Little Boy Blue

63

All eyes were on her. The team had gathered in the briefing room for the morning update, looking to Helen for guidance and inspiration. But she felt empty this morning – despite a few hours’ sleep she was still running on fumes – and had nothing new to give them. She had never been this deep into an investigation with so little to go on, and the morning papers – with their graphic accounts of Paul Jackson’s suicide bid – had done little to improve her mood. Everyone at Southampton Central, from her DCs right up to the Chief Super himself, had been rattled by this unexpected development.

‘The good news is that Paul Jackson is stable,’ Helen said, as she continued her briefing. ‘He’s still in ICU, but he’s conscious and the early signs are that there won’t be any permanent damage to his brain or lungs. He’s in a bad way, but the doctors are reassured that there’s no immediate danger to his life, which is in no small part thanks to the decisive intervention of DS Brooks.’

Charlie acknowledged the compliment with a brief nod, but kept her eyes fixed to the floor. Was this to avoid meeting Helen’s gaze or Sanderson’s? Helen hoped it was the latter – evidence perhaps that her DSs had decided against antagonizing each other further.

‘I know you were all shocked by last night’s events,’ Helen said, addressing the team once more. ‘But right now we have to keep our focus on the case. How are we doing on the Snapchatters?’

‘We’ve ruled out seventeen of the twenty now,’ Edwards informed them. ‘Nothing that links any of them to the club. Once we’ve run down the last three, we’ll widen our field – look at Elder’s emails, texts -’

‘We’ve also just heard that David Simons is in the country,’ DC Lucas interrupted gently. ‘The Border Agency confirmed he landed at Heathrow last night. We’ll get him in as soon as we can, but he’s not in any hurry to contact us.’

‘Keep on it. In the meantime, let’s focus our attentions on possible suspects within the BDSM community, specifically “Samantha”, formerly known as Michael Parker. The Edge of the Road has provided a mobile phone number, but it’s not currently in use. I want us to investigate when and where that phone last made calls. Also, we have three former addresses for her, all of which she’s spent time at within the last two years. We need to be knocking on doors, seeing if any neighbours or friends know where she might be now. Also, let’s talk again to people who were at the club, the taxi drivers who were working that night – let’s see if we can place her at the Torture Rooms. Any relevant info – good or bad – I want to hear about it straight away.’

Helen was about to move on to allocating individual tasks, when she saw the custody sergeant approaching. Nodding to Sanderson to take over, Helen drew him aside. The look on his face suggested he had something important to tell her.

‘Uniform were called to an unusual death this morning,’ he said quietly. ‘We don’t have all the facts, but it appears the victim was suspended from the ceiling in some sort of all-in-one body suit.’

Helen’s heart sank, even as he said it. Gathering herself, she replied:

‘Any marks on him, any signs of violence?’

‘Not that I’m aware of. The boys are saying the place is in mint condition and that the whole thing looks kind of staged.’

Helen nodded, but her heart was beating fast.

‘Do you have the address?’

The custody sergeant handed Helen a piece of paper, then withdrew. Helen was glad he’d done so, because as she looked at the address in her hand she got a nasty shock. She had only visited the address on two occasions but she knew exactly whom it belonged to. A man she loathed and hoped she’d never see again.

Max Paine.