Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

secretary will email it to you as soon as she’s finished the transcript. Good luck with your investigation. This is a bad one, Inspector.’ And he closed the connection.
    ‘Nothing there we couldn’t have predicted,’ Fielding said, her tone suggesting that Grisha had failed them.
    ‘Apart from the possible taser wounds.’
    ‘Well, he had to have some way of subduing her and that’s one of the more straightforward methods.’ Fielding wasn’t giving any ground.
    ‘Three separate times, though. And only one of them in a place where the taser would get you from behind. That’s interesting. And what Grisha said? It does support our theory that she never went to Poland.’
    Fielding grunted and started typing texts into her phone. There was none of the batting around of ideas and possibilities that Paula had grown used to in the MIT. All of her colleagues had thrived on speculation, trying out theories and testing them against the evidence. Whatever was going on in Fielding’s head, she was keeping it to herself.

    Anya Burba was stashed behind the closed door of the head teacher’s office. Her sharp features were swollen with tears, her make-up streaked and ugly. ‘Ashley texted me,’ she said as soon as the head left them alone with her. ‘I couldn’t believe what she says. How can Nadia be dead? How is this possible? You must have made a mistake.’
    ‘Sorry, Anya. There’s no mistake. I’m very sorry for your loss.’ Fielding’s sympathy was underscored with briskness. ‘We need your help so we can find the person who did this.’
    They sat at a round table in a corner of the office. It was strewn with children’s artwork. Anya cleared it impatiently to one side with a sweep of her arm. ‘Stupid art competition,’ she said, her voice shaky. ‘How did she die?’
    ‘We can’t go into details, I’m afraid,’ Fielding said.
    ‘Was it quick? Tell me she didn’t suffer.’
    Paula reached out and touched her shoulder. ‘There’s a lot we don’t know, Anya. But Nadia was your friend and we need you to share what you know about her so we can stop this happening to somebody else.’
    She shivered and wrapped her thin arms round her body, pushing her small breasts upwards. ‘Please God, not that.’
    And so Paula worked her way through the final Saturday again. Anya confirmed what Ashley had told them, and had nothing to add. But when she turned to the subject of Nadia’s ex-boyfriend, Anya turned slightly in her seat, away from Paula, and abruptly became noncommittal.
    Whatever was making her uncomfortable, Paula was determined to get to the heart of it. ‘There’s something more, isn’t there, Anya? Something you don’t want to tell us?’ Her voice was gentle. ‘Nothing you say can hurt Nadia now, Anya. But I think she’d want you to tell us anything that could help bring her killer to justice.’
    Anya shook her head. ‘It’s nothing. It’s not connected to her death. It’s just… nothing.’
    ‘Anya, I’m trained to make connections that nobody else can see. But if you don’t give me something to work with, I can’t make anything. Please, tell me what you know.’
    Anya blew her nose noisily. ‘Pawel – he has no wife and children.’
    If she’d been intent on stopping them in their tracks, she’d succeeded. Even Paula, the consummate interviewer, faltered. ‘What? What do you mean, no wife and children?’
    Anya looked embarrassed. ‘The row, in the nightclub? The woman? I was at the bar, getting drinks. I was on my way back when it happened, the woman shouting and accusing Pawel and taking their photo. I think if I had been with them, it wouldn’t have happened. Well, it wouldn’t have happened then.’
    This was making no sense. ‘I don’t understand,’ Paula said.
    ‘I know this woman. Maria is her name, I don’t know her family name. She isn’t even from Gdansk. She worked in a bar in Lvov, where I used to live. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I didn’t say anything at the time, because I wanted to get the truth. So next evening, I went to the coffee shop where she works now. It’s out at the university, we never go there normally. And I told her, I know you’re lying about Pawel. Tell me what’s going on or I bring Anya here and make you tell her.’ She fiddled endlessly with the cheap silver rings on her fingers.
    ‘And what was it she told you?’
    Anya looked haunted and hunted. ‘I want to go outside, I need to smoke.’ She