The acrid stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils. He drew in a breath and looked around for his friends.
‘If you keep exercising like this and get no rest, you’ll keel over one of these days,’ murmured Tom in his ear.
‘Yeah, not good, mate. You’re living on your nerves,’ added Ray.
Their three dark figures were standing close to his shoulder.
‘You don’t want to crash and burn, do you?’ whispered Jack.
Carter swallowed. For the first time, their presence frightened him. He took a step back. He’d never felt like this before. ‘Guys? Are you mad at me?’
Tom sighed. ‘Of course not, mate. We just get kind of homesick sometimes.’
‘Yeah,’ added Jack. ‘We’re all over the place right now.’
‘And Matt?’ asked Carter.
No one answered him. His friends seemed to drift a little further away.
Carter drew in a deep breath. It looked like he was right. It really was down to him to do something for them. ‘Okay, tell me what I can do. Ray? You first. How can I help you?’
Ray moved closer and the stench made Carter almost gag. ‘I had a nest egg, Carter. No one knew about it. It’s not in my name. You know why, don’t you?’
He did. Ray’s younger brothers were known as the evil twins. They spent more time in the young offenders’ unit than they did at home. In fact, Carter wouldn’t have trusted any of Ray’s family. His mate had definitely been a foundling. It had been one of the reasons why he, as best man, had decided to hold the stag party well away from home. He didn’t want to risk Ray’s celebration being wrecked by his dodgy siblings.
‘Yeah, I know why,’ he said.
‘Well, I want Joanne to have it.’ Ray’s voice faltered. ‘She’s going to need it. Sort it for me, Carter? Give it to her. Tell her I was never very good at saying it, but I really loved her.’
‘Of course I’ll do that, Ray. Just tell me where it is, and I’ll get onto it first thing tomorrow.’ Carter looked at Ray eagerly. This was something that meant a great deal to his friend.
‘Ray?’ Carter gazed around. The night smelt only of salty ozone. The moon shone down onto an empty lane.
‘Shit!’ Now what? His friend had told him what he really needed, but not how to go about it. Carter gave a deep sigh and began the run home.
CHAPTER FOUR
Charlie Button hurried into Jackman’s office, where Carter was sitting. ‘Super wants to see you, sir. And she said you too, Sergeant McLean.’
Carter glanced at Jackman and pulled a face. Together they stood up and headed for her room.
Superintendent Crooke looked distinctly uncomfortable. Her thin lips were tightly pressed together. She seemed to be wrestling with her words. After a while, she took a deep breath and said, ‘My youngest niece is in trouble.’
Couldn’t happen to a better woman, thought Carter, recalling all the snide remarks he’d had to put up with from her. He kept his face impassive.
Jackman raised an eyebrow.
‘The thing is, she thinks someone is watching her.’
Carter sucked in air. ‘Oh?’
‘How can we help?’ asked Jackman.
‘I know that you have the missing woman to contend with, but I would like you to allow DS McLean here, and possibly DS Marie Evans, to make a few discreet enquiries.’ She sat back in her chair and stared at Carter. ‘Look, I know we don’t always see eye to eye . . .’
Too bloody right, thought Carter. And after all the hell you’ve put me through over the years, I have no intention of becoming your best buddy just because you suddenly need my help. And why me? You hate me. Ask Jackman to help you, not me.
‘. . . and I can’t expect you to know how I feel. My niece is the child of the sister I lost last year, and I’ve rather taken her under my wing.’
Carter bit down hard on the inside of his cheek and said nothing.
‘But I do know that you and Marie can be trusted to act, er, tactfully, especially considering that this is a personal matter.’
‘Oh good, so it’s nothing to do with the fact that DI Jackman here has a priority case, there’s a major drugs case to tie up for the CPS, and everyone else is up to their necks in paperwork from the money-laundering scam that they’ve just put to bed?’ Carter couldn’t help himself, it just came out.
He felt Jackman grow tense beside him, but Ruth Crooke got in first.
‘I knew that would be your attitude, McLean.’ Her face tightened, then she sighed. ‘Look, we both know that you’ve always worked on the edge. You treat the Police and Criminal Evidence Act like a vague set of guidelines to be disregarded at will, you bend the rules, and—’
‘And I get results,’ said Carter calmly.
‘You get results, and I hate to say it, but that’s why I want you to help my niece.’
Carter wanted to laugh. Suddenly his methods were acceptable, were they? Just because the crime was close to home. He took a deep breath. Careful, Carter. He needed to keep this job. It was all he had left. He would have to treat this unwanted request professionally, just like any other case. He must forget all the shit the woman had dumped on him. With a huge effort, he straightened up. ‘Okay, ma’am. If it’s alright with DI Jackman, we’ll go and see her straightaway. What can you tell me, and where can I find your niece? We’ll obviously need to talk to her.’
Ruth Crooke nodded. ‘Thank you. Is that alright with you, Jackman?’
‘It’s fine by me, ma’am.’
‘McLean?’ She handed him a sheet of paper bearing names, mobile numbers and addresses. ‘You get on. I need a few words with Rowan.’
Carter left, unsure of how he felt. His dislike of her clouded rational thought, but he supposed it was a compliment of sorts. But why had she asked him in particular? He sighed. He hadn’t seen this coming, but he’d show willing. A few enquiries wouldn’t take him long anyway.
*
Robbie Melton scanned through the notes he had made at the morning meeting. Suzanne Holland was beginning to occupy his every waking thought. His method of working an enquiry like this was to get inside the victim’s head. He was certain that the solution was to be found in the woman herself. Someone, a person as yet unknown to them, was responsible for her disappearance. Robbie just needed to find her, dead or alive.
He had read all the reports. The main thing that emerged from them was the lack of forensic evidence. Apart from the quantities of blood at the house, whoever attacked Suzanne had been very careful. Robbie knew what the old adage said. Wherever you go and whatever you touch, you leave a trace. Well, Suzanne’s assailant seemed to have blown that hypothesis out of the window.
Marie was smiling down at him. ‘You look pensive.’
He held up a photograph of Suzanne Holland. ‘This woman fascinates me. It seems that despite being married, she had an awful lot of men friends. But there are so many different sides to her that it’s hard to get a clear picture of what she was like.’
‘Have you managed to contact the ex-husband in Spain?’
Robbie grinned. ‘Kind of. I’ll try again when he’s sober.’
‘Any idea of why they got divorced?’