Grind Their Bones Read Free Page B

heart.
    ‘If I can speak frankly, sir?’ He impatiently nodded his assent. ‘I think it’s peculiar, to say the least. Some of it runs completely against all of the instincts of our best detectives, guys and girls who’ve been working the case for months and months, and the bits that don’t are those that anybody with even a small amount of common sense could have established for themselves. I think it’s potentially hugely damaging to the direction of our investigation, and I don’t think we should be relying on it at all.’
    I knew without him saying that he was having the same thoughts, albeit he’d have expressed them considerably more bluntly, and we both knew he would personally take on the lion’s share of the blame if our fears were found to be well placed after we went public with this.
    ‘I want you to hold the fort while I play politician for the papers, and I want you to be quiet about the fact that we’re going to pay little more than lip service to the good doctor’s profile. He’s been right when officers have been wrong in the past, and he wasn’t shy about pointing that out. He’s something of a media darling these days, so we could do without looking like chimps if we’re missing something that he spotted. Anyway as far as I’m concerned, we assign somebody junior to looking into the mental health angle, particularly since we’ve already been there, and we keep focussing on the few quality leads we do have while we pray for a breakthrough.’
    He stopped talking and rubbed at the bump on the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger, looking suddenly much older than his sixty years. I found myself wondering how far away retirement was for him, not that I was so grasping that I had designs on his job, but all the same I wouldn’t say no when they came and asked.
    ‘Understood, sir.’ I groped around for something else to say that might make him feel better. ‘I think he feels some kind of connection with me, sir. I don’t know what the nature of that is, or why he feels that way, but by writing that letter he was giving me something else to go on. That was his first big mistake, and it was a deliberate one. If he’s starting to take chances, then we’re heading towards the home straight.’
    I mentally kicked myself as soon as I’d finished the sentence, why do I always have to try too hard to please? The truth was that we’d not even figured out which route we were on yet, the home straight was nowhere in sight.
    ‘I hope so, Wade, I sincerely do.’ He straightened the knot of his tie and turned to walk away before stopping in his tracks. ‘Catch this sicko for me and the fact that you’re screwing young Mead, or anybody else that takes your fancy for that matter, won’t have any bearing on your career progression at all. Not that it bothers me anyway, he seems like a nice enough kid. I’ll catch you later, Detective.’
    He didn’t look at me as he spoke, so I was spared the indignity of him watching my face take on the same hue as his own.
     
     

Chapter 8
     
    Dr Alan Hardwick, star forensic psychologist and regular consultant over the years for several different police forces in respect of serial offenders, kicked off his new shoes and rested both feet on his grand mahogany desk. He had a generous measure of a particularly fine cognac in the balloon glass that he swirled in his chubby left hand, and the scent of the rising vapours tickled pleasantly at his nostrils. It smelled of success. With the police going public tonight with the psychological details of the suspect they were pursuing, he could start to relax a little more. His plan was coming together beautifully.
    He checked his expensive watch, a Breitling Navitimer, impatiently, willing the press release forwards. It was his sincere hope and belief that the broadcast of a profile so utterly removed from the reality of the man they were seeking would give the killer a green flag to up his kill rate