The Holiday

CHAPTER TWO

Carl sat in his reading chair, soaking up the winter sunlight streaming through the floor-to -ceiling windows of the sitting room of his two bedroom apartment, enjoying a quiet read of the weekend paper with a glass of red.

He put the paper down and let his thoughts drift to wondering how he was going to resolve his Nina problem. She had gotten closer to him than any other woman since the end of his failed marriage. He’d had a series of short relationships to get over Virginia, who had divorced him and married an accountant, someone who kept more respectable hours than a policeman. The last time he’d seen her, a couple of years back, she had presented herself as a happily married woman with three children, and a big house in the eastern suburbs. He let Virginia fade into the background. She wasn’t his problem.

The previous afternoon, Chief Inspector Rankin, commander of the Major Crime Unit, had summoned Carl to his office to discuss, what the chief had referred to as, his ‘Nina problem’. The chief inspector had been supportive. He’d told Carl he was relieved to see that he had settled into a stable relationship, which was a good thing, according to the chief. The chief inspector was a man who believed in stable relationships. He’d been married to Evelyn for thirty years. 

The chief had also pointed out to Carl the potential conflict of interest between his professional and personal relationships.

Carl had been a little taken aback. He’d thought that he and Nina had been discrete. However, it seemed the chief had his sources. Carl hoped they didn’t include Harry. 

The upshot of the meeting was that, as of Monday, Detective Sergeant Nina Strong would be a member of DI Reid’s team. The chief had wished him well with his relationship with Nina, and added that he thought they suited each other.