A Body in the Lakes by Graham Smith (great books of all time .TXT) 📕

have found our killer, I’ll have your babies and pay your mortgage for a year.’ O’Dowd joined Thompson and Unthank in staring at her. ‘Come on then, out with it. Who’re you pointing the finger at, and why?’

‘His name is Tom Gracie. He’s a birdwatcher who was interviewed by the team investigating the murder of Christine Peterson. He was at the wildlife reserve the day she went missing. One of the investigating officers had a father-in-law who was showing an interest in the hobby, so he got a list of good places to watch birds. Lacking another piece of paper, he wrote the list in his notebook. On that list were Buttermere for ospreys and the Solway marshes for oystercatchers.’

Unthank pulled a face as he bent an arm behind his back and began scratching. ‘It’s a bit of a stretch.’

‘Oh ye of little faith. You should know that she’ll have something better than that otherwise she’d have warned us it was tenuous.’

‘Ahh that’s better.’

‘Shush you sad sack. I’m trying to listen to Beth.’

Beth ignored the commotion as Unthank bickered with O’Dowd. ‘Naturally I checked him out on the PND. He has had three warnings for being a peeping tom; he was also assaulted two years ago. The guy who beat him up said he’d been following his wife, hence the fact he got a kicking.’

‘Good work, Beth. I take it you’ve got an address for him.’

Beth handed over a request for an arrest warrant. ‘More than that, ma’am. I’ve got this filled out ready for you to get approved.’

‘Consider yourself moved from the shit list to top of the want-to-buy-a-drink-for list.’ O’Dowd tossed a look at Thompson. ‘See, girls are better than boys.’

‘Very funny.’ Thompson didn’t share O’Dowd’s change of mood. He pointed upwards. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’

The smile left O’Dowd’s face as she faced Beth. ‘The chief super wants to see you at nine sharp.’

‘Ma’am.’ Beth didn’t need to be clairvoyant to know what the summons was about. It was sure to be a dressing-down over the press conference. ‘Exactly how mad was he?’

The chief super was famed for his ability to give the most thorough bollockings of all the senior officers in Cumbria. He wasn’t a shouter or a ranter. He never raised his voice; in fact the angrier he got, the quieter he spoke. There were tales of officers failing to hear his admonishments which prompted another round of whispered accusations. His favourite weapon was the asking of unanswerable questions that damned you whichever way you answered them.

‘I’d say it’s fair to expect a few of his deep-shit questions coming your way.’

A check of her watch told Beth that the meeting was a half hour off, so she tried her best to prepare some kind of defence, although she knew it would probably be a waste of her time. At the very least, it stopped her brooding about the impending interrogation.

It was typical that just when everything was going right for her, something would go wrong. Try as she might, she couldn’t help but speculate as to the outcome of her meeting with the chief super. At best she’d get reprimanded and made to feel like she was five years old. The worst-case scenario would be a suspension and a black mark on her record. The black mark would be the worst thing as it would prevent her from climbing the ranks the way she intended to.

Forty-One

Beth had never learned what Chief Superintendent Hilton’s first name was and this wasn’t the time to ask. She was standing at attention in front of his desk. Off to one side, Mannequin of the PSD was also in a parade-ground stance, but that was his norm.

Hilton surveyed her with a detached expression. He had one of those faces that never gave anything away. Whether he was walking his daughter down the aisle or witnessing the death of his parents, his face would presumably adopt the same form.

‘Do I need to explain why you’re here, Detective?’

‘No, sir.’

O’Dowd had warned her to keep her answers short, and it was advice Beth planned to stick to.

‘So you’re aware of the furore your little outburst at yesterday’s press conference has caused?’

Beth didn’t know anything about a furore. The way Hilton had said the word, he’d made it sound like he was talking about an Italian sports car. Still, she didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t any the wiser. Rather than speak and admit her ignorance, she kept her mouth shut.

‘I asked you a question. Would you like me to repeat it, or did you hear it the first time?’

Beth had had enough of playing nice; it wasn’t going to get her anywhere. It was time the truth was told. All the same, she kept her tone respectful.

‘I heard you, sir. I’m just not sure I follow you. I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper the way I did, but the truth is that if I hadn’t, we’d probably have had to explain why no senior officers had picked up on the fact there was a serial rapist and murderer at large in Cumbria.’

‘I know about that. I read the transcript of the press conference. Your rant saved you having to criticise senior officers, myself included. All in all, it was very timely, if ill-advised.’ Hilton’s voice lowered a little. ‘I’m talking about something different. You either know what I’m talking about, and you’re playing dumb, or you’re covering for the fact you don’t know. I’d like to know which it is.’

‘I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Hilton lifted a sheet of paper from his desk. ‘Five thousand shares on Facebook, one hundred and eight thousand retweets. It would seem that your little rant has gone viral.’ The emphasis Hilton put onto the last two words made it sound as if going viral was on a par with war crimes. ‘Thankfully, the public seem to like your spirited rant and there are calls for, and I quote, “more coppers