‘Trust me, Tony, I’m not here out of choice.’ He looked at Kelly, unsmiling. ‘My office, now.’ He called across to the DI. ‘Nick, you too.’
The relief Kelly felt at no longer having to listen to Tony’s lesson in exhibit-handling was swiftly tempered by the look on the DCI’s face. She scurried after him across the open-plan space to his office, where he threw open the door and told her to sit down. Kelly did so, a feeling of dread creeping over her. She tried to think of some other reason why the DCI would have hauled her so unceremoniously into his office – and indeed come in on his rest day to do so – but kept returning to the same thing.
Durham.
She’d really fucked up this time.
‘I went out on a limb for you, Kelly.’ Diggers had stayed standing, and now he strode from one side of the tiny room to the other, leaving Kelly unsure whether she should keep her eyes on him, or stay facing forward, like a defendant in the dock. ‘I agreed to this secondment because I had faith in you, and because you convinced me I could trust you. I fought your bloody corner, Kelly!’
Kelly’s stomach clenched with fear and with shame; how could she have been so stupid? She’d hung on to her job by the skin of her teeth last time; the suspect she’d flown at had decided against pressing criminal charges, after a visit from Diggers persuaded him he didn’t want to be in the spotlight any more than was necessary. Even the disciplinary hearing had gone in her favour, thanks to Diggers having another quiet chat with the superintendent. Mitigating circumstances due to family history, the report had read, but she’d been left in no doubt it was a card she couldn’t play twice.
‘I got a phone call last night.’ The DCI finally sat down, leaning forward across the expanse of dark oak desk. ‘A DS from Durham Constabulary, alerted to the fact that we’d been enquiring about historical rapes. Wondered if they could help any further.’
Kelly couldn’t meet his eyes. To her left she could feel Nick looking at her.
‘Of course, this came as rather a surprise to me. I might be counting down to retirement, Kelly, but I like to think I still know what jobs the office is dealing with. And none of them,’ he slowed his speech, pausing between each word for added emphasis, ‘relates to Durham University. Would you care to explain what the hell you’ve been doing?’
Slowly, Kelly looked up. The blind rage that had consumed Diggers seemed to have blown itself out, and he looked less terrifying than when he had first started. Even so, Kelly’s voice shook, and she swallowed hard in an attempt to get herself under control.
‘I wanted to find out if there had been any developments on my sister’s case.’
Diggers shook his head. ‘I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that what you’ve done represents a serious disciplinary offence. Quite apart from the criminal implications of breaching the Data Protection Act in this way, abusing your position as a police officer for personal gain is a sackable offence.’
‘I know that, sir.’
‘Then why on earth …?’ Diggers spread his hands wide, his face registering total incomprehension. When he spoke again, it was softer. ‘Have there been any developments in your sister’s case?’
‘Sort of. Only not the kind I expected, sir.’ Kelly swallowed again, wishing the hard lump in her throat would go away. ‘My sister … she’s withdrawn support for the prosecution. She’s left explicit instructions that she doesn’t want to be kept informed of any developments, and has no wish to know if the offender is ever arrested.’
‘I take it this was news to you?’
Kelly nodded.
There was a long pause before Diggers spoke again.
‘I think I know the answer to this already, but I have to ask: is there any professional reason for you making such a request to another force?’
‘I asked her to,’ Nick said. Kelly turned to look at him, trying to conceal her shock.
‘You asked Kelly to contact Durham about a historical rape involving her sister?’
‘Yes.’
Diggers stared at Nick. Kelly thought she saw amusement in his eyes, but his mouth was set hard and she decided she was imagining it. ‘Would you care to explain why?’
‘Operation FURNISS has proved to be more wide-ranging than first anticipated, sir. The Maidstone rape indicated that offences aren’t confined to within the M25, and although the adverts only started in September the full extent of the crimes aren’t yet clear. We’ve so far struggled for leads on the principal offender and I thought it would be a good idea to take a broader look at rapes with a history of stalking. I thought it possible the pattern might have been repeated in other cities.’
‘Over a decade ago?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Diggers took off his glasses. He eyed Nick thoughtfully, then looked at Kelly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?’
‘I – I’m not sure, sir.’