The Puppet Show (Washington Poe)

The chaos in which he’d worked had been replaced by a sense of calm and order. Blackstone’s police manuals were lined up on the shelf. Right at the end was her well-thumbed copy of the Senior Investigating Officers’ Handbook. Poe had owned a copy of the pocket-sized book – all detectives did – but he’d discarded it after reading it once. It was useful but unremarkable. It led senior detectives through logical and thorough investigations. The problem was that everyone ended up investigating crimes the same way, and while he agreed there had to be standards, the handbook didn’t help with catching the extraordinary killers.

He scanned the rest of the office. All very corporate. Nothing personal on show.

When he’d worked at SCAS, the clear desk policy was something that happened to other people. Flynn’s desk was predictably uncluttered. A computer and a notepad with a clean page on top. A cup with the NCA logo was filled with pens and pencils.

Her phone rang. She pressed the speaker function and answered it. Diane said, ‘Ashley Barrett from HR is here.’

‘Thank you,’ Flynn said. ‘Send him in.’

Barrett came in smiling, suited and booted, carrying a brown leather briefcase. He was a tall, thin man. He sat at the conference table.

‘Sorry to be curt, Ash,’ Flynn said, ‘but can we do this quickly? We need to get back up to Cumbria.’

He nodded, glanced at Poe and removed some documents from his briefcase. He placed them on the table in front of him. He coughed gently before launching into a pre-prepared speech. It sounded as though he was talking on autopilot. ‘As you know, DS Poe, suspension is considered a neutral act and it is up to the organisation to decide whether the suspension remains justified. Yesterday, Director of Intelligence Edward van Zyl decided that, despite the IPCC case remaining active, the end of the internal investigation means your suspension should be lifted.’ Barrett searched through his paperwork. Handing Poe a one-sheet document, he said, ‘This is confirmation in writing. Can you please sign at the bottom?’

Poe did. It had been a long time since he’d had to write his ‘work’ signature – a careless scrawl he wouldn’t have dared use on a cheque. It felt strange but in a comforting way. He slid the document back across the table.

The desk phone rang and Flynn got up to answer it. While she spoke quietly, Barrett busied himself with asking Poe if he wanted employee assistance like counselling, or refresher training on the IT system. Poe answered no to everything, as they both knew he would.

With another box ticked in the big book of HR rules, Barrett got down to the good stuff. From his briefcase he removed a succession of things that Poe considered the tools of his trade. He handed Poe a work mobile; an encrypted BlackBerry. Barrett explained it was pre-programmed with some contact details he might need and his online calendar had been synced to it. It meant anyone with authorised access to his e-diary could enter appointments. Poe made a mental note to disable it as soon as he found out how. The BlackBerry was internet enabled; he’d be able to surf the web, receive his secure emails and text messages. He could even make phone calls with it.

‘The BlackBerry has the Protect app installed and it’s switched on,’ Barrett said.

Poe looked at him blankly.

‘It means its location can be logged from a website.’

‘You’re spying on me?’

‘Deputy Director Hanson insisted, I’m afraid.’

Poe slipped the BlackBerry into his pocket. He would disable that later as well.

Barrett gave him a small, black leather wallet that contained Poe’s warrant card and NCA ID.

Poe casually opened it, checked it was the right one, then put it in his inside pocket. He felt whole again.

It was time to get back to work.

He glanced over at Flynn. She was frowning as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

‘Since you’ve been gone, Detective Sergeant Flynn has been promoted into the temporary detective inspector role at SCAS,’ Barrett said. ‘Director van Zyl has made it clear that this is to remain the case. The conditions of your suspension being lifted are that you will return to work in your substantive post of detective sergeant. In effect, you will report to DI Flynn.’

‘Not a problem,’ Poe said.

Flynn put down the phone and turned to Poe. Her face was ashen. ‘There’s been another one.’

CHAPTER NINE

‘Where?’

‘A hill walker stumbled into him somewhere near a town called Cockermouth. You know it?’

Poe nodded. It was a small market town in west Cumbria. He was surprised the Immolation Man had already changed his MO. ‘You sure?’

Flynn said she was, and then asked why.

‘There aren’t any stone circles in Cockermouth. Not to my knowledge anyway.’