the sofa, dozing, turning over, wincing from the crick in her neck, and pins and needles in her hands, until she realised this wasn’t her bed and finally crawled to the comfort of pillows and duvet.
*
‘Morning, Alan. How did you get on with the porn movies?’ She spoke loudly, deliberately so. The heads of fellow officers and clerical staff turned to gaze upon the blushing face of DS Murray. He cleared his throat. She prolonged her satisfied grin.
‘So so,’ he replied, feigning a search of his desk. She knew he would have something for her. He was good at his job despite the odd hot-headed lapse. He handed her a sheet of A4. ‘A list of known exponents in the field of adult film making on Merseyside.’
There were only seven names on the paper, but it was a start. She’d already decided not to divulge the girl’s name, or any of the information Callum had provided the night before. She wanted to avoid further rash questioning sessions that ended with a scolding, however subtle and veiled, from Superintendent Tweedy. Instead, she would issue a few instructions based on her latest knowledge.
‘I won’t hold you back,’ she said to Murray. ‘I’m sure you’re keen to follow up on the names.’
Murray shrugged his compliance.
‘While you’re at it, I want you to make contact with immigrant community groups dealing with Lithuanians.’
‘I thought you did that yesterday?’
‘That was the Polish community. I think we should spread it out. We have no positive ID on the girl, although it seems likely that she is an immigrant. Just as likely to be Lithuanian as Polish.’
‘Or Romanian, or Latvian, Estonian, Bulgarian.’
‘Now you’re getting it,’ she said, walking off then turning round once more. ‘Although I’d put money on her being Lithuanian. And don’t forget to go see that letting agent about the house. They need to confirm that Teodor Sokolowski is the owner. And find out who is currently renting the place. A list of previous occupants would be useful, too.’ By the time she’d finished, she’d reached her own desk.
The remainder of her day she spent going through what meagre evidence they had so far gathered on the girl found dead on the Treadwater estate. She found it difficult to keep thoughts of Callum Armour and his theories from interfering with her work. Very soon she’d embarked on outlandish theories of her own, theories of connections and coincidences. Callum had suffered terrible loss, and yet now he found himself central to a murder investigation. An alumnus of Latimer College, he was faced with an investigating officer who was also an alumnae of the same college. She found difficulty in dismissing the situation from her thoughts.
Before heading home she drove to the Liverpool One shopping mall. In WH Smiths, she went to the children’s section and quickly located two of the three novels Tilly Reason had published before her death. A fourth novel had been published posthumously. She was interested in the girl who had once been a student at her old College only four years before her. Reading something of Tilly’s might help her understand what Tilly had shared with Callum and why he was so utterly destroyed by her death.
Both books had more than four hundred pages with a similar style cover to those of the Harry Potter stories. There was a feeling from the layout of the blurb on the back cover that these books were aimed at a similar readership.
First Form Time Traveller’s Club was the title of one, The Clock - tower , the title of the other. The short paragraphs written on the back of The Clock - tower indicated that this was the second book in the series. Some of the review tags hailed Tilly Reason as a new dawn in children’s writing, the books for the enjoyment of kids of all ages, even Mums and Dads. Tara paid for both at the cash-desk then hurried round to Marks and Spencer’s Food Hall with a mental list of goodies to buy for her night in with the
*
‘Morning, Alan. How did you get on with the porn movies?’ She spoke loudly, deliberately so. The heads of fellow officers and clerical staff turned to gaze upon the blushing face of DS Murray. He cleared his throat. She prolonged her satisfied grin.
‘So so,’ he replied, feigning a search of his desk. She knew he would have something for her. He was good at his job despite the odd hot-headed lapse. He handed her a sheet of A4. ‘A list of known exponents in the field of adult film making on Merseyside.’
There were only seven names on the paper, but it was a start. She’d already decided not to divulge the girl’s name, or any of the information Callum had provided the night before. She wanted to avoid further rash questioning sessions that ended with a scolding, however subtle and veiled, from Superintendent Tweedy. Instead, she would issue a few instructions based on her latest knowledge.
‘I won’t hold you back,’ she said to Murray. ‘I’m sure you’re keen to follow up on the names.’
Murray shrugged his compliance.
‘While you’re at it, I want you to make contact with immigrant community groups dealing with Lithuanians.’
‘I thought you did that yesterday?’
‘That was the Polish community. I think we should spread it out. We have no positive ID on the girl, although it seems likely that she is an immigrant. Just as likely to be Lithuanian as Polish.’
‘Or Romanian, or Latvian, Estonian, Bulgarian.’
‘Now you’re getting it,’ she said, walking off then turning round once more. ‘Although I’d put money on her being Lithuanian. And don’t forget to go see that letting agent about the house. They need to confirm that Teodor Sokolowski is the owner. And find out who is currently renting the place. A list of previous occupants would be useful, too.’ By the time she’d finished, she’d reached her own desk.
The remainder of her day she spent going through what meagre evidence they had so far gathered on the girl found dead on the Treadwater estate. She found it difficult to keep thoughts of Callum Armour and his theories from interfering with her work. Very soon she’d embarked on outlandish theories of her own, theories of connections and coincidences. Callum had suffered terrible loss, and yet now he found himself central to a murder investigation. An alumnus of Latimer College, he was faced with an investigating officer who was also an alumnae of the same college. She found difficulty in dismissing the situation from her thoughts.
Before heading home she drove to the Liverpool One shopping mall. In WH Smiths, she went to the children’s section and quickly located two of the three novels Tilly Reason had published before her death. A fourth novel had been published posthumously. She was interested in the girl who had once been a student at her old College only four years before her. Reading something of Tilly’s might help her understand what Tilly had shared with Callum and why he was so utterly destroyed by her death.
Both books had more than four hundred pages with a similar style cover to those of the Harry Potter stories. There was a feeling from the layout of the blurb on the back cover that these books were aimed at a similar readership.
First Form Time Traveller’s Club was the title of one, The Clock - tower , the title of the other. The short paragraphs written on the back of The Clock - tower indicated that this was the second book in the series. Some of the review tags hailed Tilly Reason as a new dawn in children’s writing, the books for the enjoyment of kids of all ages, even Mums and Dads. Tara paid for both at the cash-desk then hurried round to Marks and Spencer’s Food Hall with a mental list of goodies to buy for her night in with the
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