I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 66 : Welcome back

        "Welcome back Gavin." smiled the consulting detective when the inspector entered his office for the first time since he had been shot two months earlier.
"It's Greg." he corrected the younger man, mechanically. "What give me the pleasure of your visit Sherlock?"
"Well I just wanted to wish my favourite and least irritating policeman a happy return. Isn't that what normal people do?" replied Holmes while the other man was sitting down.
"As much as I am flattered by your attention, you are not a normal person Sherlock. So why are you here for exactly." chuckled the yarder.
"I've sold all the cold cases you provided me and as nobody else here wants to work with me, well, no one I would tolerate working with, I must admit that I'm starting to feel a bit bored." explained the consulting detective, placing a dozen of beige files on the desk.
"Who offered to work with you ? And haven't you got any cases of your own ?" wondered Gregory
"Anderson. But the simple thought of him thinking makes me physically sick." retorted the young man, rolling his eyes. "And I don't find that much entertainment in affairs and dog disappearance. Nothing exceeding a 3 for weeks ..."
"Well, I don't know if I can't help you, I don't even know what I'm suppose to investigate on today so ..."apologized the DI. "Still, I'll see what I can do for you. I'll text you if I find anything that may interest you."
"I'll be at Barts all day if you are looking for me. Needa help Molly over something." indicated the black-haired while standing up and opening the door.
"You are helping someone ?" wondered Greg, surprised.
"Well yeah. Molly requested my help, I wasn't going to say no." retorted the consulting detective as if it was obvious before exiting the office.
"My, my what had happened to you .."muttered the policeman, astonished by what he had just heard.
He was still feeling a bit shocked when Sally entered his office a few seconds later, a genuine smile plastered on her face. She placed a couple of brands new files to investigate on her boss's desk alongside a box containing a couple of strawberry frosted donughts.
"Welcome back Greg !" she wished him.
The detective opened the box and picked one of the donughts, smiling to his adjunct.
"It's nearly worth the bullet ..." he joked while the young woman was taking a seat. "So, what have we got ?"
"I just saw Sherlock walking out of your office." the policewoman remarked. "What was he doing here ?"
"You don't call him 'Freak' anymore ? Damn, I really wonder what had been going on during the time I was away. Everybody seems to have turned civilised and polite ... Weird ..." chuckled the yarder. "He've sold some old cases and was on his way to Barts. So, those new cases ?"
"Oh, alright." nodded Donovan. "Spencer Bennett, 26, missing since a couple of weeks after he had advised his girlfriend that he was going out camping for the stag night, well weekend, of his best mate. Never turned out to the celebrations and can't be found since he left his flat in Croydon."
"I suppose we can't trace his phone, would be too easy ? And the other one ?" agreed the inspector.
"You've got it." retorted the young woman. "The other one is Megan Carter, 57, apparent suicide but the local police officer got doubts and requested we intervene and ask for a post-mortem. I've taken the liberty of asking to Anderson and Donougher to go and have alook."
"Ask for a post-mortem at Barts, I know they have some free time at the moment so then it will be quickly done and we will be able to close the case."
"Alright. Oh, and I've emailed you a sum up of what had been going on since you've been away, so then you won't be completely lost." Sally advised him before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.
Despite the temperature reaching their highest level since a couple of years and the perspective of not very exciting cases, Greg was feeling happy to be back to his office after being forced to inactivity for all this time and once the donughts eaten, he joyfully started to examine the Spencer Bennett case, humming an old tune by the Beach Boys.
After a couple of hours of going through the different interview reports and documents unclosed in the file, the detective decided that a visit to the man's flat was in order and grabbing his phone and car keys he made his way to Donovan's desk in the nearby openspace.
"Sally, I'm going to Spencer Bennett's flat, would you come with me ?" he asked the woman after she had hanged up the call she was having when he arrived.
"Sure." nodded the young woman seizing her handbag. "I just had Anderson on the phone. Apparently it is a real suicide but he still had allowed the body to be taken to Barts as the local police officer is still finding it suspicious."
"How bored does that man could be to be that eager for a murder." the detective laughed while they were waiting for the lift.
"Indeed ... Well, in a way, all of us here prefer a murder to a simple suicide, on a professional point of view of course, but to be that stubborn is still pretty rare honestly." agreed the policewoman.
"I sometime wonder if being in the forces doesn't turn us a bit weird ... I mean, we are nearly more excited when we hear that someone has been killed that when hearing that nothing had happened and that we are stuck with old cases." remarked Greg.
"Well, at least we have the decency to keep our joy to ourselves, not like a certain brother-in-law of yours ..."retorted Sally, making both of them laugh genuinely.

"That wasn't very useful, was it ?" sighed the detective when getting out of Bennett's flat a couple of hours later.
"No, that's the least we can say ..." agreed his colleague while opening the car door.
"How can a flat be so impersonal ? I mean, you could be in a fucking IKEA catalogue that it would look exactly the same for all I know ..." continued Greg, astonished.
"And you haven't seen his socks drawer. All ordered by colours in little boxes ... It would definitely makes me turn crazy to live there ..." noddedDonovan.
"And I thought that I was leaving with a maniac ..." laughed the inspector.
"Well, I suppose he doesn't make you sort of your shirts by colours ..." the young woman chuckled.
"No, and he even allows a couple of personal belongings and photographs in the house." her boss joked. "Lunch ?"
"Hell yes." Sally accepted, still giggling.

"I could eat an entire cow if it was available." commented the detective while taking a seat in the pub.
"Well, you'll have to satisfy yourself with a steak I regret to announce you ..." the pubowner intervene, bringing the two police officers a bottle of water and a pint of beer each.
"Hi Ross, how's life ?" Greg cheered him.
"Fine and you ? Nice to have you back by the way."answered the middle-aged man.
"Fine. Better. Good to be out there again if you ask me." replied the inspector, drinking a gulp of his beer.
"Great. Same as usual ?" enquire the pub tender. The two other nodded and he disappeared in the kitchen behind the bar.
"So apart from this, when does your kids come over for holidays ?" questioned Sally.
"Next week." the DI replied joyfully. "Got them for the two last weeks of summer holidays. Planning on bringing them to Disneyland in Paris for a couple of days."
"Is Mycroft up for amusement parks ?" wondered the young woman with an amused smile.
"Not that much to be honest, but he said he will look after Alden as he is to small for most of the attraction. And he just want to please the kids so ..."admitted the yarder.
"That's what I thought." Donovan chuckled. "Still, it's nice of him to come. My dad wouldn't have done it."
"Yeah. Well I have to admit that I'm surprised of all what he could accepted to please one of the kids you know ... I mean, he even agrees to spend some of his Sundays on a football pitch to support them !" nodded Greg.
"Well enjoy it because trust me, you are lucky ..." smiled the policewoman.
"And what about you ? How is it going with Scott ?" the detective asked her.
"Nice, it's nice. We are thinking about spending a few days in south of France somewhere in September. No really, it's fine." replied Donovan before being interrupted by Ross who was coming back with their food.
"And here you go ! Bon appetit !" he wished them happily, placing a plate before each of them.

"Inspector Lestrade, may I speak to you ?" asked the Chief SuperIntendant, popping his head in Greg's office when the detective was starting to gather his stuff, ready to leave and go back home. "Don't worry, it will be short."
"Yeah, sure. Come in." smiled the policeman, gesturing toward one of the seats in front of his desk.
"So, how was this first day back ?" wondered the man.
"Well, it was nice. The usual stuff yeah." answered Greg, switching off his computer.
"So you have fully recovered ?" questioned Jameson.
"Yeah. Well I'm still feeling a bit stiff and that but broadly speaking it's all fine really. And to be honest, it's good to be able to work again. I was starting to be a bit bored you see." nodded the DI, laughing a little.
"Great. Great. So you still want to remain here. I mean you have no will of leaving the crime, do you ?" supposed the SuperIntendant, carefully.
"No, why would I ?" wondered Gregory, surprised.
"Well, you've been badly injured, maybe you would have liked to take a desk job or something like that. But if it's not the case, I'm very glad." explainedJameson.
"Desk job. Better leaving the forces than doing paperwork all day." chuckled the detective. "No, I really intend to remain in my position sir."
"Fine, I'm glad. And you will receive a gratuity by the Government, you know, for being wounded in duty. Well, unless you want to ... to sue us for ...negligence." continued his superior, feeling uneasy.
"I'm not going to sue anyone. If I sue the yard, I'm proceeding against myself as I was responsible for the investigations." the inspector reassured the other man, a little astonished by the fact that he could ever had thought that a trial was actually possible.
"Great. Fine. Really fine." Jameson sighed in relief. "You're a good man and a good policeman Lestrade. Glad to have you back."
"Thank you sir."concluded Greg while the other man was leaving the room. Chuckling to himself about his superior demeanour, he collected his things before grabbing his car keys and phone and leaving the building, eager to join his son and husband and enjoy the warm evening with them.