I was expecting a normal shift when I arrived at the police station. I'd just changed into my uniform, checked my make-up and was on my way to report to the desk sergeant, when Dougie Wilson, one of my colleagues and a complete arsehole, intercepted me with a grin. "Hey, Fraser, Chief Inspector McFarlane wants you to report to his office as soon as you get in. Been a bad girl have you?" Pausing only long enough to tell him to piss off, I made my way along to 'Super Mac's' office. He greeted me with his usual taciturn grunt, then told me to take a seat, which was unusual to say the least. It was only then that I noticed the other three people in the room.
I took them in in a second or so. The first was Detective Inspector Peter Leslie from the Drugs Squad. Immediately I started to take more notice: clearly there was nothing routine about this. The second guy was a stranger in his 40s, short, dark and rotund, hunched in a crumpled business suit it looked like he'd slept in -- an impression reinforced by the dark sheen of overnight stubble around his chin. The last person I registered was the one I really noticed. She was maybe 10 years older than me (I'm 24), long-legged, slim with very short reddish-blonde hair, alabaster skin, a wide smiling mouth and wide but narrow green eyes that put me in mind of a cat. Unlike the guy who I guessed was her companion, she was wearing what was clearly an expensive, tailored black trouser suit, with sandals displaying purple-painted toenails - not exactly standard dress in Edinburgh Central Police Office. A little older and classier than the sort of women I usually go for, but drop dead gorgeous. McFarlane made the introductions. "This is WPC Fraser. Fraser, this is Inspector Estelle van Sluiter of the Amsterdam Police, and her colleague Sergeant Piet van der Gaal."
The bloke didn't react at all, but Inspector van Sluiter's smile widened even more and she reached out to shake my hand. "Please, call me Stelle." I had no idea what I was doing there, but I smiled back and told her to call me Izzie. As we shook she held onto my hand for just a fraction of a second longer than necessary, which made me wonder about her. I noticed that her long slim fingers were topped with manicured nails, also glossy purple. And she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. I also noticed as she leaned towards me that her white V-neck jumper was sufficiently low-cut to give me a nice view of her cleavage.
I was eager to find out what was going on, and McFarlane, clearly slightly offended by the informality of the senior Dutch officer, enlightened me. "You applied recently for transfer to the detective branch didn't you, er, Isobel. Well, we need a bright young female officer to work with our Dutch colleagues for a few days, and Inspector Leslie was quite impressed with your work on Operation Ferret, so we thought this would be an ideal opportunity to see how you get on." Ferret had been an op where I'd been one of the uniformed cops attached to the Drugs Squad and done a quite a lot of intel work, plus one evening 'under cover' sitting in a rather nasty Edinburgh ale house pretending to be Leslie's girlfriend.
McFarlane was offended again as Stelle, with her throaty, sexy accent, interrupted him. "Perhaps I could explain Donald. (The Chief Inspector was mildly apoplectic with outrage at her use of his first name, much to D.I. Leslie's barely concealed amusement.) "You see Izzie, we're after one of our local drug dealers, a small time crook but nasty, you know? We've lost sight of him recently, but we've had a tip that he's arranged a meeting with one of your local dealers in the next couple of days and, for reasons I can't go into, we're very anxious to speak to him back in the Netherlands. So your authorities have kindly agreed that we can come over and keep a watch on your man, with support from the local force. Are you interested?"
I began to see why I'd been offered this 'chance', especially when Pete Leslie said he'd be assigning one of his D.C.s to accompany van der Gaal and I'd be keeping Stelle company. It sounded like scut work, simply playing chaperone and chauffeur to Stelle on what would be for the most part a dull surveillance op. Drugs didn't have that many female officers, and they couldn't spare them for such a menial, tedious task. No doubt they'd sweep in and grab the glory, as usual, when it came time to start making arrests. Still, Stelle was pleasant eye candy and, if my initial hunch about her had been correct, who knew what I might get out of it? So I gave her my most winning smile and said I'd be glad to help. She smiled warmly at me in return and, her eyebrows arching for a fraction of a second, she said, "Good. I'd really like to see you out of that uniform of yours." She left the sentence hanging for a second. Bloody hell, she wasn't flirting with me was she? Right in front of these guys? I don't think I look particularly dykey, even in my uniform, but maybe she'd picked up some vibes from me, and noticed the way my eyes took in her body when I first saw her. She finally added, "Have you got any other clothes you could change into?"