Little Boy Blue

106

The Incident Room was deserted. Sanderson had left it until late to return to base, hoping that the rest of the team would have called it a day, given that there were no breaking leads. As she teased the handle of the main door, she was pleased to find it locked – she didn’t want to have to explain her presence here. Letting herself in quickly, she secured the door behind her. She couldn’t risk being disturbed, given what she was about to do.

Picking her way through the desks, she made her way to Helen’s office. Her boss always operated an open-door policy and never bothered locking her office. Helen liked to be one of the foot soldiers and was at pains not to erect false barriers between her and the team. This was useful now, as Sanderson walked into her office unimpeded, but it made her betrayal all the worse. Whatever she thought of Helen now, she had always been an inspirational figure in Sanderson’s life.

Crossing to the desk, she opened one drawer, then another. But it was as she opened the bottom drawer that she found what she was after. Helen had long straight hair and always kept a hairbrush in her office, in case she suddenly found herself facing top brass or, worse, the press. Slipping on latex gloves, Sanderson picked up the brush and carefully extracted three hairs from the bristles. Dropping the hairs into a small evidence bag, she sealed her haul and placing the brush back in the drawer, pushed it firmly to.

Twenty minutes later, she was buzzing herself into the Police Scientific Services building. It was a short hop up to the lab on the third floor, where she found Meredith Walker waiting for her.

‘This had better be good,’ Meredith said on seeing her. ‘I’m missing First Dates to be here.’

‘New lead in the Elder case. DNA source. We need it done -’

‘Asap, I know.’

The forensics officer turned to begin her work.

‘Oh and Meredith…’

She turned to look at Sanderson once more, intrigued by her serious tone.

‘It’s for my eyes only.’