The Advent Killer (Antonia Hawkins 1) by Alastair Gunn

Author:Alastair Gunn [Gunn, Alastair]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781405914451
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-11-20T18:30:00+00:00

39.

‘Chief, can I in—?’

‘Not now, Harris,’ Hawkins snapped at the young sergeant. ‘Talk to Yasir.’

Heads had turned as she and Mike had entered the main operations room at Hendon, and the noise level had dropped notably in response, but Anton Harris had been the only officer stupid enough to break their stride.

‘Sorry, ma’am.’ Harris backed away.

‘Bloody temps,’ Hawkins said under her breath. Westminster Morgue may have been cold and putrid, but at least the inmates didn’t interrupt.

They made it to her office and closed the door on the undoubted gossip. Simon Hunter turned towards them from the window, while Frank Todd looked up from his seat in front of Hawkins’ desk. Hunter carefully replaced a framed Community Service Award on the windowsill.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said. ‘Thanks for coming.’

The air smelled stale as she moved into the room, probably due to the fact that her office door had been permanently closed for almost two weeks. So far she had resisted the temptation to change the name plate on it for one that said: ‘Fuck Off’.

She walked around the desk and sat, checking that the window blinds were blocking the view to and from the main office. Mike occupied the seat next to Todd’s, while Hunter remained standing.

Hawkins shifted, trying to get comfortable in the high-backed leather chair she had worked so hard for, realizing after a moment that the seat itself wasn’t the cause of her discomfort. She sighed, aware that rank meant the silence was hers to break.

‘OK,’ she leaned forwards, linking her hands on the desk, ‘let’s not prevaricate. You all know what happened to Connor, and I don’t like deaths on my watch, especially when we’re talking about a well-liked and respected colleague.’

She paused to make eye contact with each of her audience. Todd’s face was taut; Hunter’s blank. Mike nodded.

She continued, ‘Yes, we nearly caught the guy, but yesterday turned into a second-rate joke, and those above us with arse-covering options are beginning to take them. Unfortunately, we don’t have anywhere to hide. Sooner or later, one of the victims’ families will go to the Complaints Commission, and once that happens they’ll all be at it, which means this Sunday might be our last chance to stop Nemesis,’ She paused to emphasize the point. ‘I purposely kept this meeting to senior level so we can talk candidly, and come up with a decent briefing for the team. We’ll present that later on – the gossip is so strong out there at the moment that most of them wouldn’t be listening anyway. And I’m sure that by now you’re all on first-name terms with the reporters camped outside, which means the rest of our people are, too, and the last thing we want is another leak. So we’ll do an after-action review of yesterday, and then we’ll talk about next moves, OK?’

The men nodded. She began by reciting her own experience of the previous night. Her description started with the name on one of the transcripts that led them

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