‘No wonder he hated women.’
‘What are we going to do if it isn’t someone on the security detail?’ Flynn said. ‘How do you catch someone who can walk through walls?’
‘Why would we try to catch him? I’m slipping him some names.’
‘This is exactly the type of thing I don’t want to hear!’ a voice snapped from behind them.
Poe turned. A stocky woman stood in the trailer’s doorway. She was wearing a cheap suit and no makeup. The laminated badgehanging from her lanyard said she had access Level B, whatever that meant. She glared at him.
‘My name is Catherine Wilson and I’m a special adviser with the Department of International Trade.’
‘Ah,’ Poe said. ‘You’re a SPAD.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Isn’t that what special advisers get called?’
‘Only if someone’s trying to be rude.’
‘How can we help you, SPAD Wilson?’ Poe said.
‘That’s enough, Poe,’ Flynn cut in. ‘I’m DI Flynn and this is Sergeant Poe, ma’am. We’re with the Serious Crime Analysis Section. What can we do for you?’
‘You can start by telling me how a member of Her Majesty’s Government was murdered, despite being forewarned and surrounded by supposedly competent guards.’
‘I’m working on it,’ Poe said.
‘Seems to me you’re just drinking tea and making wisecracks.’
‘I’m a slow starter.’
‘Has his Westminster office been searched?’ Flynn asked, shooting Poe a warning look.
‘It has,’ Wilson replied, deliberately turning her back on Poe. ‘A bottle of whisky, a couple of pornographic magazines and a mobile-phone charger. Everything else was official, not personal.’
‘Can you make sure nobody touches it until the police collect it?’
‘Already done. His office has been sealed. Tell me what you have so far.’
Flynn did. It wasn’t a long briefing.
‘I thought SCAS were supposed to be the experts?’
‘We investigate the murders others can’t,’ Flynn replied. ‘You say we’re nowhere, I say we’ve already identified a number of ways itwasn’tdone. Whether you like it or not, that’s progress. To catch someone this secretive, this cautious, is going to take time. It might take weeks, months even—’
The door burst open. Bradshaw marched into the command trailer. ‘DI Flynn, you won’t believe what the Mole People have just … Oh, hi, Poe. I didn’t know you were back. How is EstelleDoyle? What is the food like in a police station? Was there a vegan opt—’
‘Tilly,’ Flynn said. ‘Focus.’
‘What? Oh yes. I think we’ve found someone.’