Skinner's Mission

24

A chill ran through Bob Skinner as he looked at Medina’s corpse. In another place, a few months before, with only a slightly different outcome he could have been lying like Medina, staring up into eternity with dispassionate, white-clad detectives working quietly around his body.

He gave a small shudder and the moment passed.

‘Like you said, Dave,’ he said. ‘The boy didn’t have a chance. Any guesses about how the killer got into the building?’

‘All the entrances are secure, boss, but he could have done it like we did: pressed any bell and said he was the postman. Or, he could have been someone Medina was expecting.’

Skinner frowned. ‘Don’t fancy that. In that case the victim would probably have been at the door waiting for him by the time he climbed the stairs, and he wouldn’t have been taken by surprise. He looks to have been quite a fit lad, too.’

He turned to Dr Banks, who was standing on the other side of the body. ‘Got any idea of the time of death, doctor?’

Banks looked hesitant, as usual. ‘Well, as you know it’s hard to be precise.’

‘Well don’t be precise, man,’ the Deputy Chief Constable snapped. ‘For once, just fucking guess!’

The doctor flushed. ‘Very well. Late morning, I’d say . . . but I won’t be bound by that.’

‘No,’ thought Skinner, ‘you won’t. Yet my wife could give me the time down to the half-hour and probably tell me what the killer had for breakfast.’ Inside him, a river of loss threatened to burst its banks, but with an effort of will he contained it and turned back to his men.

‘I don’t understand this,’ he said. ‘We’ve only got one suspect as the orchestrator of this murder, yet he was the guy who put us on to Medina in the first place. Why would Jackie offer him up as a candidate, and then have him knocked off?

‘Is the little shit so arrogant that he’s trying to tell us he’s more powerful than we are?’

He slammed his right fist into his left palm, the speed of the gesture startling Donaldson. ‘If he is, then he’s in for a nasty shock. Once and for all, I’m going to get this villain.

‘Dave, you, Neil and Dorward’s team comb through this place for those notes of Medina’s. Don’t worry about looking after his girlfriend. I’ve called Pamela Masters into action earlier than she expected. She’s picking her up from her office, breaking the news to her and finding her somewhere else to stay tonight.

‘Meantime . . .’ he looked at DCS Martin, ‘. . . Andy, let’s you and I pay that little bastard Charles a visit!’