Shatter the Bones

‘Lights.’ DCI Finnie pointed the remote at the projector mounted on the roof of the briefing room, freezing the picture as the man in the SOC suit pressed the knife against Jenny’s throat.

Someone flipped the switch and a cold fluorescent glow filled the room. The audience shifted in their seats. It was a much more select group than earlier, just the top brass and senior CID officers.

Finnie placed the remote down on the lectern next to him. ‘At least we now have a timeframe: midnight.’

Chief Constable Anderson swore, light glinting off the polished silver buttons on his dress uniform and the top of his shiny head. ‘What’s the pot standing at?’

‘Er…’ Acting DI Mark McDonald fidgeted his way through a small stack of paper. ‘It’s about-’

‘Six point three million.’ Superintendent Green lounged in his chair, staring up at the screen. ‘Conservative estimates put the total at about seven million by midnight.’

‘Dear lord.’ The Chief Constable shook his head. ‘Any idea how they’re planning on getting their hands on the money?’

‘It has to be electronic transfer.’ Green tapped his pen against the palm of his hand. ‘They can’t ask for it in cash — we can’t get that much together by midnight; then they’d have to launder it. Not to mention the risk involved with picking it up.’

‘I see. And what about this Frank Baker?’

DI Steel narrowed her eyes at Green for a moment. ‘We’ve got sightings from Nairn to Portsmouth and back again. His face is in every regional newspaper in the UK, and most of the nationals as well; posters up at every ferry terminal, bus station, and airport.’

Green nodded. ‘I knew he was involved from the moment I spoke to him.’

‘Oh aye? And did you no’ think it’d be a good idea to let us know so we could keep an eye on him before you scared him off?’

‘I can’t be expected to do your job for you, Inspector.’ Then followed five minutes of arguing, moaning, and trying to pass the buck.

Logan stared at the screen. The Knife Man had a stick-on conference-style name badge just like the two in the abduction video. It was difficult to make out, but it sort of looked like ‘Sylv-’ something. Sylvia? Sylvester?

Logan tried them both out on his notepad. Sylvia, David, and Tom. Sylvester, Tom, and David.

Didn’t really make any difference — they were fake names. No one went to all the trouble of producing forensically-neutral crime scenes and notes, then stuck a big sticky label on their chest with their real name scrawled across it.

No, this was Reservoir Dogs territory.

The badges were so they could tell who they were talking to, when they were all done up in their SOC suits and masks. All humanity obscured.

Sylvia, Tom, and David.

Sylvester, Tom, and David-

Someone elbowed him in the ribs.

Logan looked up from his notepad. The whole room was staring at him.

Finnie pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed. ‘I know you’re new to this, Detective Inspector McRae, but generally we like to pay attention in case strategy meetings.’

Logan could feel the heat prickling at the back of his neck. ‘Yes, sir.’ He glanced down at the notepad in front of him. He’d been doodling — a Dalek, complete with sink-plunger arm, and beady eye.

Not Sylvester, Tom, and David. Put them in the right order- ‘For goodness sake, DI McRae, are you listening to a word I’m-’

‘Doctor Who.’ Logan stood. ‘Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant all actors who’ve played the Doctor. It’s their naming system.’

That got him a sea of blank looks.

Superintendent Green raised an eyebrow. ‘Yes well, that’s fascinating. But it still doesn’t help us determine-’

‘Hold on a second…’ Logan flipped back through his notebook.

Green snorted. ‘Sergeant, I mean Inspector McRae, a little career advice: if you can’t focus for two minutes, how-’

‘Here.’ Logan poked the page with a finger. ‘Stephen Clayton, he’s on the same psychology course as Alison McGregor. He tried to chat her up, but she knocked him back pretty hard. He called her — and I quote — “a stuck up, holier than thou, lying, two-faced bitch.” Said, “getting kidnapped was the best thing that ever happened to that manipulative cow”. And he’s a Doctor Who fan: signed posters, remote-controlled Dalek, the works.’

The Chief Constable sat forward, silver buttons sparkling on uniform black. ‘Is he a viable suspect?’

‘Who else have we got?’

No one leapt in with any helpful suggestions.

Steel had a scratch under the table. ‘How’s a wee psychology student tosser pull all this off?’

‘Well…’ Logan looked up at the screen. ‘What if Clayton gets other students to help him? We know one of them has medical training: he could be studying to be a doctor.’

Acting DI Mark McDonald shook his head. ‘Couldn’t be. I’ve been over McPherson’s case notes half a dozen times — the hospital say access to the pharmacy’s restricted to doctors and authorized nurses. No exceptions.’

I’ve got a mate who’s a medical student, fi xes me up now and then. Steel leant over and rapped her knuckles on the top of Mark’s head. ‘Hello? This thing on? Testing, testing.’

‘Get off!’

‘McPherson couldn’t investigate shite for sweetcorn. Sticky-fingered medical student helps himself to a bunch of surgical drugs, does a wee bit of amputation, and Bob’s your builder. No’ like it’s open heart surgery, is it?’

‘Right, Andy,’ the Chief Constable pointed at DCI Finnie, ‘I want this Clayton brought in for questioning. I’ll sort out the warrant with Sheriff McNab personally, you just make sure Clayton’s in custody within the hour.’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll get a firearms-’

‘Actually,’ Green folded his arms across his chest, puffing himself up, ‘that might not be the best course of action.’ He narrowed his eyes and stared off into the middle distance. ‘If we snatch him, he’ll just clam up. The deadline will come and go, and he doesn’t have to tell us anything. Why would he cooperate?’

The Chief Constable shook his head. ‘Grampian Police will not sit stand idly by and do nothing while a little girl and her mother are killed!’

‘I’m not suggesting you do nothing, sir.’ A flash of perfect white teeth. ‘I’m suggesting we establish surveillance on DI McRae’s student: like DI Steel should have done with Frank Baker. If he really is one of the kidnappers, he’ll lead us right to them. After all, they’ll want to regroup before the midnight deadline, won’t they?’ Green nodded, agreeing with himself. ‘Then we swoop.’

Logan stared at him.

Swoop? The silly bastard really did think he was in a TV cop show. ‘With all due respect-’

‘Tell me,’ Steel fiddled with her fake cigarette, ‘this “watch and wait” approach’s no’ got anything to do with stringing things out, would it? SOCA hang on till the deadline’s past, take over the investigation; Alison and Jenny get released; then you “swoop”, pick up the only suspect we’ve had in a fortnight, and take all the sodding credit while we get our arses kicked in every newspaper in the country?’ She smiled at him. ‘How am I doing?’

Green scowled back. ‘You have a very strange idea of collaborative policing, Inspector.’

‘Coming from you?’ She turned to the Chief Constable. ‘We could sit about on our thumbs, waiting for Clayton to lead us to his nasty wee Doctor Who appreciation society, or we can go kick in his door and actually do something about it.’

‘And what happens when the rest of the gang find out we’ve snatched him?’ Green leaned on the desk. ‘They abandon the whole enterprise, kill Alison and Jenny, then disappear. At least my way we have some chance of getting the McGregors out alive.’

The Chief Constable sat back in his seat. ‘I think we need to take a break and consider our options. In the