Chapter 30
THIRTY
Ben found Marc in the canteen, eating Cain’s chicken curry and scrolling Instagram on his phone. He was the only person in there. ‘Boss.’
Marc looked up. ‘Look, I know what you’re going to say, but we are not exactly overflowing with staff at the moment. I checked with the duty sergeant to see if Scotty was available, but he’s got a few days annual leave in, so there is literally nobody and at least she’s worked with you all before.’
Ben nodded, trying to hide the misery that had enveloped his entire nervous system at the thought of having to keep the peace between everyone. ‘I understand that, but there’s already been a bit of an incident you need to be aware of.’
‘Christ, already?’
‘The student she’s with, Brett, almost got strangled by Cain less than thirty seconds after he’d walked in. He claimed that Stan was a legend and how cool it was to work where a serial killer had worked.’
Marc began to cough as he choked on the piece of chicken he had just skewered into his mouth. Ben wasn’t sure if he needed to pat his back or something and stood up. Marc held up one hand and took a swig from the can of Vimto next to his takeaway.
‘Crap.’
‘It’s okay, they’re okay and Brett apologised once he found out about Angela. Cain’s gone out to do some enquiries, but you know it wasn’t the best start.’
‘Is this Brett wanting to file a complaint?’
Ben shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Okay, good. Is Cain okay? I think it’s too soon, why is he here?’
Ben had said the same thing. He shrugged. ‘It’s hard to be in the house all the time on his own, he said he needs to keep busy.’
‘I understand that, but if he’s going to keep attacking everyone, it’s going to be hard to manage and keep him out of trouble at the same time.’
‘He isn’t attacking everyone, Brett deserved it. He might think twice now before opening his mouth. He didn’t hurt him; he just scared the living crap out of him.’
‘I bet, right. How are we going to manage this, because I don’t want PSD breathing down our necks again; otherwise they may as well just set up a working desk in the office. I’m as tired of this as you are, Ben, it’s not getting any easier and I really need a break from all this drama.’
Ben stared at him and thought, you need a break? Try being in the middle of it day in, day out. He didn’t say that out loud. ‘Anyway, we need a briefing after the debacle at the hospital, and the fact that we now have two bodies pulled out of that lake in the space of twelve hours.’
Marc was nodding. ‘Well good news is the MIT are on their way down because we clearly can’t cope with this level of investigation. I didn’t want to tell you this until I knew why you looked so pissed off when you walked in.’
Ben shook his head and groaned.
‘Well, we can, but why should we do it alone again? Is it Claire Williams?’
‘Yeah, she offered to come and work down here to help for a while. I offered her my spare bedroom, so at least she’s got somewhere to stay.’
Ben tilted his head slightly. ‘You old dog, is there something going on there with you two I need to know about? I mean you never offered PSD your spare room.’
To his surprise Marc laughed. ‘Not at all, it’s strictly on a professional level.
Between you and me though, I like her a lot.
We had a couple of drinks a while back after we’d both been at a meeting up at HQ, and you know, I thought this would be a good way to get to know her a little better.
I am tired of being alone in that apartment.
I’m tired of being alone full stop. To go from living with two teenagers and my wife was a huge adjustment.
At first it was nice to not have to listen to music blaring all hours, girls fighting over who took each other’s shoes and MAC make-up, but I miss it and I never thought I’d say that.
Living in the city there was always stuff to do if you wanted, but here, as beautiful as it is, the entire world shuts down by six p.m., except for the pubs and they’re so far away you have to drive to them because there are hardly any taxis; you can’t just order an Uber like I could back home. ’
‘Well, good for you. I like Claire, she’s one of us, and talking about extra staff, what about asking Gilly Mahaffy if she can help out, too? Even if she’s working on it from Barrow and joins in with TEAMS meetings?’
‘I’ll speak to her and see what she’s on with.’
‘It would be good to have a full team. Will you be finished soon? We need a briefing.’
Marc nodded. ‘I’ll be down in five, don’t mention the Claire thing to anyone, will you? I don’t want to jinx it before it even gets going, or have anyone gossiping about her.’
‘I won’t, that’s your business, boss, and nobody else’s.’
‘Thanks, appreciate it.’
Ben left him finishing his salad, wondering if he should try and get hold of Gilly himself. He texted her.
Hey Gilly, how are you. Have you got a lot on at the moment?
Then put his phone away. He needed to figure out what was going on. With two women out there, and time slipping away, it didn’t escape him that this killer was two steps ahead.