Kill Who You Want

Chapter Twenty-Six

Plot reminder: Cathy Hargreaves, a uniformed officer, is DS Wye's best friend. Madeleine Cosgrove, meanwhile, was the best friend of the first victim, Catherine Butterfield. She recently flirted with Wye in the pub. In the previous chapter, the scandal of Kubič's drink driving ban has forced DCS Baines to install DCI Yardley as the new chief investigating officer. As a consequence, Kubič has hit the bottle once more. Vince has meanwhile established the murderer's address (flat 6 of the same residential block where Wye lives), as well as a possible means of entry...

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Monday 8th March

The first thing Cathy Hargreaves noted as she filed into the CID room alongside her uniformed colleagues that next morning was that Annie's whiteboard annotations - so neatly and meticulously arranged - had been wiped clean. The second was the shit-eating grin of the man standing in front of the rectangle of now virginal whiteness. It was, she could only suppose, intended as a smile of welcome to his borrowed legion of subordinates. There was something exaggerated about it however, unchecked, as if all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once. Hadn't the guy heard that a woman in late-stage pregnancy had been brutally knifed to death as she'd unloaded the dishwasher? That a fifteen-year-old girl had been shot by sniper rifle whilst completing her French homework at her bedroom desk? That another fifteen-year-old had felt obliged to attempt murder, the chosen victim his own father, a man fortunate to still be amongst the living? Could he really be so unaware of the fact that an entire town had been numbed and wounded, was bracing itself for yet more bloodshed? What the hell was there to smile about?

"I'm Detective Chief Inspector Nigel Yardley," he began, once the initial general murmur had subsided. "I hope over the coming days and perhaps weeks to learn most of your names too." The guy was in his mid-forties, Hargreaves judged, the hand which momentarily scratched at his cheek bearing a wedding band. Though probably an inch or two short of six feet, a wiry frame lent his appearance a certain sense of height. From the short-back-and-sides complete with arrow straight side-parting to the clean-shaven jaw and immaculately pressed shirt, the overall impression was of a man who had an almost military fixation with order and precision.

"Let's not dwell on the whys and wherefores of my being called down here," he continued. A hand gestured towards the haggard-looking figure propped arms-crossed against the wall to his right. "Detective Inspector Kubič of course remains a fundamental part of the investigation and an important point of reference for you all." He didn't seem important though, Cathy couldn't help thinking. He appeared reduced somehow, shrunken like an autumn crab apple left to rot beneath a tree. A man whose career obituary would now read failure, his one shot at national-level acclaim compromised by a past indiscretion. Those bastard tabloid journalists. Nothing more than circling, bloodthirsty wolves.

"Both the Chief Superintendent and Chief Constable wish to extend their gratitude to the inspector for all his hard work." Elegant, manicured hands indicated that a ripple of applause was called for, one which Kubič seemed to endure through gritted teeth rather than take succour from. "No-one should view this as a takeover," Yardley went on. "What we're dealing with here is more a smooth handing over of the baton. Sometimes what it takes in a case like this is a new pair of eyes, someone who can come to things afresh without having any already formed hypotheses clouding their view. Often the thing which can unlock a case is some minor detail overlooked at the start. An erroneous supposition on which everything else has hinged. " He gestured to the board behind him. "That is why, and with sincere apologies to the detective sergeant here to my left-" His beam, Cathy noted with amusement, was not returned, Annie opting instead for a kind of unimpressed half scowl. "-I have decided to clean off all previous board notes. Literally wipe the slate clean." His gaze passed along each of the assembled uniformed officers in turn; hovered, Cathy had the distinct impression, a heartbeat longer on herself, the only female amongst them. "What I want you all to try and do is imagine that you're in the same situation as me. Coming in from outside with little or no knowledge of the case. Try to see things as though you're seeing them for the first time." There was a glance back at the empty board. "A new start, yes. That means we go back and knock on all those doors. We re-approach the victims' known contacts. We lift up all those little stones, leave not a single one left unturned." With great theatrical flourish, he uncapped a marker and squeaked the nib to board. Stepping away, his annotation revealed itself as a number.