Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

pup’s head.
    He held up his hands in a placatory gesture. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. You were so intent on that lot down there —’ He nodded towards the cars and cops in the valley below.
    ‘What are you doing up here?’ Carol didn’t care how rude she sounded. She was rattled but not so much so that she could let go of instincts honed by years of policing serious crime.
    ‘Same as you. Walking my dog. Nothing more sinister than that, I promise you.’
    He looked innocuous enough in his waxed jacket and tweed cap, recently shaven face pink with the cold autumn air. But she knew only too well the viciousness and treachery that could lie behind so harmless an appearance. ‘I thought she was a working dog? Doesn’t that give her the exercise she needs?’
    Nicholas smiled. ‘What she needs and what she wants are two different things. Jess loves to run more than anything else. Answering her whims keeps me fit. If I didn’t do this, I’d sit around getting fat. Usually we don’t see anyone else up here. This morning, it’s a bit like Bellwether Square. What are they doing down there, do you know?’
    Carol shook her head. ‘Something serious. A murder or a serious sexual assault, given the number of warm bodies and the presence of two forces.’
    ‘Two forces? How can you tell?’
    She pointed to the vehicles below. ‘Different transport codes. West Yorkshire and Bradfield Met.’
    ‘Your former colleagues. That must feel strange.’
    Carol deliberately walked past him, not wanting to give anything away. ‘It’s exactly the sort of case I would have been called out to when I was still a serving officer,’ she said. ‘Being a spectator is… unexpected.’
    ‘Nowhere’s immune these days,’ Nicholas said. ‘My wife. Your brother and Lucy. And now this. The world has become smaller, Carol. And that means the unpleasantness infects places like this, places that used to be immune from the worst excesses of human behaviour.’
    ‘You’re wrong. This isn’t some communicable disease that’s spread out from the city. It’s always been here. Lurking under the beauty. Wherever you are, somebody’s inflicting horror on another human being. It’s just that there are some environments where it’s easier to get away with it. You can pretend all you like, but underneath your country idyll, the bad stuff is simmering and seeping in all directions.’
    Nicholas tilted his head back and laughed. ‘Christ, Carol, you make it sound like The Wicker Man. Look, why don’t you come down and have breakfast with me? So I can show you that the big house isn’t a dark, brooding presence on the far side of the hill? Come on. There will be fresh eggs and —’ He pulled a paper bag out of one of his big side pockets and dangled it at her. ‘Fresh field mushrooms. I picked them on the way up. And sourdough bread from Bentley’s in the village.’ He looked eager and open-faced. And if there was anything sinister about his presence on the hilltop, either because of her presence or that of the police, she would have the chance to ferret it out at close quarters.
    ‘All right,’ she said, making it sound as if it was as appealing as a colonoscopy. Nicholas lit up like a birthday boy. ‘Come on, Flash.’ The dog didn’t need telling twice. Carol almost wished she could find so uncomplicated a response in her own heart. But those days were long gone. With one last look over her shoulder, she set off down the hill.
    Let other people speak for the dead.

33

    T he call had roused Paula from the glorious depths of sleep. They’d gone to bed before midnight, but Elinor had wanted to revisit her conversation with Bev’s sister Rachel. ‘But after I IM’d with Torin’s dad and he gave us his blessing, I’m still not sure I was right to encourage her to come up,’ she’d said for what Paula reckoned was the eighth or ninth time.
    ‘Torin’s in limbo,’ Paula said. For only the third time, she thought. ‘He needs the stability he’ll get from his family. He hardly knows us, love.’
    ‘According to Torin, he hardly knows his aunt either. Be honest with me, Paula. Do you think Bev’s coming home alive?’
    Paula sat up and punched her pillow into shape. ‘I honestly don’t know. I think someone took her, but I have no way of knowing if she’s being kept prisoner or… We’re in the dark here. I can’t help thinking that Auntie Rachel arriving like the cavalry is going to feel like a