‘But they can’t do that,’ Anna said, shocked.
‘Yes, they can. We were brought in for Mary Murphy. That was over eight, nine months ago. It’s been two months since Melissa Stephens was found and we’ve no bloody result on that, either. It’s too costly to keep us all on the case.’
They all gave an involuntary glance at the shuttered window and began working at their desks.
At one o’clock, Jean took coffee and sandwiches into Langton’s office. Back in the incident room, she reported a very tense atmosphere. ‘The gov looked as if he was being hauled over the coals.’
Inside his cramped office, Langton sat in mute fury. He had not, as yet, even broached the subject of a trip to the States.
The commander put her sandwich aside. ‘I mean it, James. We are seriously going to have to consider scaling down the team. As far as I can gather, your suspect, Alan Daniels, has co-operated on every level. The search warrant and subsequent search of his flat resulted in nothing whatsoever that implicated him. With no new evidence forthcoming, it’s a very costly operation to keep so many officers on.’
‘I am aware of that,’ Langton said coldly.
‘I do understand the reasons for focusing on Alan Daniels, but the evidence is totally circumstantial. There is nothing corroborating it and even though intuition is something we can’t dismiss, we nevertheless have to seriously contemplate how you intend to take this further. Now is the time to give me — everyone here — details.’
‘Results, so far, are these: we have a serial killer on the loose and, as you’ve read the reports, you know as well as we do that he could also have been committing the same crimes in the United States.’
Langton opened the file on the American victims.
‘I read it, James,’ Commander Leigh said curtly. ‘But that brings up the possibility that the perpetrator could be American.’
Exasperated, Langton threw up his hands. ‘That isn’t feasible. Daniels was in the States: filming in Chicago, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. That is too bloody coincidental. We also know there were two periods when he was in New York. I am getting them checked and?’
She interrupted him. ‘I am aware of the latest report. But being in the same place does not automatically mean he was involved. That said, it could let us off the hook if the killer turns out to be an American. We could feed that information to the press.’
He knew what she meant.
‘If you can take it, Ma’am. I wouldn’t want the responsibility of closing us down and then another victim being discovered,’ he said. ‘Because I am damned sure he’s not stopped.’
‘It’s not a question of me taking it,’ she snapped. ‘The costs to date outweigh the results. I have to present my report to the assistant commissioner. That means making a decision about bringing in a new team, which I am loath to do, as it will spiral the cost even further.’
‘Give me more time, then. Let me take a trip to the States; check out their records of the victims. They’ve sent over only case reports and the fact they have the same MO, but if I could get more details, I would, at least for my own satisfaction, eliminate Alan Daniels.’
She sighed, impatiently. ‘Eliminate him? You don’t have one scrap of evidence to implicate him, for Christ’s sake, and definitely nothing to link him to the Melissa Stephens murder. All you have is a group of women who may or may not have known him and who may or may not have known each other! I have read the reports.’ She was fighting to retain her temper. ‘You have had every possible opportunity. You have not, I am sorry to say, given me anything today that warrants keeping an entire murder team here in Queen’s Park.’
‘You’ve already halved the team. I won’t let this go,’ he said firmly.
‘It is not a question of what you want,’ she said angrily. ‘Look, let’s not get into a shouting match over this. I will consider giving you two more weeks.’
‘Give me three days. That’s all I need to go over there and check out these cases.’
The commander looked at Chief Superintendent Thompson, who, till then, had not said more than a few words. ‘I trust James.’ He carefully placed his coffee cup on the desk. ‘If he feels there is a possibility of gaining a result, I’d send him to Alaska, if necessary.’
Langton gave him a grateful look. The commander collected her briefcase and walked to the door.
‘Three days and keep me informed. Because we are going to have to prepare a press release.’
The team watched curiously as the procession of brass walked out, but could find nothing in their manner to indicate what had happened inside. A call from Lewis lifted the gloominess in the atmosphere. Barolli yelled out the news: Lewis had a son, weighing in at seven pounds, six ounces. After a moment of quiet conversation, he replaced the receiver.
‘He’s going to put in for maternity leave,’ he said, surprised.
‘I think you mean “paternity” leave,’ Jean commented wryly.
‘What did you tell him?’ Moira asked.
‘I just said that from what has been going down here, I didn’t see why not.’
Langton appeared. He called out to Jean, who was printing material from the internet. ‘You get the information I wanted?’
Jean gathered up all the pages. ‘Mike Lewis has just had a baby boy,’ she informed him.
He looked puzzled for a moment; then gave a half smile.
‘Moira, send him a bottle of champagne and some flowers for his wife. From all of us.’
He returned to his office, Jean following on his heels.
‘Christ, Jean, is this the cheapest deal you can get?’
‘Yes. I checked with all the airlines and the Virgin Atlantic flight is the cheapest, direct to San Francisco.’
She passed him another sheet. ‘I would suggest you hire a car from San Francisco and drive to Los Angeles, then get an internal flight from there to Chicago.’
‘Thanks,’ he said curtly. Then he reached for the phone.
When Jean returned to the incident room, she grinned at Anna conspiratorially. ‘He’s having kittens about the price, but it’s not that bad: round trip for under six hundred quid.’
Moira had taken a call from the NYPD in New York. ‘No joy in New York; they’ve not got anything on the dates Daniels was over there.’ She buzzed the message through to Langton’s office.
She took a couple of notes and looked over to Jean. ‘Jean, can you get on to CAP in San Francisco. That’s the division that handles the murders of prostitutes: Crime Against Prostitutes, it’s part of the Vice Division in the San Francisco Police Department. You need to ask for Captain Tom Delaware.’
Moira leaned on Jean’s desk, watching her write it all down. ‘He wants a hotel. Somewhere in a place called Tenderloin.’
‘Tenderloin?’ Jean asked. ‘You sure you got that right? Tenderloin?’
‘That’s what he said. Tenderloin.’
Having just walked in, Langton overheard the conversation: ‘It’s called that because during the Depression era, only police officers earned a good steady wage and could get a decent steak.’ The two women turned to him, astonished and he shrugged. ‘Now you know!’
Jean and Moira seemed to return to their work in hand, though when they noticed Langton lean on Anna’s desk, neither of them was averse to watching from a corner of her eye.
‘We’re on the eleven o’clock flight tomorrow. Heathrow direct to San Francisco. Can you drive an automatic?’
‘Yes,’ said Anna. ‘San Francisco!’
Langton straightened up. ‘Jean, check out the visa situation ASAP, for Travis and myself.’ He returned to his office.
Moira and Jean threw a glance at each other. Barolli pushed back his chair, irritated. It wasn’t that he wanted to go to San Francisco; it was just that it would have been ethical to ask him, since he’d been there longer. He also wanted to know what the hell was going to happen in London when his gov jetted off to the States.
Langton looked round the corner of his door at the sight of an uptight Barolli and added, ‘With Mike out being a daddy, I need you to run the incident room.’
‘So, we still have one,’ Barolli said moodily.
‘We are hanging on to it by our fingernails. We only have two weeks. I’ll be giving a briefing in fifteen
