Damn! Jack thought. He looked across and signalled purposefully for Kelly to join him.
She came straight over, with April in tow.
“What’s up, sir?” she asked anxiously.
“Rita’s in the loo, throwing up. I think that you should go in after her.”
Kelly looked down at April. “What about…?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Tyler smiled, hoping that he wouldn’t live to regret his words.
“Are you sure?”
“Just go,” he said, firmly.
When they were alone together, Jack led April back to the bench. She sat down obediently, staring up at him with her big blue eyes.
“Listen,” He began, searching for the right words. “I know that you’ve met a lot of bad men, but I’m not like them.” He smiled again, conscious not to invade her personal space in case that intimidated her. She continued to view him sceptically, her expression one of distrust.
Probably heard it all before, huh, kid? Tyler thought, trying to see things from her perspective. He frowned, aware that he was totally out of his depth with children. Boy, this was going to be tough! None of the hardcore villains he’d dealt with over the years; none of the acid-tongued barristers who cross-examined him in the witness box, dissecting every word that he said in the hope of tripping him up, had managed to make him feel this uncomfortable in their presence.
“Okay, let’s start again,” he suggested, wishing that he had more experience with kids. April folded her arms across her chest, and the way she suddenly jutted her little chin out stubbornly reminded him of her grandmother, who had displayed the same mannerism earlier.
“Look, April, I didn’t know your mummy, but I do know your granny. She’s a very special lady and I want to help her. I want to help you too if you’ll let me. I promise that I won’t ever do anything to hurt either of you. I don’t have any children of my own, but if I did, I would want to be as close to them as I could be, like your granny is to you.” He paused, trying to marshal his thoughts. The harder he tried, the worse he seemed to be making it. With a dejected sigh, Jack Tyler sat down next to the little girl, pulling his tie loose. He scratched his head in frustration, wondering if he should just admit defeat and sit there quietly until Kelly came back with Rita.
“She’s not my granny.”
“What?” Jack asked, wondering what she meant by that.
“She’s not my granny, silly. She’s my nana.” April explained this as if speaking to a retard.
Jack tried not to smile. “My mistake,” he conceded, delighted that she had actually spoken to him.
April eyed him critically. “I thought policemen were s’posed to be clever.”
Jack gave an apologetic shrug. “We’re meant to be, little one, but I think I’m having a bit of an off week.”
◆◆◆
Tyler made it to the Gold Group meeting by the skin of his teeth. Having been caught in bad traffic earlier, he had decided to avoid the roads and catch a train, but there had been delays due to a signal failure. It was obviously going to be one of those days. Holland had given him a scathing look as he’d walked into the canteen, face flushed and breathing heavily.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Superintendent Porter, and held in the conference room at Whitechapel police station. Porter ushered the murder squad detectives into seats around the large table that dominated the bland room and introduced them to the other board members. Apart from Holland and Tyler, there was a stern-faced uniform Chief Inspector called George Chambers, who explained he was the Borough Operations officer, Inspector Ray Speed, who greeted them warmly, and several prominent members of the local community who formed the Borough’s Lay Advisory Group. One of these was Dr Simon Pritchard from The Sutton Mission. Pritchard was delighted to inform the Gold Group that his wife had liaised with DS Bull earlier in the day and arrangements had been made for a small group of volunteers to be put at the detective’s disposal over the weekend. The last person in attendance was Brian Johnson, the analyst. His presence had been specifically requested by Porter, and he had been tasked to prepare an intelligence overview for the meeting.
Lukewarm coffee and stale biscuits had been provided, but no one seemed interested in the refreshments.
Porter looked pale and tired, and he appeared to have lost a little weight; he was obviously feeling the strain.
After Holland’s opening remarks, Tyler gave the Gold Group a general overview of the investigation to date. He wasn’t prepared to disclose specific operational details in the presence of the civilian lay advisors, but he gave them enough of a flavour to make them feel involved. Porter made all the right noises, and showed concern and resolve in all the right places, but Tyler could tell he was far from happy.
They discussed resources; Holland pledged to increase the size of the investigation team and stated that all leave had been cancelled for the coming weekend and every available officer would be working. Chief Inspector Chambers informed them that he had liaised with the TSG, who would be supplying two whole units to the borough for a two-week period, starting the following Monday. In addition, also from Monday, all sector officers would have their shifts changed to provide extra cover during the evening hours. The streets would be flooded with officers, he said, which pleased the Lay Advisors, especially Dr Pritchard, but worried the detectives; their concern was that the drastically increased police presence would merely displace the killer.
Johnson then delivered a death by power-point presentation, showing graph after graph to demonstrate crime trends on the borough in the wards where the
