James Carol - The Quiet Man

The first thing that happened was that Anderton turned up. Winter noticed her in the doorway and waved her over. She’d changed outfit since he saw her last. She was still wearing jeans but these were new on, clean and pressed. Her blouse had been swapped for a grey T-shirt with a picture of the New York skyline on the front. Her sneakers were newer and a lot less battered than his. Her hair was wet, from either the shower or a bath. Winter was betting on her being a shower person. Pragmatists preferred showers, dreamers preferred baths. The curious guy was playing it cool. He hadn’t reacted at all, just carried on watching the game.

The second thing happened twenty seconds later. By the time Anderton had got halfway across the room, the door opened again and Freeman entered. Freeman was Anderton’s successor, and as such the buck now stopped with him. The fact he was here without a SWAT team, or body armour, or a gun, meant that theory number one had just become an absolute certainty.

Winter stood up again and waved to him. For a moment Freeman looked confused, as though he wasn’t sure how to respond. Should he wave? Should he acknowledge him? In the end, he didn’t do either, he just kept walking across the room and stopped at the table. He was in his late forties, handsome, with a solid chin and good facial symmetry. This was a face made for TV. His superiors would have been looking for someone they could present to the media. It made sense. This investigation had come under a good deal of criticism, so they would be searching for ways to win back some support. According to Anderton, Freeman was an idiot, but her opinion was understandably biased. At the very least he’d probably turn out to be halfway competent. Unfortunately, halfway competent didn’t cut it. You wanted your best people on something like this. Looking at Freeman, Winter wasn’t convinced. He’d met enough politicians over the years to know one when he saw one. He nodded to the table where the curious guy was sitting.

‘There’s your killer.’

Freeman didn’t look over. He just stared at Winter and said nothing.

‘He’s a white male,’ Winter went on. ‘Which puts him in the right racial demographic. He’s in the right age group, and the right sort of build. And he just so happens to have turned up here after I was on TV. I say we get the handcuffs out and arrest him. What do you think?’

‘I think we should all sit down so we can discuss this in a civilised manner.’

‘Yes, we should,’ Anderton said.

Nobody moved. It was like a Mexican stand-off, albeit without the guns and the inherent sense of danger. Winter sat down first. Then Freeman. Anderton gave it a couple of seconds then joined them.

‘You’re using Winter as bait,’ she said.

‘No, he’s using himself as bait. Isn’t that right?’

The question was aimed in Winter’s direction. Winter kept his mouth shut.

‘The purpose of the interview was to draw the killer out,’ Freeman went on. ‘You’re looking for him to contact you.’

‘Me or you guys, it doesn’t matter who. If we can establish a direct line of communication then that would be massive step forward. Even one letter or email would give us a wealth of new information to work with.’

‘Let us be clear about something, there is no “us”.’

Winter smiled. ‘My mistake. By “us” I meant “me”.’

Freeman didn’t return the smile. His mouth and eyes were tight, his expression severe. ‘Okay, I’ll admit it. On the off chance that the killer might contact you, I made the decision to have you followed.’

Anderton said, ‘And at what point were you planning on informing us about this?’

‘I wasn’t.’

‘And that doesn’t cause you any sort of crisis of conscience? You’re using a member of the public to lure out a serial killer who’s already brutally murdered three people.’

‘A member of the public who also happens to have been trained as an FBI agent. Not only that, he’s an expert on serial killers. Let’s not forget that.’ Freeman shrugged. ‘Put yourself in my shoes. What would you have done?’

‘I would have at least had the decency to inform him that that’s what I was doing.’

‘No you wouldn’t. And the reason you wouldn’t is the same as mine. This sort of trap works better if the bait doesn’t know they’re being watched. They’re less likely to give the game away. You know that as well as I do, Laura.’

‘It’s not ethical, Peter.’

Freeman raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you really want to get into an ethics debate?’

‘You should have told us what you were doing.’

‘Like the way you told me that you were bringing in an expert on serial killers.’

‘That’s not the same. Not even close.’

‘Isn’t it? You’ve never been much of a team player, Laura. All that matters is that you get your man, isn’t that right? My guess is that you’ve got this fantasy where you catch the killer and end up looking like a hero.’

‘All I care about is that he’s brought to justice. I don’t care who makes the actual arrest.’

‘That’s very noble of you. It’s also bullshit.’

Anderton said nothing.

‘The thing is, I do care. The department needs a win. Bringing this killer down would be a major victory for us.’

Winter cleared his throat. Both Anderton and Freeman turned to look at him. ‘It’s like watching a brother and sister going at each other. All you do is bicker and fight, but deep down you love each other really.’ He paused and smiled. ‘Okay, I think we’re all agreed that the important thing is stopping this guy from blowing people up. Yes?’

There were reluctant nods from both Anderton and Freeman.

‘Well, the best way to achieve that is if we work together.’

‘You’re talking about sharing information?’ Freeman said.

‘That’s correct. It’s like they say, two heads are better than one. Although in this case, you’ve got the heads of the whole of the Vancouver PD’s homicide division, while we’ve got just mine and Anderton’s. Group them all together and that’s a hell of a lot more than two heads, though. If we put our minds to it we could move mountains.’

‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’

‘As a heart attack. There will be things we discover that you miss and vice versa. You claim you want to catch this guy. I’d argue that the best way to achieve this is by pooling our resources.’

Freeman considered this. ‘Okay. But there are limits to how far we can go. Due to the nature of the investigation, there will obviously be some information I can’t share.’

‘I understand. We’ll be happy to take whatever we can get.’

‘And I’m not so naive as to believe that you’ll share everything you’ve got.’

‘Of course you’re not. And I wouldn’t insult your intelligence by suggesting otherwise. What I can promise is that we will pass on whatever we can. One more thing. I need you to call off your watcher. I spotted him, which means that the killer would have spotted him as well.’

‘But you’re a member of the public. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you.’

Anderton laughed. ‘Seriously?’

‘Okay, I won’t have you tailed. But you’ve got to promise me that if you get even a sniff of this guy you contact me.’

Winter crossed his heart. ‘Hope to die,’ he said.

‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’

‘It won’t. This guy prefers a hands-off approach, which means he won’t want to get too close. The only place he might make a move on me is at my hotel. And before you say anything, I don’t need anyone watching my hotel. I can handle him if he comes for me there.’

Freeman didn’t look convinced.