The Torment of Others (30 page)

Carol caught Jonathan’s dismayed expression. It was all too easy to forget how the horrors cops took in their stride could rip into the hearts of outsiders. Confronted with the uninflected reality that she and Tony had dealt with more times than they could count, the non-combatants in the war against chaos had no defences. ‘It’s too early to say,’ she said, knowing in her heart Tony was right.

Tony whirled round, his face pale and drawn. Oblivious to Jonathan, he leaned his fists on Carol’s desk and gazed into her eyes. ‘He’ll have got to the car park soon after first light. Tim was almost certainly lightly sedated. Enough to make him spaced out, docile, so he wouldn’t put up a struggle. In that state, it will have taken a while to get him to Swindale. Then he’ll have done his thing. Taken his time over it too. And taken his trophy pictures. So what does he do then? He’s not going to risk walking back on a popular footpath with a messed-up kid on his hands. He’s killed him, Carol. He’s killed him there and disposed of the body in situ. A shallow grave under Jonathan’s brambles.’ He closed his eyes and muttered something she didn’t catch.

‘What?’

‘I said, at least you can bring him home now.’

A long silence. Jonathan’s face had sunk in on itself, his eyes slitted as if he was trying to block out the image Tony’s words had conjured up.
Too much information for him
, Carol thought. She cleared her throat. ‘We don’t know that till we get there.’ She pushed her chair back and stood up.

‘Jonathan, there’s nothing we can do today. The light is already going. But we need to get moving on your information as soon as we can. I know we’re imposing a great deal on your time, but is there any possibility that you can take some of my officers to Swindale tomorrow and show them where this photograph was taken?’

His eyes widened, the implications of what he’d heard still reverberating in his head. ‘I…I don’t know,’ he said.

‘You wouldn’t have to stick around,’ Carol said gently. She moved to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘It would simply be a matter of leading us there, showing us the geological formation that corresponds to the picture. Then you’d be free to go. I promise you.’

‘Will you be there?’ His voice was neutral, but she sensed his need. It wasn’t such a big thing to ask, not after what he had already done for her.

‘I can’t promise,’ she said. ‘I’m in the middle of another major inquiry. It depends on what happens tonight. If we make an arrest, I’ll be needed here. But otherwise…yes, I’ll be there. If you can be back here at eight tomorrow morning, we’ll sort it out then.’

He nodded, reading the dismissal in her voice. ‘Thanks, Carol.’ He stood up.

‘It’s us who should be grateful, Jonathan. This is the first real break we’ve had since Tim went missing. If we do bring him home to his family, it’ll be you they have to thank.’ She patted his arm. ‘See you tomorrow.’

Jonathan paused in the doorway and found a faint smile. ‘Nice to meet you, Dr Hill.’

Tony nodded acknowledgement. As the door closed behind Jonathan, he said, ‘I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard that lie.’

Carol shook her head in affectionate exasperation. ‘You really have to learn not to frighten the horses,’ she said.

‘I’ve always enjoyed a good stampede,’ he said.

‘If we find what you think we will, can you come out and take a look at the scene?’ Carol asked.

‘If you feel it will help.’

‘Thanks.’ She hesitated for a moment, wondering if and how she could raise the subject of Aidan Hart with him.

‘So how are you doing?’ he asked, returning to his perch on the end of Carol’s desk. As he settled, he knocked into the pile of papers on her desk, revealing the Alice Sebold memoir. He frowned, picking it up. ‘You reading this?’ he said.

‘No, I’m using it as a paperweight,’ she snapped. ‘What do you think?’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘I think you might find it helpful.’

‘You’ve read it?’

‘Carol, I think I’ve read almost every serious work written about rape.’ As she opened her mouth to speak he lifted a finger to stop her. ‘And no, not because of you. Because of what I do.’

‘So if you thought
Lucky
might be helpful, why didn’t you suggest I read it?’ Carol knew she sounded aggressive, but she didn’t care.

‘You would have listened?’ Tony said mildly. ‘You wouldn’t have told me to butt out and let you deal with it in your own way?’

‘Jonathan gave it to me,’ she said baldly. ‘He wasn’t scared of being told to keep out.’

Tony’s head moved back, as if avoiding a blow in slow motion. ‘You told Jonathan.’

Straight to the wrong point
, Carol thought bitterly. ‘Yes, I told Jonathan.’

Tony nodded. ‘Probably easier. Him being a stranger. No baggage. I’m sorry, Carol. If I’d thought you would have welcomed it, I would have suggested it. I read it wrong.’ Suddenly he stood up. ‘Right. Well, I’ll be off.’

‘You’re not coming to the briefing?’ He shook his head. ‘And you’re not going to run through the operation with Paula?’

‘What would be the point?’ he said. ‘This isn’t what I do. It’s what you do.’

‘You can give us insight,’ Carol said.

‘You’ve had my insight for the day. I think the killer works in Temple Fields. I think he’s a security guard or a bouncer or maybe even a traffic warden. Other than that, I’ve got nothing to offer you right now.’ He reached out and put the palm of his hand against the front of her shoulder.

She felt panic in her chest, a tight fist squeezing the air out of her lungs. ‘You could help Paula.’

‘I don’t think so, Carol. You don’t need me for this. This is cop business, not head business. There’s nothing more convincing than experience. And nobody has more rigorous experience of undercover than you. You really don’t need me.’

Paula found Don Merrick in the station canteen nursing a mug of tea. She slid into the seat opposite him, checking out his glum expression. ‘You look like you could give Eeyore a run for his money,’ she said.

‘I got a letter delivered here from Lindy’s solicitor. She wants a divorce.’

‘Christ, she’s not wasting any time, is she?’

Merrick sighed. ‘She’s right though, isn’t she? We both know in our hearts that it’s over. It’s supposed to be blokes that are the tough ones, but when it comes to severing the ties and moving on, you women are bloody ruthless.’

‘Not all of us,’ Paula said, thinking back over her own calamitous past. Two relationships in the past six years, both of which she’d hung on to long past the sell-by date. They reminded her of a poem she’d once read about love being a kite you couldn’t let go of till somebody gave you something better to do. Although she didn’t like to see the effect Lindy’s hard-headedness had on Merrick, she envied his wife her ability to cut herself free so readily.

But Merrick was too wrapped up in his own miseries to register Paula’s regretful tone. ‘At least if we get things formalized, I’ll know where I am when it comes to seeing the lads,’ he said. ‘If I ever get any time off in this lifetime.’

‘If we get lucky tonight, we’ll be able to ease up a bit,’ Paula said, trying not to think what getting lucky would mean for her.

That got through. Merrick looked up, his mournful eyes showing a spark of interest. ‘You all right about tonight?’ he asked.

Paula twirled a short strand of hair round her finger. ‘I’m a bit nervous,’ she admitted.

‘Nothing bad’s going to happen to you,’ Merrick reassured her.

‘What? Like nothing bad happened to you when you were chasing the Queer Killer?’ Paula said sarcastically. She’d only been a CID aide on the fringes of the investigation, but she vividly remembered the turban of bandages that had swathed Merrick’s head after his own undercover operation had gone out of control.

Merrick looked embarrassed. ‘That was my own fault,’ he said. ‘I put myself in harm’s way. I thought I could handle the situation and I was wrong. So learn from my mistakes: don’t take risks, don’t leave anything to chance. If in doubt, abort. It’s better we lose a chance at the killer than anything happens to you.’

Slightly uncomfortable in the face of his earnest concern, Paula said, ‘I’m not really worried about something happening to me. I feel confident in the back-up. Face it, after what Jordan went through, she’s not going to leave my back uncovered. If anything, she’s going to go for overkill and scare him off.’

‘So what is it that’s eating you? Because I can see something’s bothering you.’

‘This is going to sound daft,’ Paula said. ‘But I don’t know if I can carry it off. I don’t know if I can play the part. I don’t think I’ve got the right kind of imagination.’

Merrick frowned. ‘I’m not sure I understand you.’

‘I’m a cop through and through, Don. I see the world in black and white. I don’t get that empathy shit that Tony Hill’s always banging on about. I don’t catch villains by thinking the way they do. I catch them because they’re stupid and I’m smart. Because I’m on the right side of the law and they’re not. So how does somebody like me stand on a street corner and make some fucking psychopath believe I’m a hooker?’ Paula said savagely.

Merrick struggled for an answer. ‘Well, you’ve got the gear, right?’

‘Yes, I’ve got the gear,’ she said wearily. ‘Shields knows all about picking the right trashy clothes. But I feel like a kid playing make-believe. You know how sometimes you dress up to go out, and you put something on that’s a bit out of the usual run of what you wear and you think, “Yeah, wow, that’s who I can be tonight”?’

Merrick looked at her as if she was talking Greek. ‘I can’t say I do.’

‘Trust me, it goes that way. But when I put that stuff on, all I think is, “I so don’t want to be this person.” I’m not scared you guys are going to let me down. I’m scared I’m going to let you down.’

Carol tracked down John Brandon to the press briefing room, deep in discussion with one of the liaison staff. He looked up when she entered, and gave her a nod of acknowledgement. ‘Carol, we’re just talking about Tim Golding and Guy Lefevre. Shaheed’s had one of the Sunday broadsheets on. They’re apparently planning to revisit the cases this weekend.’ He sighed. The way they go on, you’d think we’d been sitting on our hands for the past four months.’

Carol forced a smile. ‘I might just have some news for you on that score, sir.’ Briefly, she outlined the information Jonathan had given them.

Brandon’s lugubrious face lit up. ‘But that’s excellent news, Carol. Whose idea was it to bring this geologist on board?’

‘Mine, sir.’ She was damned if she was going to refuse credit for the one good thing she’d achieved in a while.

‘Good. Well done. Make sure you keep me posted on developments. And Shaheed too.’ He stood up.

‘If I might have a word, sir?’ Carol said, drawing him to one side.

Brandon raised an eyebrow. ‘Fire away.’

‘I understand DC Evans told you he was following an unauthorized line of inquiry relating to Dr Aidan Hart?’

Brandon squared his shoulders. ‘He did. And I’m bound to say I was most surprised that you had closed down that particular avenue. It’s not as if you’re awash with suspects on these prostitute murders. I know that Hart works with Tony, but…’

‘That had nothing to do with my decision, sir,’ Carol interrupted. ‘I eliminated Dr Hart on the basis that he has an alibi for the time when the medical evidence says Sandie Foster was killed.’

Brandon shook his head. ‘Not good enough, Carol. We all know time of death is far from an accurate measurement.’

‘Nevertheless, the timings don’t stack up. He picked her up at half past eight. It would have taken a few minutes to get to her room. Then he’s got to tie her up and brutalize her repeatedly. Then somehow he’s got to drive across town, find a parking space and get to the restaurant by nine without a trace of blood on him. It’s just not possible, sir, whatever bee Sam Evans has in his bonnet.’

Brandon scowled. ‘In that case, DCI Jordan, you need to keep a tighter rein on your officers. Now, I’m sure you have work to do in preparation for this evening.’ He walked past her and out the door, leaving Carol smarting at the injustice of his final remarks. Had she been wrong about Brandon? When the pressure for results was at its height, was he so very different from the others who had let her down before? One thing was certain: when all of this was over, there would be some adjustments in the Major Incident Team. But for now, she had to swallow her pride and get back to work.

Carol understood the disappointment she could read all over the faces of Kevin Matthews and Sam Evans. Tonight would be the first sniff of real frontline action they’d had since their supposedly elite squad had been inaugurated and she was pulling them off it for the sake of a good night’s sleep. But if Tony was right about what lurked in Swindale, she wanted officers in charge who were alert to every possibility. She didn’t want vital evidence slipping through their fingers either because the lead officers were dizzy and disorientated with tiredness or, conversely, high as kites because they’d got a result in another case.