Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

jumped to her feet and headed for the door. The detectives followed her as she ran down the hallway and out the front door. They rounded the corner of the building and saw her slip behind a steel container. By the time they caught up, she had a cigarette at her lips, her fingers shaking uncontrollably. Paula took her lighter from her pocket and held the flame to Anya’s cigarette, taking the opportunity to have one of her own in spite of Fielding’s frown. ‘What was it, Anya?’
    ‘She knows Pawel. She used to be a waitress at the hotel where he works. He paid her money to make a scene in the club so he could break up with Nadia.’
    Paula was completely baffled now. Fifty ways to leave your lover, and still people were coming up with new ones. ‘I don’t get it. Why couldn’t he just tell her it was over?’
    ‘He has a new job in Cornwall. A promotion. He thought if he told her, she’d want to come with him. And he didn’t want to be tied to her. So he thought the best way was to make her hate him.’ She exhaled a stream of smoke and gave a twisted smile. ‘Worked perfectly. And poor Nadia had no idea.’
    ‘You didn’t tell her?’
    Anya gave her an incredulous look. ‘Why would I tell her? I love Nadia. She already knew he was shit. She didn’t need to know precisely what kind of shit. It would only have made her feel bad about herself, like she was some piece-of-crap person he couldn’t wait to get rid of. No, I didn’t tell her. I didn’t tell anybody. Not even Ashley.’ Her chin came up, defiant and defensive. ‘So you see? Is nothing to do with somebody killing her. Pawel, he is in Cornwall, being the big shot assistant manager. He didn’t have to kill her to get rid of her, just pay someone to tell his lies for him.’
    She had a point, Paula thought. ‘And you’re sure Nadia had no suspicions?’
    Anya shook her head. ‘She trusts people, Nadia. She always thinks the best of people. I think that’s why she is good at her job. She treats people like she expects the good from them, and that makes us better, I think.’
    There was nothing wrong with Anya’s psychology, Paula thought. Carol Jordan worked in a similar way. Expect extraordinary things from your people and they’ll go flat out to give you what you hope for. Paula was beginning to think she’d have liked Nadia Wilkowa. ‘Ashley told us that Nadia carried a set of your keys. Is that right?’
    She nodded. ‘Always. On her own keyring so they were always with her.’ She kicked at the ground with the pointed toe of her shoe. ‘I am hopeless. Always forgetting my keys and locking myself out like an idiot.’ Her face crumpled again. ‘Now who will I trust to take care of me?’
    They talked to Anya for as long as it took her to smoke another two cigarettes, but by then she was shivering with cold and even Paula thought there was nothing more to be had from her. They said goodbye in the car park, Paula double-checking she had the correct details for the woman Pawel had paid to lie for him.
    ‘We’ll have to check out this Maria,’ Fielding said. ‘We’ve only got Anya’s version of events.’
    ‘Even so, it’s hard to think of any twist on the circumstances that gives Pawel or Maria a motive. Or would provoke the kind of fury that drove this killer. If anybody’s got a possible motive in this scenario, it’s Nadia.’
    ‘But as we know, McIntyre, motive is the least important piece of the jigsaw. Give me means and opportunity and the complete absence of a decent alibi and I don’t give a toss about motive.’
    ‘Juries like motive,’ Paula said. ‘People want to know why.’
    ‘As my mother always used to say to me, want doesn’t get. Facts, McIntyre. Facts.’
    ‘I take it you’re not an advocate of psychological profiling, then?’
    Fielding frowned. ‘There’s no budget for anything you can’t reach out and touch any more. What I believe is neither here nor there. Solid evidence, that’s what we need to focus on. So we’ll get someone to talk to this Maria and we’ll get Devon and Cornwall to pay a visit to Pawel the Shit to see what he’s been up to lately. Because, frankly, we’ve got bugger all else happening for us. Drop me at Skenfrith Street, then swing by the lab and see what the CSIs have got for us. Seeing a human face sometimes acts like a kick up the arse.’ She sighed. ‘Remember the good old days when we were in charge? When we wanted a quick turnaround, all we had to do was