in.
‘I want us to discreetly do our own profile of the Grey Man, one that ignores the speculation as far as possible and focuses on what the evidence tells us.’
I stopped again to check that he was still onside.
‘Okay. And what exactly is that going to achieve?’
He frowned, but at least it wasn’t outright resistance.
‘I’m not one hundred percent sure just yet, beyond clearing out the crap and clarifying what we genuinely know. But it does give us a good reason to access any records that the good Doctor himself had a look at recently, don’t you think?’
We shared a slow knowing smile.
‘You think there’s something else in there that might have been held back?’
I watched Lee entertaining the possibility as he spoke, seeing the first glimmer of anticipation sparking in his eyes as I nodded my head.
It made some kind of sense that Hardwick hadn’t shared everything that he’d found out, otherwise why else would the killer have taken his laptop? Maybe he’d given us an inferior profile to work on while he worked on another angle, after all, he could always have let us in further down the line when he was sure about his facts without looking bad. There’d have been grumbling, but in the press it would be another famous victory and that was surely worth big book sales for his next opus.
We knew now from speaking to his wife that there were significant gambling debts in the background, and that they had been looking at selling their home just to survive. Perhaps he was gambling on a bigger hand, perhaps he’d even thought that he could catch the killer before we did? I’d seen it time and time again. Desperate people are driven to desperate acts. I felt the stirrings of my inner crime solver nodding along in approval.
Chapter 24
Grandma Madeleine discreetly watched her husband brooding while busying herself preparing the girl’s dinner, he looked uncharacteristically haggard and drawn, and she knew that spelled trouble if she wasn’t careful. He’d hardly spoken a word since arriving home this morning with the smell of petrol and smoke in his hair, casually handing over his clothes for washing without explanation. She’d flipped on the television in the kitchen and scanned the news stories, until the local broadcasts came on.
A famous forensic psychologist had been found brutally murdered at his home and the police were being tight-lipped about the details for now, and elsewhere in the county somebody had firebombed the empty offices of a solicitors firm for reasons as yet unknown, recounted the breathless young reporter. She breathed an inward sigh of relief at the second piece of news and took some small comfort in the aroma of his hair, then looked around for the remote and put it all out of her mind. If she chose to ignore it then it hadn’t really happened at all.
‘You should take a shower while I make lunch, I’m serving sea bass.’
She studiously avoided his gaze as she spoke, keeping her tone even and conversational, not a trace of accusation creeping in. He’d not vented his inner rage on her in several decades, but when he was like this, with demons swimming behind his dark expression, she was extra careful not to push the wrong buttons anyway.
‘I’ll do that,’ he eventually replied, turning his head to watch the girls running around on the decking in the growing warmth of the sun. The light caught their tanned arms and legs, which had been liberally coated with factor fifty sun cream before they’d been allowed out, and they glistened like basted poussins, mesmerising him for a long uncomfortable moment before he drained the last dregs of his strong coffee and retreated to the bathroom.
Madeleine watched him go with real concern. He usually tried to engage with the girls in his own fashion, which she knew wasn’t easy for him in view of his own upbringing. This morning he hadn’t bothered with them at all. She went across
‘I want us to discreetly do our own profile of the Grey Man, one that ignores the speculation as far as possible and focuses on what the evidence tells us.’
I stopped again to check that he was still onside.
‘Okay. And what exactly is that going to achieve?’
He frowned, but at least it wasn’t outright resistance.
‘I’m not one hundred percent sure just yet, beyond clearing out the crap and clarifying what we genuinely know. But it does give us a good reason to access any records that the good Doctor himself had a look at recently, don’t you think?’
We shared a slow knowing smile.
‘You think there’s something else in there that might have been held back?’
I watched Lee entertaining the possibility as he spoke, seeing the first glimmer of anticipation sparking in his eyes as I nodded my head.
It made some kind of sense that Hardwick hadn’t shared everything that he’d found out, otherwise why else would the killer have taken his laptop? Maybe he’d given us an inferior profile to work on while he worked on another angle, after all, he could always have let us in further down the line when he was sure about his facts without looking bad. There’d have been grumbling, but in the press it would be another famous victory and that was surely worth big book sales for his next opus.
We knew now from speaking to his wife that there were significant gambling debts in the background, and that they had been looking at selling their home just to survive. Perhaps he was gambling on a bigger hand, perhaps he’d even thought that he could catch the killer before we did? I’d seen it time and time again. Desperate people are driven to desperate acts. I felt the stirrings of my inner crime solver nodding along in approval.
Chapter 24
Grandma Madeleine discreetly watched her husband brooding while busying herself preparing the girl’s dinner, he looked uncharacteristically haggard and drawn, and she knew that spelled trouble if she wasn’t careful. He’d hardly spoken a word since arriving home this morning with the smell of petrol and smoke in his hair, casually handing over his clothes for washing without explanation. She’d flipped on the television in the kitchen and scanned the news stories, until the local broadcasts came on.
A famous forensic psychologist had been found brutally murdered at his home and the police were being tight-lipped about the details for now, and elsewhere in the county somebody had firebombed the empty offices of a solicitors firm for reasons as yet unknown, recounted the breathless young reporter. She breathed an inward sigh of relief at the second piece of news and took some small comfort in the aroma of his hair, then looked around for the remote and put it all out of her mind. If she chose to ignore it then it hadn’t really happened at all.
‘You should take a shower while I make lunch, I’m serving sea bass.’
She studiously avoided his gaze as she spoke, keeping her tone even and conversational, not a trace of accusation creeping in. He’d not vented his inner rage on her in several decades, but when he was like this, with demons swimming behind his dark expression, she was extra careful not to push the wrong buttons anyway.
‘I’ll do that,’ he eventually replied, turning his head to watch the girls running around on the decking in the growing warmth of the sun. The light caught their tanned arms and legs, which had been liberally coated with factor fifty sun cream before they’d been allowed out, and they glistened like basted poussins, mesmerising him for a long uncomfortable moment before he drained the last dregs of his strong coffee and retreated to the bathroom.
Madeleine watched him go with real concern. He usually tried to engage with the girls in his own fashion, which she knew wasn’t easy for him in view of his own upbringing. This morning he hadn’t bothered with them at all. She went across
Similar Books
