Val Mcdermid - Killing the Shadows

“Are you going to be OK?” Steve asked, getting to his feet.

Kit took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. You need to get off, there’ll be work piling up for you.”

Impulsively, Steve stepped forward and wrapped his arms round Kit in a hug. Kit hugged him back, his arms tight round Steve’s back. There was no awkwardness when they let go and moved apart. “Thanks for telling me, Steve. You’re right, it would have done my shed in completely if I’d heard it on the news. Now I know, I can unplug the phone. The last people I feel like talking to right now are journos.”

“Will you tell Fi?” Steve asked. “Or do you want me to?”

“I’ll e — mail her now. I don’t want to phone her when she’s working, you know how it is.” Kit followed Steve to the front door. Unusually, he didn’t wait till Steve was out of sight to close the door. Instead, he shut it immediately, locking both Yale and mortise. Then he walked slowly back to his desk and clicked on to his e — mail program.

From:Kit Martin [KMWriter@trashnet.com]

To:Fiona Cameron [fcameron@ psych.ulon.ac.uk]

Subject:Bad as it gets

You were right. Georgia is dead. Cold hard words for a cold hard fact. Steve just left. He came to tell me himself, didn’t want me to have it sprung on me by a phone call from a hack or a news broadcast. They found her in Smithfield, like you said. I’ve read And Ever More Shall Be So, I can imagine only too well what it was like. Only thing different, according to Steve, is that the killer left the head with the body. I wish you were here. Or I was there. I feel very disconnected from my life. Very disorientated. Please don’t worry about me. I have taken to heart all you said. I’m going to stay battened down until you get back, and then reconsider what’s the best course of action until somebody puts this mad fucker behind bars. Somewhere in all of this, there has to be some clue that will open it up. I presume they’re going to link the investigations now, even if only unofficially. Do what you can to get included on the team. Not that I want you to be working when you could be with me. But I want this guy caught, not just for Georgia’s sake but for my own peace of mind. And if anybody can make a case for linking these crimes, it’s you.

I love you. K.

Kit sent the message, then exited from the program. He took the magazine out of the CD player and emptied it. He went upstairs to the living room where Fiona’s classical CDs were kept and went along the shelf. Clutching the Verdi requiem, he walked back downstairs and loaded it. He pressed play and sat down in his chair. While the music swelled, Kit leaned back, eyes closed, his mind playing movies of the friend he had lost.

The conference room was packed, bright with TV lights and stuffy with the exhalations of too many excited bodies. Speculation buzzed from journalist to journalist about the nature of the announcement. The more cynical, having seen it all before, attempted to make their guesses sound like convictions. It had to be Georgia Lester, and she had to be dead. That was their flat take on the situation. It had to be Georgia because there was nothing else that important on the stocks right now. If there had been, they would have had a whisper from a contact. And she had to be dead, otherwise it would be her publishers holding the press conference. Obviously.

Besides, they all claimed inside knowledge. One of their sources said there had been a big operation last night around Smithfield Market and it had something to do with the missing writer. The more literate of them had smugly put two and two together and come up with the answer they hoped would be confirmed this afternoon. If they were right, it would be a guaranteed front page. And that was what really mattered.

It was, the more confident among them maintained, just a matter of detail now. Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. And getting one of that lesser breed of reporters, the ones who didn’t have a title like Crime Correspondent or Home Affairs Specialist, to go in search of the husband for the heartbreak photo and the tear-jerking quote.

Nevertheless, a hush descended when the police filed in. That it was serious was obvious. The Deputy Commissioner himself was there, flanked by DCI Sarah Duvall and a face none of the reporters recognized. The officers settled behind the bank of microphones, selfconscious and uneasy. The Press Liaison Chief was hovering like an anxious parent before the nativity play. When everyone was satisfied with the sound quality, the Deputy Commissioner cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming this afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have a short statement to make, and then I will take questions.” He introduced his fellow officers. The stranger turned out to be a detective chief superintendent from Dorset. The DC looked down at the paper in his hand.

He cleared his throat again. “As a result of an operation carried out by officers of the City of London Police last night in the vicinity of Smithfield Market, human remains were recovered. These have been identified as the missing crime writer, Ms Georgia Lester. As a result of this, a murder inquiry has been set up. DCI Duvall will be in operational control of the investigation. We will be liaising with our colleagues in Dorset, where Ms Lester apparently went missing last week.

“This is a particularly horrific crime, and we would appeal for anyone who saw Ms Lester after she left her cottage in Dorset last Wednesday. Her car was found abandoned on Sunday, but we have no idea how long it had been there. We would like to narrow that time frame down if possible. We are also appealing for any witnesses who may have seen anything unusual around Smithfield Market during the course of this past week.” He looked up and pursed his lips. “I’ll take questions now.”

A hubbub of voices, hands waving. The Press Liaison Chief pointed to one. “Corinne Thomas, BBC Radio. When you say human remains, what exactly do you mean?”

The Deputy Commissioner indicated to Duvall that she should give the prescribed answer. “Ms Lester had been dismembered. The manner suggests someone with rudimentary anatomical or butchery skills.”

Second questioner. “Jack O’Connor, The Times. One of Ms Lester’s novels, which was made into a film, features a killer who kidnaps his victims then butchers them. As I recall, the bodies in the book were hidden in a wholesale butcher’s. Do you believe her killer copied the book?”

“No comment,” the Deputy Commissioner said firmly.

O’Connor wasn’t giving up. “Do you believe this crime is connected to the Edinburgh killing of Drew Shand, who was murdered recently in a manner identical to one of the victims in his book?” The background agitation of his colleagues almost swamped O’Connor’s voice, but there was no doubt from the grim faces looking down at him that they’d heard him.

“No comment,” the Deputy Commissioner said again.

A third questioner jumped to her feet. “Sharon Collier, the Mirror. Are you refusing to deny that there’s a serial killer targeting thriller writers?”

“I’m neither denying nor confirming anything of the sort, Ms Collier. At this stage, I have no evidence to allow me to offer any comment on these questions.” The DC was starting to look a little edgy. The Press Liaison Chief quickly found one of his tame hacks and prodded him into action.

“Patrick Stacey, the Express. Where exactly was the body found?”

Duvall took the initiative. “We discovered Ms Lester’s remains in a disused freezer in a storage area in Smithfield Market. According to the owner, the freezer had been awaiting transport to another meat depot and had been there for about five weeks. So if anyone saw someone using that freezer during those five weeks, we are keen to hear from them.”