The Shadow of the Soul by Sarah Pinborough

us.’
    ‘What, now?’ Cass had hoped to spend the morning waiting for his hangover to give up and die, and then the afternoon trying to avoid thinking about the teenage suicides before talking to Perry Jordan about upping the search for his nephew Luke.
    Armstrong shrugged.
    ‘Well, I’m grabbing a coffee first. He can wait five minutes.’
    The DCI was standing behind his desk when Cass knocked and let himself and his sergeant into his office. As soon as the door was shut Heddings threw down the newspaper he was holding. ‘I take it you’ve seen this?’
    Cass didn’t answer, but bent and picked up the tabloid. The headline was printed large across the front page: Sinister links between teenage suicides . Katie Dodds’ face smiled out in black and white, alongside Cory Denter’s and James Busby’s.
    ‘No. I haven’t.’ He scanned the accompanying article. The hack, Oliver McMahon, who’d written it seemed to have a lot of information at his fingertips, especially about Cass himself and his role in ‘uncovering the corruption at the heart of the London Met’. The piece claimed the deaths were linked by the single phrase,
Chaos in the darkness
, although it didn’t go into detail about how each suicide had used the phrase.
    Once he’d finished, he passed it sideways to Armstrong. Keeping his eyes focused on Heddings, he said, ‘It doesn’t surprise me, though. The two girls we met yesterday at Angie Lane’s flat already knew about the others.’
    ‘We really don’t need any more bloody fiascos.’ Heddings cheeks were flushed.
    ‘With all due respect, sir, don’t take it out on me. I haven’t said a word.’ It was only a small lie; mentioning the deaths to Hask and Ramsey didn’t count, and it wasn’t as if they’d even discussed the full potential of the case.
    ‘They make you sound like the saviour of the Met.’
    ‘Is that what’s bothering you?’
    ‘No.’ Heddings flashed him a glare. ‘Despite what youthink, I’m not that petty. I just don’t like having my hand forced.’
    ‘I’m not with you, sir.’
    ‘Really? If it’s in this rag today, then it’ll be in all the others by tomorrow. We’ll look like a right bunch of callous bastards if we do nothing about it.’
    Cass bit back his smile. ‘So have I got the case, sir?’
    ‘You bloody know you have.’
    Cass didn’t let the grin stretch across his face until the door closed behind them and he was heading back to his office.
    When Armstrong knocked on his door forty-five minutes later, Cass had a copy of the paper on his desk and was staring at the computer. He’d typed in the phrase ‘Chaos in the darkness’. Even after hearing what the students had said the day before, he was surprised to see how many forums and message boards had picked up on it. He’d been going through them for nearly an hour and had yet to scratch the surface.
    ‘We should be ready to dig up the bodies this afternoon. I’ve called Eagleton and he’s getting prepped. I’m just waiting for the official go-ahead and then we can get a team in.’
    Armstrong put the fresh coffee down. ‘The Dodds and Busby families need informing, but her parents are in Guildford, and Busby’s are somewhere in Buckinghamshire. Do you want me to get the locals on it?’
    ‘No, you go with a WPC. I want to know about these kids’ lives. I’ll do their colleges.’ He sighed. ‘This shit is all over the Internet and it’s spreading like wildfire. We’re watching a new urban myth in the making.’
    ‘I know, I did a search last night. What are you looking for?’
    ‘Something referencing the phrase prior to these deaths.’
    ‘Once you’ve briefed the team, get a couple of plods working on it.’ Armstrong’s face twitched into a smile. ‘No offence, but they’re probably more Internet-savvy than you.’
    ‘I’m still in my bloody thirties, you know.’ Cass couldn’t help feeling slightly rankled. ‘Maybe only just, but I’m not a dinosaur.’ He