By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

up his c.v.’  Everybody knew that the Chief Constable was applying for the top job in the new combined Scottish police service that the Scottish government, against all professional advice, had decided to set up.
     
    ‘I’ll see if I can set something up for early this evening.  Say, six o’clock.  That OK for you?  I just think that this is so out of the ordinary run of murders that people outside North East Constabulary may begin to take an interest.  And we need to keep the details out of the public domain.’
     
    ‘The Press Office, which is to say Harry Conival, is working on a press release.  Or two press releases.  They can’t decide whether to issue a statement about both murders, or one on each.  I doubt whether anybody there has had to deal with two suspicious deaths simultaneously, any more than we have.  What do you think, Boss?’
     
    ‘My instinct is to treat them separately, just as we would have done if they had happened a couple of days apart.  Some of the hacks might ask if we think there’s any connection.  But we can play a very straight bat to that.  And we don’t need to have a press briefing – yet – so they won’t be able to push us too hard.’
     
    Colin knew that Vanessa’s recent experience with the press hadn’t been entirely positive.  They had put her under some pressure during the Balmoral murder case by digging into her private life.  And she had come out of that case with a nagging doubt about whether she could trust Harry Conival.  But he was the duty press officer and she had no credible reason to ask for him to be replaced. She had also decided, first appearances notwithstanding, that he was pretty good at his job.
     
    ‘I’ve got to go.  I’ve got an appointment’.  She nearly said ‘with your wife’, but didn’t, just in case Janet hadn’t mentioned it.  ‘Could you let the press office know we want two press releases?  I’ll see you at six and we can approve them then.’
     
    *
     
    Vanessa looked up from an old copy of Hello! as Janet MacNee came into the waiting room.
     
    'Hi, Vanessa.  Come through.'
     
    As Vanessa sat down in the consulting room, Janet closed the door and asked, 'So what can I do for you?
     
    'I think I may be pregnant.'
     
    'Oh! Why do you think that?'
     
    'I've missed a period for the first time since I was fourteen.  I'm usually as regular as clockwork. And a certain amount of queasiness in the morning.  I wasn't really all that scared about the bloody helicopter. I just didn't want to throw up over my colleagues!'
     
    'I assume you've done a test?'
     
    'Positive. Five weeks, it said.'
     
    Janet smiled. 'If you can give me a sample, I'll check and then I'll examine you. Especially important since you haven't seen a doctor for at least a year.'  The tone of disapproval was unmistakeable. Vanessa tried to look sheepish.
     
    'But let's assume that you are, as my ever-sensitive husband would put it, up the duff. How do you feel about it?'
     
    'I couldn't be happier!  It'll cause problems, of course, but we'll deal with them. And I'll have to think about when to take my maternity leave.  But I've got a great role model in Chris Jenkinson, so I know it can be done.'
     
    Chris Jenkinson, Vanessa's informal mentor, had recently been promoted to Deputy Chief Constable.  If the most senior female officer in Scotland could combine career and family, so could she.
     
    'You said "we".  Does Neil know?'
     
    'I thought I'd wait for confirmation before talking to him   But I remember you told me the first time I met him that he wanted children, so I think he'll be happy. We have discussed it, in principle.'
     
    Janet laughed. 'Just make sure he doesn't hug you too tight when you tell him.'
     
    Vanessa was six weeks pregnant.   Janet booked her in for a scan at eight weeks and agreed to take her on as a patient.
     
    *
     
    DCS Esslemont looked appalled. ‘Is the pathologist absolutely sure?’
     
    ‘I