Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

worst-case scenario to Torin. In his shoes, I’d start giving up hope.’
    ‘Maybe that’s the best thing for him.’ Elinor snuggled into Paula’s side. ‘Facing up to what’s most likely to be the reality. And having his aunt here might help him with that.’
    Paula yawned and patted Elinor’s hand. ‘It won’t hurt for them to get to know each other better, that’s for sure. If Bev doesn’t come home, he’s going to end up living with her. Or his gran. At least until his dad gets a home posting.’
    Elinor gave a noncommittal grunt and kissed Paula’s shoulder. ‘Let’s see what tomorrow brings.’
    That was the last thing Paula was aware of until her phone began ringing. She looked at the time as she answered. Twenty-seven minutes past six. ‘DS McIntyre,’ she moaned.
    ‘DCI Fielding here. West Yorkshire have got a body. The ID says it’s Beverley McAndrew, your misper. I’ve got a squad car coming, I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes. Be ready.’
    ‘OK,’ Paula said. But she was talking to no one. Still half asleep, she sat up and ran a hand through her dark blonde hair. She wanted to believe the phone call was a bad dream, but she knew it wasn’t. Bev was dead.
    Elinor turned over and murmured sleepily, ‘Did your phone just ring?’
    ‘It was Fielding. She’s picking me up in twenty.’ This wasn’t the time to tell Elinor. It wasn’t fair to expect her to go through breakfast with Torin hugging that terrible knowledge to herself. And it wasn’t right to tell Torin anything until his mother’s ID was confirmed.
    ‘What’s happened?’ Elinor was alert now. She knew the ways of her lover’s job too well.
    ‘I think it’s a break in the Nadia Wilkowa case.’ Which was sort of true. Paula stood up, then bent to kiss Elinor. ‘See you later.’
    She barely made it out the front door in time, but she’d managed to be waiting for Fielding. To her surprise, her boss had handed her a cardboard cup of coffee when she climbed into the car. ‘The body’s up on the moors. I don’t suppose there will be catering,’ Fielding said drily.
    ‘What have we got?’ It was easier to listen than to talk ahead of her first coffee. And Fielding definitely seemed to be a morning person.
    She leaned through the gap between the front seats so she could more easily talk to Paula in the rear. ‘If I had a fiver for every dog walker who finds a body, I’d be sunning myself on a yacht in the Caribbean. Local farm manager out with his lurchers didn’t make it past the car park. The body was stashed behind a stone rubbish container. West Yorkshire didn’t specify whether it’s a primary scene or a body dump. She’s a match for Nadia Wilkowa. Battered unrecognisable, badly beaten, genitals glued shut.’ She paused to take a swig from a water bottle. ‘But that’s not why they called us.’
    ‘Why did they call us?’
    ’Her clothes and bag were dumped at the site, same as Nadia. In this case, they were stuffed in the rubbish bin. When they ran her ID through the computer, the misper alert came up. They rang John Okeke – he’s down as the point of contact. Soon as he heard the details, he told their SIO to call me. So here we are.’
    ‘But Nadia was kept for three weeks before he killed her. Bev’s not even been gone three days. That’s a hell of a difference.’
    ‘The key elements of the MO are the same, McIntyre. There’s more that links them than distinguishes them.’
    ‘Her son’s only fourteen,’ Paula said.
    ‘It’s going to be rough on him,’ Fielding acknowledged, then moved right along. Her face gave no clue whether she couldn’t bear the thought or simply didn’t much care. ‘What was she like, Beverley McAndrew?’
    ‘Bev,’ Paula corrected her automatically. ‘I didn’t know her that well – my partner, Elinor, knew her better than me. They both work at Bradfield Cross.’
    ‘Yes, Bev was the chief pharmacist. Okeke sent me the file, I’ve skimmed the details. What I want is the human stuff. What was she like?’
    ‘She was smart. Opinionated, but not pushy. Good company. Her and Elinor, they were very funny when they got talking about their colleagues. You’d be amazed how much pomposity goes on inside a hospital.’
    ‘I doubt it. I’ve been a cop for twenty years. We’ve got plenty of pompous arseholes of our own. So, was she on your team?’
    ‘You mean, was she a lesbian?’
    Fielding pursed her lips and gave Paula a pissed-off look.