Fleet tried to recapture that sensation he’d had before, that there was somebody out here watching him. But now, other than Nicky, he would have sworn he was completely alone.
He looked up. ‘The kids,’ he said. ‘Sadie’s friends. They talked about climbing trees when they were younger. Right?’
Nicky nodded. ‘They mentioned it once or twice. Why? Are you getting an urge to re-enact your youth?’ She looked at the tree that was closest to them, barely more than a sapling, and then, brazenly, at Fleet’s belly. ‘Because no offence, boss, but we might want to look around for something sturdier.’
Fleet frowned at her. ‘Is that a comment about my weight, Detective Sergeant?’
Nicky shrugged ruefully. ‘There’s a reason you’ve stopped taking sugar in your coffee. And again, no offence, boss, but if you were expecting me to follow you up, and one of those branches were to suddenly give way … Well. Let’s just say I’m not overly keen on the idea of wearing your arse cheeks as a hat.’
Fleet gave a snort. He returned to scanning the branches high above him. ‘Actually, I was mainly wondering what the view would be like from up there. And how often those search teams would have thought to look up.’
Nicky looked where he was looking, wincing at the raindrops in her eyes. ‘Hardly at all, I would imagine,’ she said. ‘Especially in this weather. As for the view …’ She shrugged. ‘We can take a look for ourselves if it’s important to you?’
‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ said Fleet. ‘To be honest, even if I weren’t so … calorifically challenged, I’ve never been the biggest fan of heights.’
‘Really?’ said Nicky. ‘I didn’t know that.’
‘It’s not something I tend to boast about. But there’s a reason my bedsit is on the ground floor, and why I always used to insist to Holly, whenever she suggested we go on holiday, that we went somewhere we could drive.’
At the mention of Holly, Nicky looked away. Until Fleet had spoken to Anne about his marriage, Nicky had been the only person – at least as far as Fleet knew – who was aware that he and his wife had separated. And even then, Fleet had never discussed it openly. With Nicky, he simply hadn’t tried to hide it.
‘Well,’ said Nicky, ‘for everyone’s sake, let’s hope we’re never asked to find a cow that’s gone missing up a mountain.’
Fleet smiled. ‘Knowing cows, it would probably be a trap.’ He cast around again, all at once convinced that he was wasting what precious time they had.
‘See now, look,’ said Nicky, and she wandered a few metres deeper into the woods. ‘If you were going to climb a tree, you’d want to pick one more like this. It’s practically a spiral staircase. And look at those branches. They’re thick enough that they’d probably even hold …’ Nicky stopped herself, but not before she’d turned in Fleet’s direction.
‘A cow?’ suggested Fleet.
Nicky grinned. ‘Right.’
She began walking around the trunk of the chestnut. Fleet looked at his watch. ‘You’ve officially humoured me, Detective Sergeant. I think we can probably wrap this –’
‘Boss?’
Nicky was on the other side of the tree. Fleet moved to try to see what had caught her attention. ‘What is it?’
‘Look. There. Is that …’
Fleet circled the trunk and crouched down next to her. They looked where Nicky was pointing, and then at each other. Nicky struggled with the zip of her waterproof, and pulled out a pen. She used it to nudge what at first glance Fleet had assumed was a leaf.
‘A Snickers wrapper,’ he said, realising what he was looking at.
‘Duo,’ Nicky added, and she raised an eyebrow.
Fleet stood. He looked up, around, and then back down at the base of the chestnut tree.
‘If it had been here before, the search teams would almost certainly have bagged it,’ Nicky said. ‘Meaning they either missed it, or one of the PCs dropped it themselves …’
‘Not likely,’ put in Fleet.
‘Or,’ Nicky concluded, ‘someone else dropped it after the search teams had already cleared the area.’
Fleet tapped his fingers against his thigh, thinking of the feeling he’d had of being watched; of Sadie’s friends wondering whether they were being followed …
‘Should we call someone?’ said Nicky. But even as she asked, Fleet could tell she was thinking the same thing he was. And say what? Show them what? If the Pay As You Go wasn’t going to change Burton’s mind, a piece of litter was hardly going to do it.
Fleet looked around once more, and had to fight an urge to call out into the trees. He knew it would be pointless. Worse than that, it would be like trying to entice a deer with a rifle shot.
Are you out there? he wondered. Are you watching right now?
Nicky was busy transferring the Snickers wrapper into a clear plastic evidence bag.
‘Have you got another one of those?’ Fleet asked her, as he fished inside his own jacket pockets. He took out one of his business cards and a pen.
‘Sure,’ said Nicky, frowning slightly. She passed him a spare evidence bag.
There was an old tree stump close by, and Fleet turned to it. He bent down, and for a second allowed the pen to hover before he started to write. Then he slid the business card into the evidence bag, and placed it on top of the stump in what he hoped was clear view.
Nicky was watching the whole time, her frown deepening.
‘I haven’t got a better idea,’ said Fleet, shrugging. ‘Have you?’
Mason
No one could argue after that. After it started raining, I mean. There were no more excuses, no more petty reasons to give up and go home. Which didn’t stop them looking for one – I could see it in their eyes – and I suppose I should have realised they’d come up with something eventually, but in the meantime, what
