FIFTY-ONE

11.25 P.M.

‘Well, that couldn’t have been much worse, could it?’ Kim asked the room after watching the Central News clip.

They were the fun snippet at the end of the programme, which Kim was sure wouldn’t be the case if Frost had mentioned the body parts and the torture.

The short piece was very much along the lines of ‘trickster is fooling a team of CID officers with a wild goose chase’. Without all the facts, they were being made to look ridiculous, and worse, incompetent.

She’d managed to dodge two more calls from Woody, but she knew she’d have to face him sometime.

‘You know this is going to bring more attention, don’t you?’ Frost asked.

‘And here was me thinking it would convince our sicko to give himself up and end this madness,’ Kim said.

Having Frost in the office was really starting to wear on her now.

Frost ignored her sarcasm, probably expecting nothing less, and returned to tapping away on her laptop. The next article was due in half an hour.

‘Has anyone got anything useful to tell me?’ she asked, looking from Stacey to Penn.

‘More than a thousand vehicles pass by the camera close to the Saltwells Nature Reserve every hour,’ Stacey offered.

‘That’s your best shot at useful?’

The constable nodded and shrugged at the same time.

‘Penn?’

‘One of the litter-pickers has a record for assault.’

The litter-pick felt like a very long time ago.

‘Okay,’ she said, unsure that was any more useful than Stacey’s offering.

She was about to tell him as much when a figure appeared in the doorway. She had known it was only a matter of time.

‘A word, Stone,’ Woody said in a voice that brooked no argument.

She headed to the Bowl and left the door open for him to enter. She could see by his face that he would have preferred to have the conversation away from the team, but she was too exhausted to care.

He closed the door and stood in front of it.

‘Do explain to me why we are a laughing stock on the local news?’

She was tempted to warn him that there was a very real prospect of them being a laughing stock on the national news if they didn’t catch the Jester soon.

‘Slow news day?’ she offered.

‘Why are we still working this without a victim?’

‘Well, we have parts of a victim, sir. We have fingernails ripped out with God only knows what. We have teeth extracted with household pliers and a thumb chopped off with a cleaver. I suspect that if we don’t keep working the case, there’s going to be very little left of Hiccup to find.’

‘I didn’t know about the thumb,’ Woody said, frowning.

‘Haven’t had the chance to update you on that bit yet.’ Despite his trip out with his granddaughter she’d been sending him regular text updates throughout the day.

‘Definitely from the same person?’

‘We think so, and Mitch agrees.’

‘You have Forensics involved?’

‘He was happy to help,’ Kim said, choosing not to remember the scene in the pub.

‘What’s this guy’s motive?’ Woody asked, starting to think like an investigator and not a politician. She always liked him better that way.

‘We have no idea. He may just be seeking his fifteen minutes of fame, but he’s clever. He’s five steps ahead of us at every turn,’ Kim admitted.

‘You’re sure it’s about him and not us?’ Woody asked. ‘Does he have some kind of vendetta against the police? Is all this to make us look incompetent?’

She shrugged. She honestly didn’t know.

‘Any suspects?’

‘About fifty-seven of them last time I checked.’

Woody waited for the explanation.

‘We’re tracking pretty much every person we speak to. We have to. The Jester is completely anonymous. He could be anyone, so we can’t yet rule anyone out.’

He rubbed at his bald head. ‘I’m in a tricky position here, Stone. I’ve already had a call from the chief super.’

‘He watches Central News?’ she asked, somewhat facetiously.

‘His wife does and found it necessary to disturb his bridge game to inform him.’

‘Oh no,’ she said, bringing her hand to her mouth.

He ignored her. ‘He wants the investigation stopped immediately.’

‘You told him about the body parts and the missing homeless guy?’

Woody raised an eyebrow.

‘Bastard,’ she said, fully understanding those facts didn’t matter one bit to the chief super, whose only priority was not looking stupid.

Their sicko had certainly called it right in saying the first victim would not be missed. Would the chief super be as quick to shut her down if they were receiving body parts from one of his bridge buddies’ children? The death of a homeless man did not provoke sensational headlines. It might get an inch on page seven.

‘Sir, no offence, but even if I have to run this investigation out of my kitchen, I’m not giving up on Hiccup and neither is my team.’

His nod was not as frustrated as it should have been. He absolutely knew what her response would be.

‘It’s the articles that are killing us. Tell Frost to stop posting them.’

‘He’s specifically asked for them,’ she said, sneaking a glance at the clock. The next one was due in less than half an hour.

‘You’ve got to tell her, Stone,’ he said with finality.

‘Sir, with all due respect, there is no person in that room that hasn’t been giving everything to this case for the last sixteen hours. Frost is doing her level best to follow instructions and save lives while the rest of us try to fathom this guy’s motive and identity. We are all exhausted and?—’

‘If you’ve quite finished, I accept every one of those facts, and my point remains. Her updates are doing nothing to help solve the case but a great deal to attract attention and damage our credibility.’

She nodded her understanding. He was right. But Frost would make her own decisions.

He tapped his watch. ‘Regular updates throughout the night.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she said.

He reached for the door handle before turning. ‘And rest your team.’

‘Absolutely, sir,’ she said before he strode through the squad room.

She took a breath before following and waited until she heard the outer door close behind him.

‘Chief super ain’t happy, kids.’

The silence in the air was heavy with frustration and irritation.

But then at the same time, they all burst out laughing.

‘That’s hardly news,’ Stacey offered.

‘Yeah, is he ever?’ Penn asked.

‘Ah, poor chief super,’ Bryant commiserated.

‘He wants to shut us down as he’s a little bit embarrassed.’

Despite the exhaustion, three sets of eyes fixed on her. Even Frost was frowning.

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d all say.’ She turned pointedly to Frost. ‘He also demanded that you post no more articles.’

Frost snorted. ‘If I’m not gonna listen to my own boss, I’m sure as hell not gonna listen to yours.’