Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

called me Carol,’ Paula said.
    He looked thunderstruck. ‘God help you, then, Paula.’ His voice was husky with emotion.
    ‘I miss her too, Tony.’
    Hesitantly, he reached out and put an arm round her shoulders. They seldom touched, he and Paula. Never hugged as a greeting or as a farewell. This was a moment that mattered to them both. ‘She’s got no bone to pick with you, Paula. She’ll be back in your life one of these days.’
    She leaned her head on his shoulder and tried not to cry. After a while, she cleared her throat and stepped away. ‘You really think you know her? Nadia?’
    Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I think so. It’s not coming, though. I’m going to have to tuck it away and make my subconscious do the work when I’m asleep. What we do know about her, looking at this picture, is that she liked to go out and have fun, and she had mates to do that with.’
    ‘How do you know it’s not just a one-off and she’s been stuck with Brittney and Bubble from Accounts for somebody’s camera-phone shot at the company Christmas party?’ Although her tone was teasing, deliberately trying to shift the mood, Paula genuinely wanted to know.
    ‘None of them is self-conscious or awkward with each other.’ He swung round and flicked through the menus. Tucked away behind the rest was another shot, on ordinary printer paper. ‘And look, there’s another one of the three of them. Different night, different outfits, very relaxed on a banquette.’ He was right. She’d missed that on her first cursory look at the board. ‘You need to find these women and speak to them. But you don’t need me to tell you that.’ He wheeled away and headed for the hallway. ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here, pointing out the obvious to you, Paula. Is this the investigative equivalent of the pity fuck? “Poor Tony, I should give him something to think about.”’
    Her first reaction had been to feel insulted. ‘Of course it isn’t. It’s not about you. I want to crack this case and I don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off, OK? It’s about me, feeling lost without my old team. I’m sorry if you think I’m wasting your time. I wanted another pair of eyes that I could trust, that’s all.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’ He sighed again. ‘I’m not at my best right now. Let’s take a look at the bedroom and see if there’s anything there that rings my bell.’
    But there hadn’t been. The room was neat, no piles of laundry on the floor, no half-worn outfits thrown over the single chair. The duvet cover, a bright abstract, was the only splash of colour in the room. It had been straightened up, the pillows plumped. There was nothing in the wardrobe that didn’t fall into the category of work, casual or night-on-the-town. No fetish outfits, no fantasy props, no sex toys. On one bedside table sat a paperback with a Polish title. It looked more chick lit than Booker Prize. Beside it, a half-empty sports bottle of water and a pair of glasses. Three pairs of understated earrings nestled in a tiny wooden tray beside a small gold crucifix on a fine chain. ‘The kind of girl every mother wants her son to meet,’ Paula muttered.
    Tony snorted. ‘Maybe not mine.’ He opened the dressing-table drawer. A box of tissues. A tub of peach-flavoured lip balm. A scatter of condoms and a half-squeezed tube of lubricant. ‘Sexually active.’ He picked up the lube and tested the cap. ‘But maybe not recently. See, it’s hardened round the cap.’
    ‘Or maybe she’d been having the kind of sex that doesn’t need lube,’ Paula said drily. ‘It happens.’
    ‘So I’m told.’ He turned to the small chest of drawers in the corner. The top drawer contained a wide selection of inexpensive make-up. Second drawer, practical but pretty lingerie. Third drawer, T-shirts. Bottom drawer, a couple of thick sweaters. ‘I think Nadia might have been on the intersection of nice and dull. Which is interesting, because that’s a combination that reduces her risk factors significantly. Most victims have chaotic elements in their lives. That’s usually how their killers cross their paths. But Nadia seems the opposite of chaotic. Which makes your job that bit harder.’
    And that had been the sum total of Tony’s insights. She’d tried not to feel disappointed, but she couldn’t escape the realisation that she’d hoped for more. She’d wanted something to drive the investigation in a new direction, something that would