I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 146 : Molly's present

"Mr Lestrade are you ready ? It's your turn in 2 minutes." a young assistant informed the policeman from the door of the room.

"Hmm ? Oh erm ... yes, excuse me." Greg replied, unable to hide his tension.

"Follow me." the young man smiled, showing the way to the set.

After more than a month of research and multiple interviews, the police had still been unable to find who had attacked Arnie and why he had, or they had done so. The public was becoming increasingly hostile to the force, a hostility underlined by the constant presence of the media. Despite not liking speaking in public even for all the gold in the world, Gregory had been forced to acknowledge that an interview in one of the biggest morning show was probably the only way to save the situation, at least for a few more days.

Dan Walker was already sat in the red sofa, looking on a small screen at a reporter in Suffolk who was talking about the recent flooding that had happened there. The policeman was invited to sit on the opposite sofa seconds before the reporter was finished and the focus came back on Dan Walker.

"Thank you, Basil and good luck to all of you in Suffolk. We will have a look at the weather in a few minutes but first, I've been join by Detective Chief Inspector Gregory Lestrade from Scotland Yard, the officer in charge of the investigation on the case of the young Arnie, a subject I know a lot of us are concerned about. Good morning Detective." the presenter introduced him.

"Good morning." the inspector nodded stiffly.

"It's been nearly a month now that Arnie have been attacked and as far as we know the police still haven't found any suspect." the host introduced the subject.

"That's entirely true. We have moved forward since the beginning of the inquiries and although it is true that we haven't found the culprit yet, we still have made huge steps." the yarder tried to defend himself and his team.

Half an hour later, it was clear to everyone, and even to Mycroft who had been watching the show in his Diogene Club's office, that the police had no idea as where to go now, but that Greg was a very devoted officer. Even if it hadn't reassured the public about the investigation, the interview could have gone worse. After all, it was true that Scotland Yard was going nowhere and that everything seemed to be nothing but dead ends, but Lestrade had been able to make to show that the police wasn't giving up and that they were as affected by the situation than the rest of the public.

Despite the very complicated case Greg was facing at work, he still had been able to take his Wednesday afternoon off in order to join Mycroft and Alden. They were to have lunch at Yauatcha, a Chinese restaurant in Soho that had been highly recommended to the politician by the prime minister of Canada on his last visit, prior to a shopping session in order to find a perfect gift for Molly's birthday.

The invitation had been running for more than a month but with all the work both men had had to achieved since then, they never had found some time to chose a present. Time was now running short and the yarder was secretly hoping that Mycroft would had had his PA to do the searching for him to avoid the three of them wandering around like idiots for hours in over crowded stores.

He parked his BMW in the private parking of the restaurant - one of the greatest advantages with most of those posh restaurant being the easiness of finding a space to park into - and joined the front door were a nice looking, middle-aged man was waiting to lead him inside. Mycroft and Alden were already sat at a table in the farthest corner of the restaurant but as soon as the little boy spotted his father he raised up on his feet and came to met him. As the well-behaved child he was he didn't run but you could easily guess that he would have loved too and even him couldn't repress the urge he felt of jumping into the policeman arm's.