In Dark Water (Detective Shona Oliver 1)

‘Listen, Dan.’ Shona put her hand on his arm. ‘From now on we play this close to our chests.’

DC Kate Irving came through the glass door at the top of the stairs. Shona had the sense that she might have been watching them. She took her hand from Dan’s arm. Kate’s pale face was unreadable. ‘Ma’am.’

‘You looking for me, Kate?’

‘Yes, uhm…’ Kate came down to the half-landing. ‘Isla Corr and Sami Raseem. I’d like to help.’

Shona peered at her curiously. ‘You have plenty of work with the baby milk case. Fiscal’s charged him but there wil

l be a mountain of case preparation for the trial.’ She couldn’t fathom Kate’s change of heart. Perhaps she was pregnant, and desperate to get as much investigation experience as she could before maternity leave. Whatever the reason, these murder cases would likely prove fatal to career prospects; Shona wouldn’t put Kate at risk.

Kate chewed her lip for a moment and seemed to hesitate, but persisted. ‘Really, boss. I want to help. What you said is true. Closure for the family, it’s really important.’

Dan was watching this exchange carefully. ‘She’s right, boss. DC Irving is a good officer and, speaking for Cumbria Police, I could do with the help.’

Kate shot him a look of gratitude. ‘I was thinking, the social worker never came back to us. Perhaps I could chase that up? Just have a quick word with them?’

Shona looked at the two young officers and knew she was outnumbered. A trip to social work could be viewed as tying up a few loose ends. Isla Corr had been mentioned in connection with the baby milk case. It shouldn’t put Kate in the line of fire. ‘Fine. Get over to the multi-agency safeguarding hub. See if you can get anyone to talk to you, officers, civilian staff, case workers, anyone. Be respectful, social workers are overloaded at the best of times. See if you can get any background on Isla Corr. Anything we might have overlooked.’ She turned to Dan. ‘You clear on our next steps?’ Buckland was his priority. He nodded and set off for the car park.

Shona and Kate headed back up the stairs. ‘Wazir said that Sami and possibly Isla may have had dealings with child trafficking.’ She saw Kate’s shocked expression and pressed on. ‘I’ve already informed Division, but I want you to double-check if anyone locally thinks that story is credible.’ Shona pushed open the door into the CID office. ‘And I don’t want any of that bollocks about scheduling it for a weekly meeting. Two people are dead, I want the individual or individuals concerned off the street before they can do any more harm. Verbal is fine for now. Get me the headlines, we can deal with the paperwork and the details later. Got it?’

Kate nodded and lifted her coat from the rack, swinging it round her shoulders and stuffing her notebook and phone into the pocket. Shona continued into her office and shut the door behind her. Murdo and Ravi were out somewhere, the civilian staff all busy at their desks. She sat for a moment, her head resting in her hands, then she pushed back her shoulders and surveyed her desk.

The screen grabs from the surveillance video that Dan had found were sitting on a folder in front of her. She picked up the pictures of Jamie Buckland and his unknown assailant scrapping in the street near Buckland’s Carlisle home. The man with the sharp cheekbones and equally sharp suit stared back at her. Frozen now in black and white, stripped of motion and mannerisms, he looked less like the individual Shona had seen with Baird and Hanlon at the STAC reception. In fairness he could be any lean, shorn-headed, thirties guy with a taste for sharp tailoring. It was a popular look. But something in the video had struck a chord and Shona was convinced she’d seen this man at the STAC reception. She trusted her instincts. Holding the picture before her she picked up the phone.

Detective Superintendent Munroe answered after the first ring. ‘Shona, I was just about to call you. Terrible, just terrible. How is your daughter?’ His voice was full of concern.

Shona imagined this Glasgow bruiser had spent a large part of his career delivering bad news to families. It was his compassion as well as his toughness that had got him where he was.

‘She’s fine, sir. Doing well, thank you,’ Shona said.

‘I’ve just been talking to Baird, he’s just heard about it too. He’s suggested you take a bit of time off, compassionate leave. I must say, Shona, I’m with him on this.’

Shona felt a creeping cold travel up her spine. So, Baird was prepared to use her daughter’s accident to get her out of the way. He’d probably bring in a temporary DI from his pals in Ayrshire, just to keep her in line. She forced herself to inject a note of calm in her voice. ‘Oh no, it’s really not that bad. She took a tumble off her bike, was sensible enough to be wearing a helmet. She’ll be out of hospital shortly and Rob will be home to look after her.’

‘And the driver…’

‘Traffic are on it, sir. DC Sarwar is liaising. I trust them all to do a good job.’

‘I’m sure they will. And what about you? I understand you were first on the scene.’

‘I was, sir, but I had support from the lifeboat crew. So, you see, everything’s okay.’ Munroe couldn’t force her to take leave, but he could make it very difficult to say no if he thought her mind wasn’t on the job.

‘Are you sure? It would give you a break, and girls like to have their mothers around when they’re poorly.’

Shona bit her tongue. She was pretty sure a male DI wouldn’t have to go through this grilling. Munroe had three grown-up daughters, so maybe he was talking from experience, but she was willing to bet he’d never taken time off for childcare. ‘She will have her mother around, don’t you worry. I’ll be there every evening and I’ll be sure to let you know if the situation changes, sir,’ she soothed.

‘Well, if you’re sure.’ Munroe sounded mollified. ‘Keep in touch, and our best to Becca and Rob.’

‘Sir,’ Shona said before he could hang up, ‘just one thing. I’ve been meaning to bolster our relations with the business community, part of the STAC initiative. Could your secretary send me the guest list from the launch in Glasgow? I’m thinking about setting up some cross-area networks. This baby milk case has thrown up a few ideas. Staff development, improved protocols.’

‘Sure, I’ll get Joan to send that through. I don’t want to lose you, Shona, but remember what I said about the leave.’ Munroe hung up.

Five minutes later, the guest list dropped into Shona’s inbox. She printed out the three-hundred-plus names and began the slow job of eliminating them. Women first, then the males she already recognised. That still left over a hundred people she needed to identify and exclude. She couldn’t risk giving it to someone else. She looked out into the office. Murdo was back at his desk. Shona decided she’d go home via the hospital, taking the list with her. Before she turned back to her desk, Ravi came into the office, shaking the rain from his parka and smoothing his hair. He said something to Murdo and they both headed for her office, tapping the door. ‘Yes?’ she said, not looking up from her emails. She should tidy her inbox before she left.

‘I’ve just had a phone call from Marie Corr, boss,’ Ravi said.

Shona frowned. ‘What’s the matter?’