The Pharmacist

Parking the car in an allocated space in the Hunter’s Lane car park, Jack paused outside Penrith police station and looked at the date above the doorway, 1904. Briefly, he wondered how much drama the grand old building had witnessed throughout the years before his mind jumped back to the present and his immediate future. Pushing open the heavy wooden doors, he stepped inside to continue this new phase in his life.

After only six weeks on the job, Jack had found his feet at the station and quickly got to know his colleagues.

It seemed reasonable to assume that the kind of crime Jack would encounter in Penrith would be far removed from his experiences working in Leeds city centre. Yes, there were still the modern-day evils of drugs, knife crime and abuse, but on a far lesser scale, and already it seemed to Jack that he had stepped back some thirty years. Indeed, the décor of his new working environment suggested age. It appeared sadly neglected, a low priority on the demands of an overstretched budget.

Perhaps crime in Penrith would also prove less complex than in Leeds and solved by good, old-fashioned, bobby on the beat stuff. That would be fine with Jack. He’d seen more than his fair share of vicious crimes and the inevitable heartache it left in its wake and would be delighted to spend the rest of his career solving more straightforward crimes, but was that even possible? He was assuming that a smaller town with a population living a relatively easy-going lifestyle wouldn’t throw up the kind of deprived crime he’d encountered in Leeds, and he certainly hoped this would prove to be so.

Jack, never a man to waste time, had immersed himself in work at Hunter’s Lane from day one of his new appointment, with his first couple of weeks spent familiarising himself with each of the station’s active cases, as well as some of the more serious cold case files. His natural tenacity ensured that he would never give up on any of them, old or new. Initially, he did find a noticeable difference in the type of crime in Penrith, just as he’d assumed. Compared to his last post in Leeds city centre, the workload was much lighter too, but inevitably to counterbalance this, there was less manpower with which to work.

Jack’s comprehensive review also presented him with the opportunity to get the measure of his new colleagues, in particular, DC Claire Swift and DS Owen Hardy, the two officers with whom he’d be working most closely. He made a point of talking through the active cases with them both.

Claire was young, smart as a whip, and ambitious. She arrived for work early each morning dressed immaculately in a dark tailored trouser suit over a clean fresh pastel blouse. An attractive girl, with her short elf-like haircut and sensible shoes, she certainly looked the part. Her given tasks were completed quickly and with accuracy and attention to detail which Jack appreciated. Claire’s expression was one of eagerness to move on with the task in hand. She wasted no time and didn’t quibble about working after hours. Jack found her more than capable of taking initiatives, yet wary of uncalculated risks. All considered, he was delighted to have such an officer on his team.

DS Owen Hardy wasn’t quite as particular with his appearance, but Jack made allowances as the DS was a new father. Jack wasn’t so old that he didn’t remember the pressures of a new baby in the house. Owen had worked his way up from being a uniformed PC and served in the force for twelve years. He was of a wiry build and had been into long-distance running before his children arrived to usurp much of his free time, but he still attempted to keep fit when time allowed. His hair hung a little too long over his collar for Jack’s liking, but Owen’s mind was proving to be every bit as sharp as Claire’s, and so far, Jack was pleased with his new colleagues. If he could pick fault, it would be the occasional tardiness that Owen had already displayed, but again, Jack made allowances for the baby and for the time being, would be lenient. The test would come when they worked on a serious case, which was always when character was tested and strengths and weaknesses proved.

So far, Jack was delighted with his move to Hunter’s Lane. Stress levels seemed so much lower here than in Leeds, making for a lighter, less pressured working environment and his colleagues had already proved to be a welcoming bunch.

* * *

Should he have been privy to his colleagues’ evaluations of their new DI, Jack would have learned that his team, taking less than a week to decide, marked him down as an okay kind of guy and a considerable improvement on his predecessor. His enthusiasm was infectious and his quiet, but rather droll, sense of humour was slowly appealing to them. They were unanimously impressed with their new DI’s ability to absorb and retain every detail of the cases he reviewed, and they appreciated his even temperament, something they’d not been used to before.

All in all, the atmosphere at Hunter’s Lane was on an all-time high since the arrival of the new DI. Yes, it was a good move for Jack, and all things considered, Detective Inspector Priestly was a very happy man.