SEVENTY-FOUR

10.40 A.M.

There was a part of Kim that couldn’t wait to wipe the smirk off Ryan Douglas’s face when she presented him with the warrant. The paperwork covered all records, but what she really wanted were those membership names. There had to be a record of the real name logged against the Jester674 username.

Despite her pleas for assistance, he had remained indifferent to the seriousness of the investigation. That demonstrated an arrogance that she rarely saw.

Unlike the previous day, he answered the door to his offices looking very much the boss and owner of the business. He wasn’t wearing a tie, but his crisp white shirt with one button open and his well-cut black trousers still exuded authority and confidence. Too much confidence. And she wasn’t keen on the easy smile he was wearing either.

‘Inspector, how lovely to see you,’ he said, guiding her past a stack of archive boxes. ‘I expected you much sooner.’

She said nothing as he continued through the office, where every desk was now occupied.

He showed them into a small meeting room and closed the door behind them.

‘You haven’t caught him yet then?’

Kim ignored the question and slid the warrant across the table.

He didn’t even look at it.

‘I see you made the news,’ he said, placing his right foot on his left knee as though they were discussing the weather.

‘Yeah, a horrific murder tends to do that.’

‘Tragic,’ he said, examining his nails.

Bryant cleared his throat to bring her back. He knew full well that it was taking all her self-control not to launch across the desk and throttle Ryan.

‘Not so tragic for you. Your subscription applications have increased by how many per cent?’

He made no effort to hide his smile. ‘Enough that the team out there will be getting a decent Christmas bonus.’

‘It really is in your interest to keep this going for as long as possible, isn’t it? Every mention in the press must set those tills ringing. That’s why you were reluctant to help me yesterday.’

‘Not at all, Inspector. I respect the law, all aspects of it, including the laws that prohibit taking another person’s property. And the law that says police officers can’t come into my business demanding stuff without a warrant.’

‘So, you were just sticking your dick out yesterday?’

He laughed. ‘If you want to put it like that, then yes I was.’

‘And a man’s life was worth that posturing?’ she challenged him.

‘He was a vagrant, wasn’t he?’

‘Does it matter?’ she snapped.

He shook his head but not quickly enough to convince her he meant it.

‘So, what’s next?’ he asked, rubbing his hands as though desperate to be involved.

‘Where were you yesterday, Mr Douglas?’

‘Here. All day. Working and watching developments.’

‘Anyone to confirm this?’

‘The only people I saw were you two, so I suppose that makes you my alibi.’

‘For about an hour, maybe. Any other proof?’

‘Only the fact that the documents I was gathering are ready for your collection. Even though you were also sticking your dick out in trying to demand my co-operation, I knew you’d be back with the warrant, so I spent the day preparing for it.’

Kim held out her hand for a thumb drive.

His smile turned into a smirk. ‘Oh, you’ll need more hands than that, Inspector,’ he said, getting up. ‘Those boxes you passed on your way in should contain everything you need.’

She remembered seeing four archive boxes stacked up.

‘I didn’t know exactly what the warrant would ask for so I took the liberty of making sure you had absolutely everything.’

‘You couldn’t do it electronically?’ Kim asked.

‘Sorry, too risky with hackers. There are some bad people out there.’

Kim clenched her fists in her pockets, so sure was she that she had little control over them.

Without another word, she left the meeting room, marched through the office, grabbed the top box and headed for the car, Bryant following with two more of the boxes.

‘Sorry they’re not as organised as they should be, but I was doing it on my own,’ Ryan said, leaning against the front door.

For just a split second, Kim saw the full force of his arrogance. The absolute belief that he would face no consequences for his actions. She wondered if that was the face Frost had seen.

She stumbled forward with the heavy box in her hand and rammed his back so hard that he pitched forward and fell onto the gravel drive.

‘Ooops, sorry, didn’t see you there,’ she said, placing the box in Bryant’s car. ‘Oh, and Tracy Frost said hi.’

Her colleague headed for the last box and made no offer to help the man up.

Kim took a moment to enjoy the fact the smirk had been wiped from Ryan’s face. Yeah, it could be a complaint, but she would say it had been an accident. And as long as Woody addressed the complaints in chronological order, she’d most likely be sacked by the time he reached this one.

More prominent in her mind was how they were going to find anything useful in the rainforest of pages Ryan had produced, and whether or not he had more than one reason to try and slow them down.