“We almost match,” she said, pointing at my cheek.
“What a pair,” I agreed as she put the car in gear. “Got anything stronger than paracetamol?” I’d taken four with my coffee, but it wasn’t enough.
Fletcher shook her head.
We drove to the station in silence. I was still too tired from the night before to summon up a conversation. I’d slept like the dead, but it seemed like my alarm went off a minute after I closed my eyes.
Once we arrived, we made our way straight to Dunnel’s office. I knocked once, and he waved us in through the window, already buried up to his elbows in paperwork despite the early hour. I sank gratefully into one of the chairs before his desk.
“I want a full report of what happened yesterday,” Dunnel said. He set aside the file in front of him to give us his full attention.
“After we interviewed Lena Taggert, we went to speak with Finn’s friends,” I began. “We got a call from the lab saying they’d found blood on Finn’s scarf. We were headed back to the station when Haruto called about his stalkers. You know the next bit.” Dunnel nodded. “They ran, we gave chase, and they attacked us.”
“They wanted to kill us,” Fletcher added.
“We followed up on the licence plates. They were bought by some company called Allraise Ventures,” I continued.
Dunnel woke up his computer and clicked over to one of his many open browser tabs. “I looked up Allraise Ventures while you were off running towards your deaths.” He gave me a hard look as he said that. I stared back shamelessly. “They’re some kind of charity foundation. Supposedly, they do work promoting literacy in underprivileged children around the world, but if you look a little deeper, it doesn’t seem like they’ve ever actually done anything.”
“A shell company,” I agreed. “So they can move money around without it being traced back to them. Whoever this ‘they’ is.”
“Right. I had DC Barnes make you a file. It should be on your desk.” Dunnel motioned for me to continue with my report. “What happened next?”
“Lena Taggert called me and said she thought a man we had in custody might be Finn’s father.”
“Alec MacGowan, tagged for robbery a couple of days ago,” Dunnel said, and I nodded.
“Right. He told us that an unknown group of people kidnapped his son in order to blackmail him into stealing the deed to the Castle of Old Wick. He was convinced that these people would know that he’d talked to us and would hurt Finn, so I made the decision to move quickly and go to the castle without waiting for backup. I thought that if Finn was there, we had no time to lose. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It was a trap.”
“You shot the man we’ve got in custody, yes?”
“I did. He was attempting to choke Fletcher. I tackled him and had to shoot him in the leg to subdue him. I’ll fill out the paperwork for discharging my weapon as soon as I can.” Dunnel was a real stickler for proper paperwork, and he nodded with approval when I said that. “Has he spoken? Can we take a crack at him?”
Dunnel sifted through his files until he found the one he was looking for. “We got a hit in our system. His name is Seamus O’Connell. He’s been picked up before for breaking and entering, assault, and carrying a deadly weapon. He’s been waiting for you in the interrogation room for the past hour. I thought I’d let him stew for a little bit.”
“I appreciate it. And thank you for coming to our aid yesterday. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“This is why I told you to take backup,” Dunnel said.
I was never going to hear the end of that.
Dunnel gave me O’Connell’s file and dismissed us. “Oh, and Mr Sato is here,” he said just as I was about to leave his office. “You should speak with him.”
“We will.”
First, though, I went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee, and Fletcher glanced over the box of yesterday’s scones but turned her nose up at them. I looked around until I spotted Haruto sitting in the nearby breakroom, his protection detail lounging on the couch as he struggled to focus on the book in his hand. His eyes kept jumping off the page, and he seemed to shut it gratefully as Fletcher and I approached him.
“How are you doing?” I asked as I sat down across from him. Fletcher went to poke around in the fridge.
“I’m okay,” he said. “I didn’t sleep. I feel guilty that DCs Collins and Fawkes had to stay up all night.”
“We’re used to it,” Collins promised from the couch with a dismissive wave. Fawkes appeared to be fast asleep.
Fletcher returned with some kind of pudding cup in her hand. “Is that yours?” I asked.
She stuck a spoon full of mousse and sponge in her mouth. “No.
“Just don’t get caught.” People were very protective of their snacks around here, particularly pudding. I turned back towards Haruto. “Any white vans or people watching you?”
“Not that we saw,” Haruto said, including Collins and Fawkes in that we. “Maybe you scared them off.”
I doubted that. People willing to kill police inspectors didn’t usually scare off easily. Chances were, they were just regrouping, plotting their next move or waiting for us to let our guard back down.
“Have you ever heard of Allraise Ventures?” I asked.
“I…” Haruto stopped, thought about it. “Yes, actually. I have. I believe they’re funding my project.”
“What does that mean?” Fletcher finished her pudding and threw the empty plastic cup at the nearby rubbish bin. She missed and had to stand sheepishly and go retrieve it. “Do they get to keep the manuscript when you’re done?”
Haruto shook his head. “No, of course not. If it’s displayed in a museum, their name will go with it. Otherwise, it’s a completely philanthropic gesture.”
Then why watch Haruto? If they were simply keeping
