Forsaken: An Angel & Kincade Mystery by James Harper

Author:James Harper [Harper, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: James Harper Books
Published: 2024-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

27

‘That took a long time to get rid of a crank,’ Kincade said, as Angel came back into their office. She’d barely looked up as she said it, just a quick glance to register that it was him. Now, she looked at him properly when he didn’t make a joke about having to manhandle the time-waster out of the building or something similar. His face made it clear it wasn’t a laughing matter. ‘It wasn’t a crank?’

‘No. It was Constantin’s brother.’

It took a moment for the connections to register.

‘The Romanian cop? The one you joked about getting over here to help?’

‘Yep. He’s taken leave to offer his services unofficially . . .’

He took her through the conversation, telling her everything apart from the personal questions Balan had asked about his own brother. She asked questions all the way through, understandably, then made a very pertinent remark.

‘It would’ve been a lot easier if you’d called me, got me to sit in on it.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Why didn’t you?’ She didn’t give him a chance to reply, narrowing her eyes at him as her mind made connections in the background. ‘Did you know who he was before you went down? Did Jack Bevan tell you?’

‘Jack said he was foreign and claimed to be a cop.’

‘That’s eleven words to say, yes. Why didn’t you tell me?’

He’d only just sat down at his desk. Now, he went as if to get up again.

‘Do you want to do this in an interview room?’

If he was looking for a smile to defuse the situation, he didn’t get one.

‘Don’t avoid the question. Sir.’

He dropped back into his chair, swivelled gently back and forth. Then threw it back at her.

‘Is it a problem?’

‘You’re the ranking officer, you do what you like.’

‘That’s nine words to say, yes. If you count the contraction you’re as one word.’

She smiled despite herself, softened slightly.

‘It makes me feel that you don’t trust me, that’s all.’

Her use of the word trust clarified his thinking, helped him towards an answer she might be happy with.

‘I’m not sure I trust him. I wanted to get a feel for him. He’d have been different if there’d been two of us. More like an interview.’

‘Did it work?’

‘Not really. I felt as if he had the upper hand.’

The honesty made her laugh for real, some of her irritation at being excluded slipping away.

‘Did you get anything from it?’

He took a minute to think back over the conversation, found himself faced with the same dichotomy that had been his parting impression as he left Inspector Virgil Balan to have another cup of coffee—and no doubt another croissant, too.

‘He’s sharp. And he doesn’t miss much. He obviously does his research. I’d say he’s a very good cop—as in good at his job. Whether he’s good, as in a good person and honest, is another matter. If he is, he’d be very useful to have around. If he isn’t—’

‘We need to be very wary of him.’

‘Exactly.’

The way she smiled now made it clear the annoyance of earlier was a thing of the past.

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