‘Pull over.’
Jim did as instructed.
‘You okay?’
‘No, I’m not,’ Harry said, leaning his head back. ‘We need that lot clearing out otherwise we’re going to get nothing done at all. Call Swift.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Of course I’m sure!’ Harry roared, then caught himself. ‘Sorry, Jim. Journalists. They bring out the worst in me, that’s all. But call Swift. We need to get him down here to deal with it. Right now, I’d probably only make it worse.’
‘He won’t be happy.’
‘That’s what I’m hoping,’ Harry said. ‘A grumpy DSI is a very useful weapon against the press, trust me.’
Jim made the call.
‘Sir? It’s PCSO James Dinsdale. Yes, that’s the one. I was wondering if –’
Jim’s voice was cut short by whatever was being said at the other end. He then looked at Harry and handed him the phone.
‘He wants to talk to you.’
Harry took the phone.
‘Sir, we need you over here in Hawes. Bit of a situation with the press.’
‘I’ve been on the phone with your DSI,’ Swift said, ignoring Harry completely. ‘She’s a delight, isn’t she?’
That she is, Harry thought.
‘Have you now, sir? And what did she want?’
‘You misunderstand,’ Swift said. ‘I called her. About you.’
‘Go on . . .’
‘You see, I’m not really sure that you quite fit in up here, and I was just voicing my concerns.’
‘Were you now?’
‘It’s nothing personal,’ Swfit continued, ‘it’s just that I think perhaps that your ways are different to how things are done around here. And that kind of friction is something we can do without.’
‘Do you mean we or I?’ Harry asked. ‘Have you had any complaints from the team?’
Harry eyeballed Jim at this point and received a very clear shake of the head.
‘Nothing overt, no,’ Swift said. ‘It’s a feeling, that’s all, Grimm. Born of years of experience. You can understand, yes?’
‘What did she say?’
A pause in the conversation. The kind of silence behind which one can hear the sound of a mind thinking, chewing something over.
‘She thinks very highly of you,’ Swift said, and Harry could hear the pain in the man’s voice as he said the words, and the surprise which leaned towards disbelief. ‘She thinks you will settle in just fine.’
Harry did his best to not let the smile on his face show in voice.
‘That years of experience you just mentioned, sir? I could do with its help right now, actually.’
‘Really? Why? What’s happening? Is something up?’
Harry couldn’t have thrown a better hook and line.
‘Yes, it’s a situation that I really need your input on, actually, Sir. Can you help?’
Harry knew exactly what he was doing, saying just enough to appeal to the DSI’s ego, and taking him away from his thoughts about DSI Firbank.
‘Oh, well, if you insist,’ Swift replied.
‘I think your seniority in this, your experience, would be hugely appreciated by the rest of the team, Sir,’ Harry said, doing his best to sound as convincing as possible. ‘I hope that’s okay?’
‘Well of course it’s okay!’ Swift said, his voice biting impatiently at the heels of Grimm’s. ‘What exactly do you need from me?’
Harry paused just long enough.
‘Well?’
‘The press are here, sir, and I’ve given them your name as the point of contact. I know you’re not SIO on this, but I thought it best that you be the one to front this.’
‘The press? SIO on what? The incidents you’ve been investigating? They don’t know about it all yet, surely! They can’t!’
‘They can and they do,’ Harry said. ‘Not everything I’m sure, but enough to be here and needing to be dealt with. And I can’t be spending my time on it when, as SIO, and as I’m sure you will understand and support, I need all the time and staff hours I can get to find who’s responsible as soon as possible.’
More silence, the sound of Swift clearing his throat.
‘Right, I’m on my way. I’ll be there within the hour.’
‘Thank you, Sir,’ Harry said. ‘I can’t say how much I app–’
The line went dead.
Harry handed Jim his phone back.
‘Sorted?’ Jim asked.
‘Looks that way,’ Harry said. ‘Right, best we go tell the press Swift is who they need to speak to, eh?’
A few minutes later, Jim pulled them up into the marketplace and Harry climbed out to witness a sea of faces turn to stare at him. There were cameras, too, and microphones, and lots of people getting very shouty about things. And Harry wasn’t in the mood for shouty unless, of course, it was him that was doing the shouting.
As the faces crowded in, Harry turned back to Jim’s Land Rover and climbed up onto the bonnet. He then turned around and stared down at the crowd.
‘Right then,’ Harry bellowed. ‘How’s about you lot all shut it for a moment and listen in? You can do that, can’t you? Listen?’
A tall man thin as a string pushed his way to the front of the crowd and looked up at Harry, notebook in one hand, pen in the other.
‘DCI Grimm,’ the man began, ‘what can you tell us about the two murders that have occurred over the last few days?’
Harry glared at the man, willing his face to melt under the heat of his fury. He’d met this one before. It was Richard Askew, from the Westmorland Gazette. A big mouth in a small paper doing his best to shout the loudest.
‘Come on, Grimm,’ the man said, ‘the people have a right to know! Are they safe? Is there a serial killer on the loose?’
‘Was I talking to you?’ Harry asked. ‘Specifically, I mean?’
Askew gave a shrug.
‘Is that a yes, a no, or an I don’t give a shit?’ Harry asked. ‘Just so we’re both sure. Because I, unlike you, prefer to be clear on things, before I act.’
‘No, I guess,’ Askew said.
‘Exactly!’ Harry replied. ‘So, why don’t you wind that thin neck of yours in and see if you can find a little bit of courtesy, while I chat to everyone else, and not just you?’
Askew’s mouth fell open to say something then
