Where There's A Will

Chapter Two

Detective Inspector Nathan Stone – Nate to his friends – yawned hugely as his partner drove them into the field that had been used for the Rock Radio music festival. It was just gone four in the morning and he was not happy to be there; an hour before he had been in bed, warm, comfortable and, most importantly, asleep. Why he had been called out for a robbery, when Detective Sergeant Mason was the officer on duty until eight a.m., he didn't know, and he hoped to find out soon.

The moment his partner brought the car to a stop, Stone got out, rising to his full height of just under six feet. He stretched to ease his stiff muscles and yawned again, his mouth gaping wide for a moment before shutting quickly. Running his fingers through his sandy hair he attempted to transform it into something more suited to a senior detective, without success – his hair had never been all that tameable, and fresh from bed it put up more resistance than usual.

As awake as he felt he was likely to be, given the time and the circumstances, he looked around, his hazel eyes taking in all there was to see. Though it was the early hours of the morning, and dawn was still an hour or so away, the festival grounds were ablaze with light - some of it came from the quarter moon that shone in the night sky, but most of the light came from the spotlights that dotted the field, and which only a couple of hours before had illuminated the bands playing the festival and entertaining the thousands of people who had attended.

"They sure made a mess of this place," DS Stephen Burke remarked as he walked around the car to join his partner. There was little difference in their heights, not even an inch, but he had better posture, so he seemed taller; his slimmer build, close cropped black hair and green, almost emerald, eyes further separated them in the eyes of any who them.

Stone nodded his agreement. "I'm no environmentalist, but I've always thought it a shame when I see the mess left behind after a festival like this. I've never understood why people are so prepared to leave their rubbish all over the place just because they're at a festival; most of them would never do it at home." He let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his eyes to remove the last of the sleep from them before running his fingers through his hair once more; it was a habit, and one he often wasn't aware of doing. "Okay, let's get on with this. Standing around isn't going to get us anywhere."

With Burke at his side, Stone strode briskly over to the pavilion, whose entrance was being guarded by a uniformed officer. He looked around quickly once inside and noted the presence of the two white clad forensics officers who were working over a small area to one side of the pavilion – in addition to them there were three men and a woman seated at a table near the 'bar', untouched cups of something that still steamed gently in front of them, while a short distance from the table was Detective Constable Chris Grey.

"Christian," Stone greeted the younger man, whom he liked to call by his full, Christian, name because of the lead male character in the Fifty Shades series of books; it wasn't something Grey liked, but since he was only a junior officer, and one newly promoted to detective, he was not in a position to do or say much about it. "What's the situation?" He had been told little of what had happened when he was woken by the duty sergeant. "Armed robbery I believe."

Grey nodded. "That's right, sir. Two men with sawn-off shotguns tied up the staff, that's them over there," he indicated the foursome at the table, "knocked them out and took all the money the beer tents took today," he told his superior succinctly.

"Is there something special about this case?" Stone asked curiously of the young detective, whose face took on a quizzical look. "Why was I called out for this? I'm off-duty till morning - Mason's the duty detective tonight, he should have been the one to get this call." He stifled yet another yawn and silently wished for a very large mug of strong, black, well-sweetened coffee to wake him up.