Where are you?
Out and about. You?
In the office, where you should be. The ACC s giving some sort of motivational speech at half past and I want you here.
K amp;B Motors disappeared in the rear-view mirror. I don t need motivated.
Tough. We ve lost another girl.
Chapter 26
I d expected a motivational speech to be a bit less of a rant. The Assistant Chief Constable paced up and down at the front of the crowded briefing room a thin man with a hunched-over walk, wearing dress-uniform black. And while we re on the subject of unprofessional conduct, I clearly need to spell this out again: you will not speak to the media! He stopped, turned, and glared out at the crowded room. Never. Not so much as a word. As far as those bastards are concerned, you are bloody mute!
No one said anything.
Do you understand me, ladies and gentlemen? M U
T E. The ACC straightened up for a moment, before hunching over again and stalking from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Weber shook his head, then stood, held up his hands for silence.
Now that you re all feeling perky and loved, it s update time. We ve discovered a fifth body at the dump site, Matt and his team are recovering it at the moment, no ID as yet.
Please don t be Rebecca, please don t be Rebecca
Slightly more pressing: Dickie s team of Party Crashers have a system they use to identify possible Birthday Boy victims. Most of the time they re simply runaways who turn up eventually, but other times
Sabir heaved himself out of a small plastic chair and lumbered to the projection screen. He pointed something at the back of the room and a mosaic of girls faces appeared on the screen. We re tracking nineteen girls this year, all gone missin three or four days before their thirteenth birthday. They re all up and down the country, but we got a new one last night. He pointed the thing again and the screen changed to a head-and-shoulders shot of a young girl trying desperately to look older. Far too much makeup, broad face stretched wider by a smile that looked practised, hair the colour of wet straw scraped back from her face in a Kingsmeath facelift.
Sabir nodded at the screen. Megan Taylor: she ll be thirteen on Monday. Bunked off school on Thursday to hang about the shops with her mates. They say she was acting all secret-like, you know, thought she was going to meet someone special. We ve got her on CCTV at the Templers Vale shoppin centre at three-fifteen yesterday afternoon, after that nothin.
He pointed the remote again and Megan s face was replaced by grainy security camera footage with a timestamp flickering away in the bottom right-hand corner. Six kids, none of them wearing school uniforms, all of them with backpacks.
Two girls were sitting on the edge of a large square planter at the centre of the group. One was a bit on the chunky side with a low-cut top, the other was Megan. She was smoking a cigarette: making a big production of it, as if she was in a film. Look at me: look how sophisticated and grown up I am. Slurping at a large wax-paper cup of something fizzy from a fast-food outlet probably the KFC on the ground floor working the straw like a pro.
The big girl stomped away, out of the picture.
Then the group froze, looked left.
A wee man in a security guard s uniform appeared onscreen, pointing his finger as if it was a gun.
Megan took one last draw on her cigarette, dropped it, then ground the butt out with her trainer. She stood, said something. Her mates all laughed.
Mr Security Guard marched closer.
She flipped the drink at him. The wax-paper cup spun through the air then exploded on the marble floor ice and fizzy sugared water going everywhere.
He danced back a couple of steps, and she was off, running and laughing, giving him the finger as she disappeared off screen.
Nice girl. Her mum and dad must be so proud.
The picture froze, then jumped back to Megan s face.
Sabir sniffed. Course, we don t really know if she s a victim yet. Won t get confirmation one way or the other till the parents gerra birthday card next year. But given you lot ve found all them bodies, and she s gone missin from Oldcastle, chances are? A shrug. And then he sat down again.
Thank you, Constable. Weber picked up a clipboard from the nearest desk and flicked through the attached sheets.
In light of this I m pulling Gilbert, McTavish, and Urpeth off the door-to-doors: you re seconded to DCS Dickie s task force, try not to embarrass anyone. DI Morrow will hand out the rest of the assignments.
Shifty Dave went through the list, rearranging the teams while I scanned the room. Dr McDonald was sitting at the back, on her own. She was even paler than yesterday, face glistening, hair lank, bags under her eyes, glasses in one hand as she rubbed at her forehead. She d seemed fine when I d dropped her off this morning
She put her glasses back on, glanced up, saw me watching her, and pulled on a thin smile. Gave a little wave.
When Shifty had finished dishing out the crap, everyone stood and shuffled towards the exit. I went to join them, but DCI Weber got to me first.
Ash He looked around, then dropped his voice to a whisper. Have you sorted your problem with Mrs Kerrigan yet?
Give me a chance: only been back a couple of hours.
Look, if you need a hand I know someone who s in the market for a little after-hours security no questions asked and Dr McDonald! Weber threw his arms open. How are you feeling? Any better?
She was standing right behind me.
Pink rushed up her cheeks. I m so sorry about earlier, I didn t mean to, and certainly not in your office, I m really, really, really sorry.
Don t worry about it, you re not the first person to lose their breakfast in my office, you probably won t be the last either. And if you leave the windows open for a couple of hours the smell soon goes away.
She nodded and stared at her feet. Sorry.
Anyway, Ash: have a think and let me know if you want that guy s number, OK? In the meantime Weber flipped through his clipboard again. I ve got you down to accompany Dr McDonald today. She wants to do some follow-ups on the door-to-doors.
Great. A day dicking about outside in the cold. Are you sure someone else wouldn t be
Absolutely positive. Dr McDonald tells me you re the man for the job, and apparently everyone else scares her, so
She coughed. I m standing right here.
Weber patted me on the shoulder. Off you go.
The patrol car dropped us off on Lochview Road. Down at the far end of the street, Ethan s house was all lit up. Must have decided not to take his shattered hand into work today. Couldn t blame him.
I unlocked the rusty Renault and climbed in. Put on my seatbelt. Sighed. After driving his nearly new Merc it really wasn t the same.
Dr McDonald got into the passenger seat. She reeked of extra-strong mints and stale booze, a happy-hour sweat shining on her forehead and top lip as the alcohol oozed out of her.
What happened to you?
Henry phoned at nine this morning, wanting to go over the profile again before I presented it. I m really glad he s decided to help out, but I can t do this any more. She leaned forwards until her head rested on the dusty dashboard. Urgh
A taxi pulled up outside Ethan s house. Beeped its horn twice.
