Then she was gone. Tommy Taylor scratched his jaw. Thats us told, then. Still think shes shaggable, Lee?
Di Earnshaws thin mouth pursed. Not unless you like singing falsetto.
I dont think youd feel a lot like singing, Lee said. Anybody want that last KitKat?
Shaz rubbed her eyes and turned away from the computer screen. Shed come in early so she could squeeze in a quick revision of the previous days software familiarization. Finding Tony at work on one of the other terminals had been a bonus. Hed looked astonished to see her walk through the door just after seven. I thought I was the only workaholic insomniac around here, hed greeted her.
Im crap on computers, shed said gruffly, trying to cover her satisfaction at having him to herself. Ive always needed to work twice as hard to keep up.
Tonys eyebrows had jumped. Cops didnt generally admit weaknesses to an outsider. Either Shaz Bowman was even more unusual than hed initially appreciated or else he was finally losing his alien status. I thought everybody under thirty was a wizard on these, he said mildly.
Sorry to disappoint you. I was behind the door when the anoraks were being handed out, Shaz replied. She settled in front of her screen and pushed up the sleeves of her cotton sweater. First remember your password, she muttered, wondering what he thought of her.
Two forces seethed under Shaz Bowmans calm surface, taking it in turns to drive her. On the one hand, fear of failure gnawed at her, undermining everything she was and all she achieved. When she looked in the mirror, she never saw her good points, only the thinness of her lips and the lack of definition in her nose. When she reviewed her accomplishments, she saw only the places where she had fallen short, the heights she had failed to scale. The countervailing force was her ambition. Somehow, ever since shed first begun to formulate the ambitions that drove her, those goals had restored her damaged self-confidence and shored up her vulnerabilities before they could cripple her. When her ambition threatened to tip her over into arrogance, somehow the fear would kick in at the crucial point, keeping her human.
The setting up of the task force had coincided so perfectly with the direction of her dreams, she couldnt help but feel the hand of fate in it. That didnt mean that she could let up, however. Shazs long-term career plan meant she had to shine brighter than anyone else in this task force. One of her tactics for achieving that was to pick Tony Hills brains like a master locksmith, extracting every scrap of knowledge she could scavenge there while simultaneously worming her way inside his defences so that when she needed his help, hed be willing to provide it. As part of her approach, and because she was terrified that otherwise shed fall behind and make a fool of herself in a group that she was convinced were all better than her, she was covertly taping all the group sessions, listening to them over and over again whenever she could. And now, luck had dropped a bonus opportunity into her lap.
So Shaz frowned and stared at the screen, working her way through the lengthy process of filling out an offence report then setting in motion its comparison against the details of all the previous crimes held in the computers memory banks. When Tony had slipped out of his seat, shed vaguely registered the movement, but forced herself to carry on working. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was trying to ingratiate herself.
The intensity of the concentration she imposed upon herself was sufficient for her not to notice when he came back in through the door behind her desk until her subconscious registered a faint masculine smell which it identified as his. It took all her willpower not to react. Instead, she carried on striking keys until his hand cleared the edge of her peripheral vision and placed a carton of coffee topped with a Danish on the desk beside her. Time for a break?
So shed rubbed her eyes and abandoned the screen. Thanks, she said.
Youre welcome. Anything youre not clear about? Ill take you through it, if you want.
Still she held back. Dont snatch at it, she cautioned herself. She didnt want to use up her credit with Tony Hill until she absolutely had to, and preferably not before shed been able to offer him something helpful in return. Its not that I dont understand it, she said. Its just that I dont trust it.
Tony smiled, enjoying her defensive stubbornness. One of those kids who demanded empirical proof that two and two were always going to be four?
A prick of delight that shed entertained him, quickly stifled. Shaz moved the Danish and opened the coffee. Ive always been in love with proof. Why do you think I became a cop?
Tonys smile was lopsided and knowing. I could speculate. Its quite a proving ground youve chosen here.
Not really. The grounds already been broken. The Americans have been doing it for so long theyve not only got manuals, theyve got movies about it. Its just taken us forever to catch on, as per usual. But youre one of the ones who forced the issue, so theres nothing left for us to prove. Shaz took a huge bite of her Danish, nodding in quiet approval as she tasted the apricot glaze on the flaky pastry.
Dont you believe it, Tony said wryly, moving back to his own terminal. The backlash has only just started. Its taken long enough to get the police to accept we can provide useful help, but already the media hacks who were treating us profilers like gods a couple of years ago are jumping all over our shortcomings. They oversold us, so now they have to blame us for not living up to a set of expectations they created in the first place.
I dont know, Shaz said. The public only remember the big successes. That case you did in Bradfield last year. The profile was right on the button. The police knew exactly where to go looking when it came to the crunch. Oblivious to the permafrost that had settled over Tonys face, Shaz continued enthusiastically. Are you going to do a session on that? Weve all heard the grapevine version, but theres next to nothing in the literature, even though its obvious you did a textbook job on the profile.
We wont be covering that case, he said flatly.
Shaz looked up sharply and realized where her eagerness had beached her. Shed blown it this time, in spades. Im sorry, she said quietly. I get carried away, and tact and diplomacy, theyre history. I wasnt thinking. Thick git, she berated herself silently. If hed had the therapy he would have needed after that particular nightmare, the last thing hed want would be to expose the details to avid prurience, even if it was masquerading as legitimate scientific interest.
You dont have to apologize, Shaz, Tony said wearily. Youre right, it is a key case. The reason we wont be covering it is that I cant talk about it without feeling like a freak. Youll all have to forgive me. Maybe one day youll catch a case that leaves you feeling the same way. For your sake, I sincerely hope not. He looked down at his Danish as if it were an alien artefact and pushed it to one side, appetite dead as the past was supposed to be.
Shaz wished she could rerun the tape, pick up the conversation at the point where hed put the coffee down on her desk and there was still the possibility of using the moment to build a bridge. Im really sorry, Dr Hill, she said inadequately.
Shaz wished she could rerun the tape, pick up the conversation at the point where hed put the coffee down on her desk and there was still the possibility of using the moment to build a bridge. Im really sorry, Dr Hill, she said inadequately.
He looked up and forced a thin smile. Truly, Shaz, theres no need. And can we drop the Dr Hill bit? I meant to bring it up during yesterdays session, but it slipped my mind. I dont want you all feeling that Im the teacher and youre the class. At the moment, Im the group leader simply because Ive been doing this for a while. Before long, well all be working side by side, and theres no point in having barriers between us. So its Tony from now on in, OK?
You got it, Tony. Shaz searched for the message in his eyes and his words and, satisfied it contained genuine forgiveness, wolfed the rest of her Danish and returned to her screen. She couldnt do it while he was here, but next time she was in the computer room alone, she intended to use her Internet access to pull up the newspaper archives and check out all the reports of the Bradfield serial killer case. Shed read most of them at the time, but that had been before shed met Tony Hill and everything had changed. Now, she had a special interest. By the time she was finished, shed know enough about Tony Hills most public profile to write the book that, for reasons she still couldnt understand, had never been written. After all, she was a detective, wasnt she?
Carol Jordan fiddled with the complicated chrome coffee maker, a housewarming present from her brother Michael when shed moved to Seaford. Shed been luckier than most people caught in the housing market slump. She hadnt had far to look for a buyer for her half of the warehouse flat she and Michael owned; the barrister hed recently been sharing his bedroom with had been so eager to buy her out that Carol had begun to wonder if shed been even more of a gooseberry than shed imagined.
Now she had this low stone cottage on the side of the hill that rose above the estuary almost directly opposite Seaford; a place of her own. Well, almost, she corrected herself, reminded by the hard skull head-butting her shin. OK, Nelson, she said, stooping to scratch the black cats ears. I hear what youre saying. While the coffee brewed, she scooped out a bowl of cat food to a rapture of purring followed by the sloppy sound of Nelson inhaling his breakfast. She walked through to the living room to enjoy the panorama of the estuary and the improbably slender arc of the suspension bridge. Gazing out across the misty river where the bridge appeared to float without connection to the land, she planned her coming encounter with the fire chief. Nelson walked in, tail erect, and jumped without pause straight on to the window sill where he stretched out, arching his head back towards Carol and demanding affection. Carol stroked his dense fur and said, I only get one chance to convince this guy that I know arse from elbow, Nelson. I need him on my side. God knows, I need somebody on my side.
Nelson batted her hand with his paw, as if responding directly to her words. Carol swallowed the rest of her coffee and got to her feet in a movement as smooth as the cats. One of the advantages shed soon found with a DCIs office hours was that she actually managed to use her gym membership more than once a month, and she was already feeling the benefit in firmer muscle tone and better aerobic fitness. It would have been a bonus to have someone to share it with, but that wasnt why she did it. She did it for herself, because it made her feel good. She took pride in her body, revelling in its strength and mobility.
An hour later, enduring the tour of the central fire station, she was glad of her fitness as she struggled to keep pace with the long legs of the local chief of operations, Jim Pendlebury. You seem to be better organized here than CID ever manages, Carol said, as they finally made it to his office. Youll have to share the secret of your efficiency.
Weve had so much cost-cutting, weve really had to streamline everything we do, he told her. We used to have all our stations staffed round the clock with a complement of full-time officers, but it really wasnt cost effective. I know a lot of the lads grumbled about it, but a couple of years back we shifted to a mix of part-time and full-time officers. It took a few months to shake down, but its been a huge advantage to me in management terms.
Carol pulled a face. Not a solution that would work for us.
Pendlebury shrugged. I dont know. You could have a core staff who dealt with the routine stuff and a hit squad that you used as and when you needed them.
Thats sort of what we have already, Carol said drily. The core staff is called the night shift and the hit squad are the day teams. Unfortunately, it never gets quiet enough to stand any of them down.
With part of her mind, Carol added to her mental profile of the fire chief as they spoke. In conversation, his straight dark eyebrows crinkled and jutted above his blue-grey eyes. Considering how much time he must spend flying a desk, his skin looked surprisingly weathered, the creases round his eyes showing white when he wasnt smiling or frowning. Probably a part-time sailor or estuary fisherman, she guessed. As he dipped his head to acknowledge something shed said, she could see a few silver hairs straggling among his dark curls. So, probably a few years the far side of thirty, Carol thought, revising her initial estimate. She had a habit of analysing new acquaintances in terms of how their description would read on a police bulletin. Shed never actually had to produce a photofit of someone shed encountered, but she was confident her practice would have made her the best possible witness for the police artist to work with.
Now youve seen the operation, I take it youre a bit more willing to accept that when we say a fires a query arson, were not talking absolute rubbish? Pendleburys tone was light, but his eyes challenged hers.
I never doubted what you were telling us, she said calmly. What I doubted was whether we were taking it as seriously as we should. She snapped open the locks on her briefcase and took out her file. Id like to go through the details on these incidents with you, if you can spare me the time.
He cocked his head to one side. Are you saying what I think youre saying?
Now that Ive seen the way you run your operation, I cant believe the idea of a serial arsonist hasnt already crossed your mind.
He tugged at the lobe of one ear, sizing her up. Finally, he said, I was wondering when one of your lot would notice.
Carol breathed out hard through her nose. It might have been helpful if wed been given a nudge in the right direction. You are the experts, after all.
Your predecessor didnt think so, Pendlebury said. He might as well have been commenting on the price of fish. All of the enthusiasm hed shown earlier for his job had vanished behind an impassive mask, leaving Carol to draw her own conclusions. They didnt make a pretty picture.
She placed the file on Pendleburys desk and flipped it open. That was then. This is now. Are you telling me youve got query arsons that predate this one?
He glanced down at the top sheet in the file and snorted. How far back would you like to start?
Tony Hill sat alone at his desk, ostensibly preparing for the following days seminar with the task force officers. But his thoughts were far away from those details. He was thinking about the psychopathic minds out there, already set in the moulds that would generate pain and misery for people they didnt even know yet.