Skinner's Mission

75

Pam was waiting at the door of Skinner’s office as he turned into the Command corridor. She had seen the BMW as he had parked it beside the Chief Constable’s modest Vauxhall Vectra.

‘Come in,’ he said grimly, holding tight to the ledger until he laid it on his desk.

‘Well,’ he said, as he poured them coffee from the filter machine. ‘Any news from the labs?’

She nodded, as she took her mug. ‘The samples match, boss. All of them.’

‘Ahh!’ he sighed, throwing his head back as if he had been hit, and slamming his palm down on the ledger on the desk in a sudden violent movement, which made her jump. ‘That tears it, then.

‘Pam, I want you to ask Mr Martin to call a meeting of the whole Charles investigation team, in half an hour, in his office. I want to brief them all, every one of them, on the arrest of Jackie Charles.

‘But first, I have to talk to Proud Jimmy.’

Pamela looked at him as he headed for the door, at the mixture of emotions written on his expressive face. ‘Who is it?’ she asked, quietly.

Because she was who she was, and because he knew already that he could rely absolutely on her loyalty and discretion, he told her.