Little Boy Blue - страница 14

to me. We do not rest until we have found Jake Elder’s killer, understood?’

The look on the faces of the team showed that they had got the message and they now hurried off to do her bidding. Helen was aware that her tone had been a little harsh, but she was not prepared to soft-soap anyone while they still lacked any tangible leads. The investigation was starting to take shape now – the victim identified, multiple strands of enquiry set in motion – but there was one key element of this killing that remained as impenetrable and mysterious as ever.

The motive.

He was rooted to the spot. He knew it was coming, but even so it was a shock. The newscaster was only relaying information that had been buzzing around internet chat rooms for hours, but hearing it relayed in her professional monotone was still disquieting.

Nobody else in the office seemed to be paying attention to the radio bulletin, but he drank in every word: ‘A popular S &M club… appealing for witnesses… the victim has not yet been formally identified.’ He knew the victim’s name of course, but did the police too? Was their ‘failure’ to identify him just a smokescreen as they pursued their enquiries or were they genuinely in the dark? He suddenly realized how much he needed to know.

He had been careful to conceal their connection, but who knew what they were able to access these days? Terrorism had a lot to answer for, providing the police with the perfect excuse to snoop on everything and everyone. He had never used the computer at home and had never contacted Jake via direct text, but even so he suddenly had the unnerving feeling that he hadn’t been careful enough.

The newscaster had moved on to local traffic and travel, but still he didn’t move. Things seemed to be moving fast now and he was suddenly aware of how much he had to lose. Would they suspect him? Or would his middle-class exterior and respectable job shield him from suspicion? He was too far into this, too stained by his actions, for this to unravel. There were two sides to him – but they were known only to him – and that was the way it had to stay.

He was so deep in thought that at first he didn’t notice his PA marching across the room towards him. He might have remained there for hours were it not for her sudden intrusion.

‘Your ten o’clock is here,’ she said testily.

He didn’t respond, didn’t trust himself to. Instead, he gathered up his files, nodded at her and walked purposefully away towards the meeting room.

The silence in the room was suffocating. Helen had given Moira and Mike Elder the basic facts of their son’s death, avoiding the more distressing details. She’d shouldered this unpleasant duty many times before and knew that if you hit people with too much too soon, you lose them. Assaulted by the shock, bowing under their grief, the bereaved just implode. It wasn’t fair to treat them like that and, besides, it served nobody’s purpose – she needed facts, not tears.

But, to Helen’s surprise, Jake’s parents had barely reacted at all to her carefully chosen words. Moira had shot a brief look at her husband, then joined him in staring at the floor. Their gaze remained doggedly turned in that direction and, though Helen provided a few gentle prompts, the couple stayed resolutely silent.

‘We have a full team working on this. As I said, your son was discovered at a nightclub in Banister Park and, once you’ve formally identified him, we can make arrangements for you to visit it, if you feel that would be helpful. Relatives sometimes find that it’s important to see the place where -’

‘What sort of club was it?’

Mike Elder’s voice was cracked and harsh. For a moment Helen wondered if it was a trick question – the news was already out there in radio bulletins and on the internet – then pushed that thought aside. They had probably driven all the way from Taunton in silence, their minds trying to grapple with their unexpected tragedy. It was no surprise that they were still processing the details.

‘It was an S &M club,’ Helen replied gently. There was no point dressing it up – they’d find out soon enough anyway.