certainty of that than endure the knowledge that everywhere you go people are pointing the finger.’ Carol crouched beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s a result, Sam.’
‘No, it’s not. It’s about a quarter of a result.’
‘I hate it as much as you do. Always have. But sometimes you have to settle for less. It’s a closed case, Sam.’
He tilted his head back and sighed. ‘You’re always talking about how we speak for the dead. But sometimes we just don’t shout loud enough.’
CHAPTER 36
Carol recognised the buzz in the MIT squad room that morning. It was always like this when the team was teetering on the edge of a breakthrough. The phone call she’d taken from Paula late the night before had signalled a new phase in their investigation and she’d called them together for this seven o’clock briefing because nobody wanted to wait to get cracking. That Nigel Barnes had chosen to confess to the disposal of the bodies in Wastwater was just a bonus.
They assembled round the table, coffees in hand. At the very last minute, Tony walked in. ‘No show without Punch,’ he said cheerily, grabbing the nearest chair and dumping his papers in front of it. He looked around, feigning surprise. ‘I thought there was a new kid on the team?’
‘DS Parker has been unavoidably called back to the faculty,’ Carol said, glaring repressively at him. ‘So we’re stuck with you.’
‘Welcome back, Doc,’ Kevin said.
Carol cut across the general greeting. ‘If we can get down to business?’ They came to order and she began. ‘We have some movement to report. Paula, would you like to explain how that’s come about?’ Carol raised her eyebrows at Paula. She’d already made it clear that, while she welcomed the breakthrough, she didn’t appreciate Paula bringing an outsider into the middle of their confidential investigation.
Paula sounded as if she’d been rehearsing how to play this. ‘I came into the office late last night with Dr Elinor Blessing—’
Her best-laid plans went up in smoke as her colleagues whooped and whistled. Carol knew they needed release from the tension of the case, so she let them have their head. Besides, Paula had asked for it. ‘Couldn’t you just get a room?’ Kevin said innocently.
‘Very funny. You’re all very bloody comic,’ Paula said, taking it in good part. Elinor’s discovery might have brought an end to romance for the evening, but Paula was still on a lingering high from their encounter. And possibly also from lack of sleep. ‘Some of you may remember Dr Blessing from the Robbie Bishop case, and how helpful she was then.’ More whooping and nudging. ‘Well, she’s come to our rescue again.’ Paula nodded to Stacey, who tapped a few keys on the webbook in front of her. The familiar strips of DNA analysis came up on the whiteboard. ‘On the left, you have Daniel’s DNA. On the right, Seth’s. If we look more closely, we can see strong similarities.’ Areas of the DNA strips were highlighted. ‘According to Dr Blessing, this indicates that Daniel and Seth are blood relatives.’
Stacey tapped some more keys and another two DNA profiles appeared. ‘Jennifer and Niall,’ Paula said. ‘And the same phenomenon.’ Again, areas were highlighted. ‘I got Dr Shatalov out of bed at two o’clock this morning to double-check that Elinor was right. And he agrees. He called in someone at the university who’s more of an expert in DNA analysis than Dr Shatalov himself. Her view is that they are all half-siblings.’
‘Are you saying all these women had affairs with the same man and got pregnant by him? In the same year?’ Kevin sounded incredulous. ‘That’s mad.’
‘Of course that’s not what I’m saying. It’s obvious. At least, it is to a lesbian. Donor insemination. It’s got to be. Nothing else makes sense. And we already know Seth was a donor baby.’
There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Tony leaned forward. ‘The bad seed,’ he said. ‘The end of the line. That’s what he’s doing. He’s not killing them because they look like him. He’s killing them because they are him.’
For DI Stuart Patterson, this was an interview that couldn’t be delegated. Just as the Maidments had deserved a senior officer when they had to be told their daughter was dead, they were entitled to the same courtesy for the deeply personal question that had to be asked this morning. With luck, both of them would be home this early in the day.
Paul Maidment opened the door. He was suited up and freshly shaved. He looked exactly like any other successful businessman girded up for the start of the working week except that his eyes held no light. He nodded and sighed at the sight of the policeman. ‘Come in,’ he said lifelessly.
Patterson followed him to the kitchen. Tania Maidment sat at the kitchen table in her dressing gown. Her hair was uncombed, matted and asymmetrical from sleep. Dark shadows surrounded her eyes and she was smoking what was clearly not the first cigarette of the day. ‘Have you arrested him yet?’ she demanded as soon as she caught sight of Patterson.
‘I’m afraid not,’ he said, standing near the doorway. No one invited him to sit down. ‘We are making progress.’
‘Progress?’ Maidment said explosively. ‘What does that mean?’
Patterson didn’t know what to say to that. He wished Ambrose was with him. He could have used that stolid certainty standing alongside. ‘I need to ask you a question about Jennifer,’ he said. ‘I appreciate the sensitive nature of this, but we need to know the answer.’
Tania snorted. ‘I didn’t think we had any sensitivities left that hadn’t been trampled all over. Do you have any idea how hard it is to cling on to your memories when the police and the media trample all over your daughter’s life?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Patterson said. ‘But I do need you to help me with this.’ His collar felt tight. ‘Was Jennifer conceived using artificial insemination?’
Tania pushed her chair back, the legs scraping harshly against the floor tiles. She jumped to her feet, her face an angry mask. ‘What the hell has that to do with anything? Christ, have we no privacy left?’
Maidment hurried to her side and put his arm round her. She turned to him, clutching his shirt tight in her fist and beating it against his chest. ‘Yes,’ he said, holding her close, his eyes glistening. ‘We longed for a child of our
