'Nearly finished?' said Brest, 'You haven't touched the bloody things since I went out. Let's get one thing straight, Taffy. There's only room for one lazy bastard in this station and that's going to be me. Understand?'

Morgan hung his head sheepishly. 'Sorry, guv. I'll get on to it right away, guv.'

The desk phone rang. Morgan paused while Wells answered it. Like Frost he hated figure work and hoped this might be a call that would take him away from it.

'I'll get someone over there right away,' said Wells, scribbling an address down on his pad as he hung up.

'Another pillow case burglary, Jack. Shall I give it to Morgan?'

'No. He's got his heart set on doing the crime figures. I'll take it.' He jerked a thumb to Taffy. 'On your way, Lloyd George.'

'Yes, guv,' said Morgan, making his disappointment very apparent.

Wells watched him go and sniffed disdainfully. 'How the hell do we get all the rubbish foisted on us? First Wonder Woman, now him.'

'I've known worse,' grunted Frost. 'What's the address of this burglary?' He had a quick look at his watch. If it didn't take too long he would have plenty of time to fiddle his expenses and see the videoed title fight with the rest of the shift. Life was a joy when your Divisional Commander was away.

Police Superintendent Mullett tapped his fingers happily on the steering wheel of his Rover as he drove back from County Headquarters. An excellent meeting under the chairmanship of the Chief Constable in which Denton Division came out very well, he thought. It was a meeting for all Divisional Commanders to discuss ways of maintaining an efficient force in the face of the draconian budget cuts that had been forced upon them.