Whispering Death by Garry Disher Page B

out her hand, giving her name as Jeannie Schiff, sergeant. And she stared at Challis, a sizing-up.
    â€˜Thanks for coming down,’ Challis said. ‘As I said on the phone, our sexual offences team isn’t in place yet, so we could do with some help.’
    â€˜Well, yeah,’ drawled Schiff. ‘Abduction and rape? A bit different from some sad bloke waving his penis at schoolgirls.’
    Her voice was raspy, low, not unpleasant, but sharp underneath. Challis shrugged mentally and said, ‘My team’s upstairs.’
    She followed him. He paused outside the briefing room. ‘Tea? Coffee? Proper coffee.’
    â€˜You wouldn’t have green tea?’
    Challis wouldn’t have had green tea before Pam Murphy joined CIU. Now the teabag jar was crammed with exotic brews. ‘No problem.’
    The tea made, he introduced her to Sutton and Murphy and stepped back to prop up one of the side walls. The morning sun striped the long briefing room table. On the other side of the window he could see the treetops that marked the rear of the car park.
    Schiff took command of the room, standing at the head of the table. All that had been tense, uncertain or vigilant about her had disappeared, replaced by an air of calm authority, a routine determination. She’d been through this before and knew how it would play out.
    â€˜We’ll work this on several fronts,’ she announced, without preamble. ‘Witnesses, if any, local sex offenders, forensics, victimology.’
    The morning sun was coming in hard behind her. She was a hazy shape, and, seeing his officers wince and shade their eyes, Challis stepped behind her and released the venetian blind. It fell with a clatter.
    Schiff ignored him. He leaned his shoulder against the wall again.
    â€˜I’m due in court this afternoon,’ Schiff said, glancing at her watch, ‘so this will be a racing visit, to get you started. I’ll be back tomorrow and then I can give you until the end of the week, okay?’ She didn’t pause to find out. ‘Right. Three main areas to action. First, do we have a list of local sex offenders? We need to start knocking on doors tomorrow.’
    She cast an interrogative look at Challis, who said, ‘Constable Murphy will do that.’
    Schiff flashed Pam a smile. ‘Next, the cop angle bothers me. Why would a police member announce himself? Did he hope to intimidate? Well, it did intimidate, but did he think Ms Holst would be too scared to tell police that she’d been raped by a police officer? I need someone to run a nationwide search of similar cases, cross-referenced against police who have been arrested, charged, jailed or suspected of sex offences, and against police officers whose ID or uniforms have been stolen recently.’
    Scobie Sutton raised his hand. ‘I’ll do that.’
    â€˜Good, thank you. Next, Ms Holst herself. Her movements last Thursday night, workmates, family, friends, old and current and wannabe boyfriends…I want to know who she is, in other words. Look at Facebook and Twitter to see if anyone had it in for her. Any altercations at work, pissed-off workmates and customers.’
    Challis uncoiled from the wall. ‘Constable Murphy and I have been working on that.’
    Schiff gave a vivid smile. ‘Terrific. Maybe we’ll get a result sooner than expected. Meanwhile, forensics. Early days yet, I imagine.’
    Scobie Sutton stirred. ‘Preliminary results are in. Plenty of fibres and prints in and on the victim’s car, but no way of knowing whose.’
    â€˜No hits in Crimtrac?’
    â€˜Not yet.’
    â€˜Anything at the scene?’
    â€˜Ice-cream wrappers, plastic bags, Coke bottles, the usual.’
    â€˜Anything on the victim?’
    Here Sutton squirmed. ‘He cleaned her up, unfortunately. He used a condom, popular brand, according to the spermicide.’
    He coughed to clear his throat. His words had