‘No, I don’t,’ Harry said.
‘And that’s the problem,’ Swift snapped.
Harry breathed deep, searching for some calm, so that when he spoke next, his voice didn’t give the senior officer cause to think he was about to rip his head off. ‘I’m the senior investigating officer on this and I know what I’m doing,’ Harry explained. ‘As do the team. They’re good. You have nothing to worry about.’
‘Then convince me,’ Swift hissed, then he, too, was gone.
Matt and Jim shuffled forward.
‘So where did you go, then?’ Matt asked.
Harry gestured over to Bill’s house.
Jim said, ‘Was Steve there to meet you?’
‘You know him, then?’ Harry asked. ‘Bill, I mean.’
‘Everyone knows pretty much everyone else around here,’ Jim said. ‘Bill’s alright, though. Bit blunt, but that’s just his way. And Steve is all mouth and no trousers, if you know what I mean. The worst that dog would do is lick you to death. Spoiled rotten.’
‘Thought I saw someone looking at us in the field with binos,’ Harry said. ‘Turns out it was Bill through a rifle scope.’
‘Just being nosy, then,’ Matt said. ‘He see anything?’
Harry was about to mention what Bill had said about seeing Little Nick in the tractor cab with John Capstick, when Gordy and Jenny turned up.
‘Anything?’ Harry asked.
Jenny pulled out her notebook and flipped it open. ‘It’s like I said before, no one is exactly queuing up to attend his funeral,’ she said. ‘Other than may be to cheer.’
‘Only reason I can see right now for anyone going,’ Gordy added, ‘is to make sure he’s actually dead.’
‘And Bill?’ Harry asked. ‘He say any more about seeing Little Nick with John?’
Liz read her notes out, which confirmed what Harry already knew.
‘Not much is it?’ Matt said.
‘Well, I look forward to hearing more later on,’ Gordy said. ‘I’d best be off. But I’ll be over tomorrow morning, first thing, if only to check up on the board.’
‘No need,’ Jenny said. ‘I’ll be all over it like a rash.’
‘Let’s hope we’ve got something to actually put on it, then,’ Harry said, as Gordy walked off. ‘It’s not like we’ve got much so far, beyond the corpse of a man no one liked and a feather in his mouth.’
‘At least it wasn’t up his arse,’ Matt added.
‘Doubt we’ll get much more, either,’ Jim said. ‘Been too long since whatever it was that happened, happened, if you know what I mean.’
‘Hasn’t rained yet, though,’ Matt said. ‘And that’s something.’
Which was when the first drops began to fall, the dark sky above at last giving up and sending a grey sheet of rain to fold itself across the earth below.
Harry took another look at the field in front of them. The change in the weather had lit a new sense of urgency in the work of the SOC team and Harry could see that they were now hurrying to get as much evidence as they could before the rain washed away any possibility of finding even the faintest hint of DNA or anything else for that matter.
‘Back to the office, then?’ Harry suggested.
‘First one there puts the kettle on,’ Jim said.
‘Last one there buys the cake,’ Matt added with a hungry looking grin.
Chapter Twelve
The day had rolled into early evening without Harry even noticing. And he hadn’t yet even had a chance to visit his new flat to properly move in. The rain had chased them all the way back to the community office in Hawes, where the permanent police presence was housed all comfortable and cosy with, among other things, the local library, and a community information hub. It was unlike any police station Harry had ever worked in because it wasn’t really a police station. He wasn’t one for getting all political, but it struck him as a bit dim-witted to think having interviews and cells and all the other police gubbins over an hour away in Harrogate made sense. Couldn’t even lock someone up to allow them to cool off. Nope. Instead, they had to be driven all the way across the dale. Imagine that, he thought, racing down all those twisty lanes and roads, with a van full of abusive piss heads, all vomiting up their liquid refreshment, when instead they could’ve been just given a room to sleep it off in all but a few steps away. Where was the sense in it? But Harry wasn’t in politics and never would be. The world, he thought, was an increasingly angry, shouty place, and more and more the people in power were taking advantage of the popular vote, taking the easy route. The world needed, in Harry’s mind at least, a little bit more gentleness and understanding, which was exactly why he was never going to get involved. Yes, he knew that was what the world needed, but he also knew that he was somewhat lacking in those areas. So he would do his bit where he fitted in best. As far as the resources in Hawes were concerned, they would have to do because that was all they had. And if he was honest, Harry didn’t exactly miss the warren of rooms and corridors he was used to back at the station in Bristol, it was just a bit strange to not have them to get lost in if he wanted to.
‘Here you go,’ Matt said, handing Harry a mug of tea. ‘Can’t remember if you take sugar.’
‘I don’t,’ Harry said. ‘And before you say it, don’t.’
‘Wasn’t about to,’ Matt said. ‘Me though, I’m never going to be sweet enough, so in goes a couple of teaspoons of the good stuff.’ He shovelled in the sugar. ‘And a couple more, just in case.’
Harry watched as Matt added enough sugar to his tea to keep a class of six-year olds awake for a week.
‘Sure you don’t want any more?’
‘No, I’m good, thanks,’ said Matt, taking a sip. ‘Yummy.’
Harry leaned back into his chair as around him the rest of the team busied themselves with getting comfortable. Gordy had managed
