Rosanna White prided herself on her Nose.
She had risen through the ranks of the London Metropolitan Police, graduating at 23, passing her National Investigators Exam within 16 weeks, and joining a successful crime unit that had cracked some high profile investigations. With 22 arrests under her belt and at the tender age of just 29, she was the youngest Detective Inspector in the force. She had a knack for sniffing out suspects and a dogged determination to gather evidence and create watertight cases. It was partly her training, her endless energy and a certain way of thinking. Some called it gut instinct. She called it her 'Nose'. Privately, the nickname 'Rosey the Nosey' was gaining popularity, although her colleagues were just glad to have her on the team.
And the famous Nose was currently preoccupied with a bizarre collection of reports about 'naked cleaners'.
To be fair, it all sounded rather daft. She'd noticed several reports of suspicious activity. Curious neighbours, worried husbands, and so on. And they all seemed to have one common link: all the men involved wore overalls and appeared to be posing as cleaners. It all seemed a bit, well, disconnected, until a sweet but slightly eccentric lady, Ann Turner, wandered into a local station and reported a sex attack. She claimed she'd tasered a young man in her home, but provided little evidence. Except for one detail: he'd claimed he was cleaner. Rosanna's 'nose' smelled a rat and started sniffing around.
**
Rosanna knocked sharply on the office door and entered without waiting. Tony looked up from his desk.
"Hello Ma'am. Need a cleaner?" he chirped. Then he noticed two uniformed Police officers march in behind her and his face dropped.
"What?" said Rosanna. "Do I look like I need a cleaner? Are you Tony Dempster? Naked Cleaning Company?"
"Er... yes," replied Tony hesitantly. The woman looked young but deadly serious. She flashed an ID, but he missed the details.
"Detective White. I have reason to believe you're operating a brothel, an offence under the Sexual Offences Act two thousand and..."
She stopped mid-sentence having spotted Daisy sitting at the desk behind Tony's. Daisy waved.
"Howdy," said Daisy.
"Are you OK, Miss?" she asked, slightly confused to find a smartly dressed woman in the room, after the rather disgusting sweaty stink of the gym she just marched through.
"Peachy," replied Daisy, smiling sweetly.
Rosanna took a moment to look around. There were certainly overalls hanging on one side of the room, but also cleaning equipment, neatly stacked on shelves. It was a convincing front, but she'd already had Tony and his gang under surveillance for two weeks. She was certain they were involved in some kind of prostitution ring. Tony was fidgeting guiltily.
"As I was saying, I have reason to believe, under the Sexual..." she started but Daisy cut her off.
"Would that be the Sexual Offences Act 2003? Of which section 33a makes it an offence for a person to keep, or to manage, or act, or assist, in the management of fixed premises to which people visit for practices involving prostitution? Except... I don't see any prostitutes, detective. Do you?"
White hesitated but battled on.
"Soliciting sexual services is..."
"...is illegal in a public place," chirped Daisy, standing up sharply. "This is a company office. Our cleaners work in private homes. What on earth makes you think we're soliciting?"
"I have evidence that you're engaging in sexual activity with..." she began but her voice tailed off as the two women faced off. Daisy simply smiled.
"...our customers pay for a professional, and may I say, very thorough, cleaning service within their own homes. Any further... intimate contact... is entirely private between consenting adults over the age of eighteen. And somehow I don't think any of our customers are going to admit to anything like that. I suppose you'd like a list of them? I'm sure that with the appropriate documentation and a court order, we'd be obliged to share our customer database. Do you have a court order, detective?"
They glared at each other across the room. Daisy, calm and confident. The detective hesitant, searching for a chink in the other woman's argument.
"Clearly there's been a misunderstanding," said Tony, hoping to break the stalemate. "Perhaps we can offer you a complimentary home clean to show you what we do?"
Rosanna realised she was on weak ground and decided to retreat.
"You're not coming anywhere near my home..." she started and then stopped abruptly and stared at the door. A beautiful, glistening Adonis had just walked into the room. He was young, extremely ripped and handsome. Blonde locks cascaded down to his shoulders. Piercing blue eyes. He grinned and his smile dazzled. Rosanna went a little weak at the knees.
"What's up?" said Ben innocently as he strolled in, grinning at the pretty girl bracketed by two policemen. He wondered if she was being arrested. "You OK?" he purred in her direction.
"I think we're good," said Daisy loudly. "The officers are just leaving."
One of the uniformed officers whispered in Roseanna's ear and she snapped out of her reverie with a jolt.