he replied. "And it would do you good not to ask."

Hawes rolled her eyes, looking under her desk for a file she knew was there.

"Look at this" she ordered, flinging it across the room. Edmund caught it.

"Is it a case?" he asked.

"Better" Hawes smirked. "It's a hand-me-down case. Meaning someone has already had a crack at it. Meaning we get to look very, very clever when we solve it."

Edmund snorted, flicking the file open and putting his feet up on the desk, much to Hawes's disgust.

"Failed drugs bust?" he asked his boss quizzically. She tutted.

"Read it properly."

"Read it properly" Edmund mimicked grumpily, sticking his nose further in the file and continuing to read.

"You need glasses" Hawes commented dryly. "You shouldn't have to squint that much to read a page."

"Are you gonna let me read this shit or not?" Edmund snapped, looking up. Hawes rolled her eyes, and went back to her computer. There was a pause.

"Someone's definitely got out of the wrong side of bed this morning" Hawes murmured. Edmund's eyes flicked up, and he glowered at her. She raised an eyebrow, before finally letting him get on and read the file. Mentally, she set a reminder to make the boy get an opticians appointment.

After a few more minutes of silence, Edmund snapped the file closed and sighed.

"What do you think?" Hawes asked blithely. Edmund smirked, mood seemingly lifted by the offending file.

"I think this could be a good one, if you don't mind my opinion."

Hawes nodded abruptly.

"I agree. Shall we run through what we've already got?"

Edmund agreed, standing up and grabbing the big whiteboard which always stood in the corner of Hawes's office. Hawes herself grabbed a whiteboard pen, and threw another to her sargeant, who caught it one handed.

"So" Hawes began. "Suspected drug cartel, specialising in cocaine, appears to be operating in a small town southwest of Oxford-"

"Lesser Farthing" Edmund cut in.

"Lesser Farthing" Hawes agreed tautly, not altogether enamoured by being so bluntly cut off. "Anyway, our esteemed colleague, D.I. Blakely, tracks the drug cartel to Farthing House, the old mansion overlooking Lesser Farthing, assuming it was where the drugs were being stored, but upon raiding it, finds it completely clear."

"But it's definitely there somewhere?" Edmund asked. Hawes nodded.

"Oh yes. Blakely intercepted a few of the exports-that's how he found out roughly where the cartel are based. Question is, if it's not the house, where is it?"

"He said in his report that he actually saw some people taking something up to Farthing House" Edmund pointed out. Hawes nodded, sucking her lip.

"Yes. The issue with Blakely, I find, is that he tends not to think outside the box, so to speak. So yes, he may have seen things going up to Farthing House, but in his eyes that can only mean that the drugs are being stored in Farthing House. Of course, that's not entirely always the case."

"But what could be going up to Farthing House if not the drugs?" Edmund asked. Hawes sighed.

"I'm not sure. That's an option, granted, but not the one I was thinking of."

Edmund leaned on the desk, face screwed up as he thought. Hawes waited patiently for him to catch on.

"Nope" the young D.S. sighed, after a few more minutes of silence. Hawes tutted.

"Come and look at this. It might give you a hint..."

She beckoned Edmund over to her computer, on which she had loaded up the Wikipedia page for Farthing House. Edmund leaned in to skim-read it.

"Farthing House...built in 1830 on an old castle ruin dating back to William the Conqueror...originally owned by the Shackleton family...was the scene of two deaths in the late 1800s...one hung off the balcony and another fallen off that same balcony...oh how lovely..."

"You've read the important bit" Hawes butted in. Edmund scowled at her.

"How helpful of you, ma'am."

Hawes cocked her chin and folded her arms, tapping her foot also. Edmund went back to the computer.

"Built on an old castle?" he asked quizzically. Hawes nodded.

"Meaning...?"

Edmund's mind flicked back to Year Seven History, where his class had done a project on the Battle of Hastings.

"Secret passage into the village?" he asked, disbelievingly. Hawes nodded.

"Of course, it might be blocked off" she said flippantly. "Or the 1850 builders might have covered it over when they built the new house. Or you could be right, and something else is being taken up to the house-"

"It could be a decoy" Edmund chipped in.

"It could be a decoy" Hawes agreed. "But I fancy a little bit of a historical field trip. Shall we? It's only about forty minutes away."

"Let's" Edmund nodded, putting the casefile back on Hawes's desk as Hawes herself shut off the computer.

"Can we get coffee first?" the D.S. asked, as the two of them left Hawes's office, shutting off the lights as they went.

"Fine" his boss sighed. "You're paying. I paid last time."

Edmund scowled once more.

"I paid for the Chinese takeout we had on the last paperwork day" he pointed out. "Before I went on the cruise."

"True" Hawes sighed, conceding.

There was a pause.

"What happened on that cruise?" she then asked curiously, as they exited through the sliding glass doors.

"None of your business" Edmund replied defensively. Hawes narrowed her eyes.

"Did you do something you regret?" she asked, sounding like she was reprimanding a small child. Edmund looked appalled.

"Nothing like that!" he exclaimed, as Hawes looked knowingly at him. "Honestly, ma'am, I swear!"

"Then what was it?" Hawes tried again, as they both got into her car.

"There was...a situation" Edmund explained lamely. "I can't say what. It's slightly supposed to be a federal secret. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh?" Hawes mused, nodding as she started up the car engine. "Anything else you can...divulge?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time" Edmund repeated. "And thanks to a paper napkin, a magnifying glass, and a bad sense of direction, I'm sworn to secrecy."

As she pulled her car away from their Headquarters, Hawes wasn't entirely sure if she believed him.