Button raised her mug. ‘Me too,’ she said. She took a sip and dabbed at her lips with a napkin. ‘So, Dan Shepherd.’
‘Right,’ said Gift.
‘Superintendent Hargrove has told you about the new arrangement? The undercover unit is being co-opted into the Serious Organised Crime Agency and he’s moving on to pastures new. I’m taking some of his operatives into the agency. Others will return to regular police work.’
Gift nodded but didn’t say anything.
‘I’m interested in your assessment of Dan, as a person and as an undercover officer.’
‘You’ve seen my reports.’
‘I never rely solely on written reports,’ said Button. ‘People are always so much more careful when they commit to paper, aren’t they?’
‘The written word encourages accuracy and precision, of course.’
Button smiled encouragingly. ‘Of course. But we both know the world isn’t black and white. There are so many shades of grey. And it’s the grey I’m interested in.’
‘Specifically?’
‘You gave him a clean bill of health after your last session,’ said Button.
‘He was fit for undercover work,’ said Gift.
‘Your report is pass or fail, isn’t it? An operative is either suitable or not suitable?’
‘If I have specific reservations, I make a note of them,’ said Gift. ‘In Dan’s case, I had no reservations.’
‘He’s very intelligent, isn’t he? A quick thinker?’
‘His IQ is high, and he’s helped by having a photographic memory.’
‘I read that,’ said Button. ‘Is it genuinely photographic?’
‘Total recall of anything he sees or hears,’ said Gift. ‘He can remember content but not necessarily context. He could memorise a physics book, for instance, but that wouldn’t mean he could explain the laws of relativity to you. Knowing something and understanding something aren’t the same thing, which is why he never did especially well academically.’
‘Faces?’
‘Perfect recall,’ said Gift.
‘A useful skill in undercover work,’ said Button. ‘That and his charm would keep him out of trouble, I’d guess.’
‘Charm?’
Button laughed. ‘Come on, you know what I mean. He’s good-looking and he’s got that boyish-charm thing going.’
Button was a skilled interviewer and Gift had the distinct impression that she was being tested. From the way the conversation was going, it felt as if she was being assessed as much as Shepherd. ‘I’m not sure that his looks have anything to do with his work,’ she said carefully.
Button arched one eyebrow. ‘Really? In my experience people trust good-looking people more readily than ugly ones. It’s not fair, but it’s the way of the world. If you’re going to lie and deceive, you’ve a better chance of getting away with it if you’re attractive.’
‘I suppose so,’ said Gift.
‘The point I’m making is that, on paper at least, Dan is the perfect undercover agent. His SAS background, his trick memory, his charm.’
‘He’s good at his job,’ agreed Gift.
‘Not too good, though?’
‘Too good?’
‘Over-confidence can be as much of a liability as lack of ability,’ said Button. ‘Every year we have James Bond wannabes trying to join up, and we go to a lot of trouble to weed them out. They think that joining MI5 means they get a licence to kill.’ She looked expectantly at Gift, waiting for her to speak.
Gift was adept at playing the silence game, leaving a long pause so that the other person would speak to fill the gap. It was a standard element in any psychologist’s armoury, but she doubted it would be effective against Button. She hated to let the MI5 officer win the mental game, but the alternative was to sit there in silence, which would only make her appear defensive. ‘Dan isn’t exactly an adrenaline junkie,’ she said. ‘He’d have stayed in the SAS if that was so. Police work is a lot more restrained than serving with Special Forces.’
‘But leaving the SAS was his wife’s idea, wasn’t it?’
‘She thought that it wasn’t the right career for a husband and father, and he agreed.’
‘Under protest?’
‘I don’t think he was happy about the move,’ said Gift. ‘He had visions of pounding the beat, but that’s not how it worked out. He didn’t even go through basic training.’
‘Straight into the undercover unit?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Which, I suppose, was out of the frying-pan and into the fire?’
‘That was how his wife saw it. He seemed to be at greater risk as an undercover policeman than he was in the SAS, where at least he was always with fellow soldiers. Working undercover meant he was alone most of the time.’
‘He was undercover in prison when his wife died, wasn’t he?’
Gift nodded. It was a curious conversation. Button was telling her things she already knew from Shepherd’s file. She didn’t seem interested in the facts, more in Gift’s interpretation of them. Which meant that the meeting wasn’t about him, it was about her. ‘He was tasked with getting close to an international drug-dealer who was behind bars. While he was undercover in prison, his wife was killed in a car accident.’
‘And he decided to remain in prison to continue with the job, rather than abort and take care of his son?’
‘It was his decision,’ said Gift.
‘Heck of a call to make,’ said Button.
‘It was an important case. If he’d pulled out, the dealer would have got away with it.’
‘So Dan will put job before family?’
‘He tries to juggle them,’ said Gift. ‘Are you married, Charlie?’
‘Twelve years,’ said Button.
‘Children?’
‘A girl,’ said Button. ‘Ten.’
‘Then I suppose you can empathise with Dan, trying to mix parenthood with a career.’
Button smiled, showing white teeth so perfect they could only have been the result of good genes or expensive orthodontic work. ‘You’ll need a much higher security clearance to start debriefing me, Kathy,’ she said.
Gift returned the smile. ‘I wasn’t trying to analyse you,’ she said. ‘I was just making the point that you and Dan have something in common. I think he’s as capable as you are of mixing the two.’ She sipped her coffee. ‘What happens to me under the new regime? Do I continue to provide assessments on Dan and the rest of the undercover team?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘And were you as sure of that prior to this meeting?’
‘You mean, was this an interview?’ Button shook her head. ‘No, absolutely not. Dan needs all the continuity he can get. It’s enough of a shock to his system that he’s losing Superintendent Hargrove. In fact, I’d like to start sending you more of my people. I’m impressed by your work.’
‘And will you be needing briefings like this, or will written reports be enough?’
‘Didn’t Superintendent Hargrove see you regularly?’
‘We met occasionally, but he was satisfied with written reports.’
‘I’ll need written reports, obviously, but I’ll also want to talk to you face to face.’
‘For the grey areas?’
‘Exactly,’ said Button. ‘A lot of my operatives will be moving into a different league, and I need to know they can take the pressure.’
