Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

What was it Tony had once said to her? ‘There’s nothing clever about being clever. In the MIT, everybody’s clever. What’s really clever is being kind.’ And nobody did kind better than Elinor. ‘I would be in your debt. As usual.’
    ‘I’ll do it when I get home. Torin’s going to a friend’s house for tea and homework. He’s going to text me so I can pick him up. How different their lives are from what ours were…’ There was a tickle of laughter in her voice.
    ‘I’ll catch you later. I might be late. I love you.’
    ‘Love you too. Take care out there.’
    Paula ended the call and, right on cue, her cigarette. She contemplated one more cigarette. She’d been good all day, not wanting to push her luck with Fielding. And she’d already been warned it might be a long night. ‘Sod it,’ she said, fishing out another and sparking up her lighter.
    She’d barely taken her first drag when her phone rang. The X Files ringtone she reserved exclusively for Tony. ‘Tony,’ she said. ‘How’s things?’
    ‘Has Bev McAndrew turned up?’
    No small talk, as ever. ‘No. Not a trace of her since she walked out of work.’
    ‘I went shopping this evening. I thought I’d go over to the Freshco on Kenton Vale Road. You know how it is.’
    She knew how it was. He liked to look at the scene, to think himself into the head of the victim and the perpetrator, to walk a mile in their shoes in a physical exercise of empathy. ‘And what did you learn?’
    ‘I learned a very interesting thing about buses,’ he said.
    ‘That doesn’t sound very likely,’ Paula said.
    ‘Round the fringes of the Freshco car park, the CCTV footage is pretty poor. But that’s exactly where the buses go.’
    ‘You think someone on a bus might have seen Bev?’
    ‘Of course they might have, but what matters is the buses themselves. They’re festooned with cameras. And they show what’s going on outside the bus as well as inside. Not close-up, really quite a distance from the bus. I thought maybe you’d get lucky and find some footage with Bev on it if she’s not parked close to the store.’ He stopped.
    ‘That’s brilliant. I knew they had cameras on the buses but I had no idea they filmed the outside.’
    ‘Me neither. It’s because you never go on buses.’
    ‘You think we should be actively looking for Bev?’
    ‘It’s not my call. But according to you, you’ve already got one murdered woman with nothing apparently problematic in her life. Now you’ve got a second one missing. Have you found the intersection between Nadia and her killer yet?’
    ‘Nothing definite. We think he may have picked her up in the Trafford Centre and taken her in the car park. But I haven’t seen the footage yet.’
    ‘And you’ve got another missing woman who might have been abducted in a car park. Plus they look kind of like each other, Paula.’
    ‘You think? There’s about twelve years’ difference in age, their body types aren’t that similar.’
    ‘You don’t want to see it because you’re scared for your friend, Paula. But they’re both blonde, medium height, medium build. They dress like professional women, not bimbos. They’ve driven themselves to the shops. One’s dead and the other’s missing. I know your precious Chief Constable once accused me of seeing serial killers round every corner, but sometimes I’m right, Paula. Sometimes I’m right.’
    ‘More often than not, unfortunately. I’ll pass this on to the uniform who’s looking into Bev’s disappearance. And I’ll talk to Fielding, OK?’
    ‘I think you should. I’ll back you up, if it helps.’
    Paula choked on her cigarette smoke. ‘Are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten how pissed off Carol got when I fed you confidential case info behind her back? Multiply that by ten and you’ve got DCI Alex Fielding.’ She sighed. ‘I miss Carol.’
    ‘I’m trying not to.’
    And he was gone, the phone a dead lump of plastic in her hand. Across the car park, she saw Pat Cody and another bloke get out of a car and hustle towards the building. ‘Showtime,’ she muttered, tossing her cigarette into a puddle and heading indoors.
    ‘What have we got, Cody?’ she asked, falling into step beside him.
    He tapped the side of his nose. ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out.’
    A flash of anger lit her up. If she let this go, it would shape how Cody and his mates treated her. ‘Constable, you need to remember who the sergeant is around