Callum woke up the next morning to the sound of his alarm and groaned. Luckily he had the day off but he wasn't going to waste his day in bed. He sat up, rubbed his eyes and began to remake the bed whilst thinking about all the important things that he had to get done: the ironing, go to the bank, send the case files to Samantha Nixon and a lot more. He climbed into a hot shower and washed his hair and body thoroughly. The hot water ran over his body and relaxed him. He got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist while he picked out some comfortable clothes; a t-shirt, jeans and a hoodie then he began to dry his body and towel dry his hair. After he finished getting dressed, he began to style his hair and put a bit of aftershave on. He would never even dream of setting foot out of the house without his hair styled or aftershave on. His friends at the nick teased him all the time about it. He sat down and began to have breakfast which was bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and a glass of orange juice. He soon made a start on the ironing and then made his way out to the bank and got what he needed to done. He was feeling very pleased with himself whilst walking back. He let himself in and sat on the sofa for an hour or so before hearing a knock on the door.
Callum stood up confused as he wasn't expecting anyone and walked to the door. He opened it and saw a social worker with a young girl who looked no more than 15 years old carrying a suitcase. "Hello Mr Callum Stone?" The social worker said. Callum nodded and let the social worker and young girl in. "What's this about?" Callum whispered. The social worker smiled sadly and put her arm around the young girl, "Callum, my name is Alicia Wilson and I'm a social worker. I'm very sorry to inform you that your sister, Yasmin died last week" her grip tightened slightly on the young girl and Callum's eyes filled with tears. He'd been close to his sister but had lost contact when he'd left home. "This is Lucy, Yasmin's daughter. In your sisters will, she wanted you to have custody" she added gently. Lucy had tears in her eyes too and looked up at her uncle fearfully, she'd never had a father or any male role model before. She didn't even know him. Callum bent down to Lucy's height seeing that she was afraid, "Hey Lucy" he said softly and turned to the social worker, "What happened to my sister?" His voice trembled and a tear fell from his eye. "We believe she was murdered" Alicia said and Lucy burst into tears and ran up the stairs, locking herself in the bathroom. Callum glared at the social worker for the way she had said it and for the way she had upset his niece. "I think you'd better leave. I can handle things from here" he said showing her out.
Callum lifted Lucy's suitcase onto the sofa before going up the stairs and standing outside the bathroom door, "Lucy? Can I come in?" Lucy unlocked the bathroom door but only opened it a tiny bit, "You don't need to be afraid" Callum said softly and smiled a little as she opened the door fully. "I don't know what to call you" Lucy whispered staying where she was in the bathroom. "You can call me Callum, Cal, Uncle Callum or Uncle Cal whatever makes you feel comfortable" he said gently reaching his hand out to the frightened child. Lucy slowly accepted and clung to his hand softly not feeling ready to hug him yet. "We need to get to know each other don't we kiddo" Callum said walking with Lucy hand in hand down the stairs.
ns 172.70.38.115da2