Danny handed him the gift. ‘Place this in the passenger footwell, and be careful, they cost a bloody arm and a leg.’
The man gave a lecherous gap-toothed grin. ‘This bird really must be the dog’s bollocks.’
Danny glared at him. ‘You have no idea what she means to me. Now shut the fuck up and go earn your money.’
Danny made his way back down the path, seething with anger. His next job would be to find himself a different runner. No one made comments like that about his girl. No one.
*
Carter fought hard to concentrate, but lack of sleep and Ray’s final request were playing havoc with his brain. If it weren’t for the super’s “problem,” he might have thrown a sickie and tried to get his head down for a couple of hours. But after his earlier terse meeting with Crooke, it was clear that taking time off to sleep would not do much for his career. This was not how he had planned his return to full duties. He should be on the Holland case.
He finished his second black coffee and forced himself to focus on Leah Kingfield. Marie was busy scanning through a box of CCTV tapes of Leah’s home address. She trusted no one else to do the job properly, and was ploughing through the whole lot herself.
His mind wandered again. He’d had to dump poor Rosie because of Leah’s problem, and now the young detective was up to her armpits in statements and reports that he should be helping her with. They concerned a complicated drugs case involving a family of villains called Cannon. They were all vermin, especially the eldest son, Louis, who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law, and especially how to evade it. Rosie would need to sew everything up tighter than a duck’s backside if she wanted to make the charges stick.
Carter was very good at paperwork. It came naturally to him. His head for figures and his easy grasp of everything from spreadsheets to police law was about the only thing he had to thank his father for.
He scribbled down some points to discuss with Rosie as soon as he was free again, and then his mind wandered back to Ray and his missing money.
Maybe someone had found it already and pocketed it. Nothing would surprise him about the Barratt family. He had been so certain that Ray had concealed the money on the Eva May. Maybe he was on the wrong track altogether, and his mate had done the sensible thing and put it safely away in a bank.
He sighed, picked up the sheet of paper with all his ideas of places to hide money and stared at it morosely. Then he screwed it up and threw it into the waste bin.
Oh, sod it! Come on, Ray. Help me out here, for Joanne’s sake, and for mine. I want to find that bloody money!
*
Marie found nothing on the CCTV footage. She had just received a text from Laura Archer asking her to be at her office at noon. She hated keeping things from Jackman, but didn’t know how to explain to him about Carter and his “hallucinations,” and that she was visiting his shrink.
Laura Archer’s consulting room was in the basement of an old three-storey terraced house that soared majestically above a quiet stretch of the river. Marie stepped inside and immediately a feeling of calm washed over her. It happened every time. Was it the room or the woman inside it? It was weird when you thought about it. The place must have heard a thousand cries for help. Sadness, fear and pain must have washed around this room in torrents, but you could feel none of it.
‘Thanks for fitting me in.’ Marie looked around at the shelves weighted down with books, the soft grey walls, the restful watercolours and the two comfortable recliners. Uplighters diffused a warm glow. Nothing jarred the senses. All that was missing was a cold bottle of Chablis and two glasses. ‘I do appreciate it.’
‘No problem.’ Laura indicated one of the chairs. ‘I always keep an hour free, just in case someone needs a chat.’ She smiled and sat down opposite. ‘How have you been? I haven’t seen you for over six weeks.’
‘Oh, I’m fine. I wanted to talk about Carter.’
‘I thought that would be the case. But first, let’s try again, and this time the truth. How are you?’
Marie didn’t answer immediately. She wished she had that glass of wine in her hand. ‘I feel like I’m breaking up, from the inside. Someone I care about has stuck me in a pressure cooker and is tightening the weights over my head.’ She listened to her own words, and felt mildly surprised. Laura was nodding. ‘I’m lost. I used to know all about priorities. I had very clear views. I could listen to my heart and my head, and know that morally I could nearly always get it right, but now . . .?’ She bit her bottom lip to stop it trembling.
‘That’s perfectly understandable. Someone close to you is in turmoil and you feel the need to be there for him, but you are also a committed police officer. You never shirk your duties, and you resent Carter because he has interposed himself between you and your hundred per cent loyalty to your job and your colleagues. And it hurts, because you want to do the right thing by Carter and the force.’ She paused. ‘Marie, you have to do the right thing by you. You are not responsible for everyone else.’
‘It feels like I am.’
Laura leaned back in the chair and stared at her. ‘You are a strong woman, Marie, but you must not become a crutch. People who rely on crutches never learn to walk properly on their own two feet. It’s alright to be there for them, but to fully support another person you have to have almost superhuman strength, both inside and out.’ She sighed. ‘Forgive me for saying this, but you look exhausted.’
‘I just wish I could stand back from the situation, and get a better perspective.’
‘And that is exactly what you should do.’
‘I’d like to know how, when we have a major missing person investigation running, and now another high priority case,’ murmured Marie, hating the accusatory tone.
Laura laughed softly. ‘I know you can’t distance yourself physically, but you can look at the situation differently.’ She leant forward. ‘Look, I know some very useful techniques that could help you. Want to try one?’
Marie shrugged. What did she have to lose except for a few minutes of her precious time? ‘Not sure about all that New Age stuff, but, hey, whatever, I’m game.’
‘Okay. Well, you were talking about gaining perspective. Do you ever use Google Earth?’
Marie nodded. What an odd question. ‘All the time. To find specific locations.’
‘Right. Close your eyes and think of that program, but we’ll run it backwards. Don’t zoom in. Zoom out from where we are sitting right now.’