Mark Pearson - Hard Evidence

'Jenny stays with me.'

Back on the bank, Bonner smiled as he watched Delaney hold his hand up in a wait gesture. 'That's his signal, ma'am.'

Campbell hesitated for a moment as Morgan moved backwards, giving the marksmen a clear shot at him. She swallowed and nodded to the waiting snipers.

'Take him down.'

The marksmen trained their rifles, relaxed their breathing and caressed the steel curve of their triggers just as Delaney moved in front of Morgan again, blocking their view.

'Take the shot!' Bonner shouted.

'Shit!' Campbell glared at him. 'What in the name of sweet fuck do you think you're playing at? Are you trying to get Delaney killed?'

Bonner shrugged unapologetically. 'They had a chance, they could have taken Morgan out.'

Campbell was about to say more, but the sight of a Sky News mobile camera van parking further up the road stopped her dead in her tracks.

'What moron fuck tipped those clowns off?'

But as the tall figure of Superintendent Walker walked hurriedly towards her, with Melanie Jones hard on his heels, she had her question answered.

'Do you think it's wise to have cameras here, sir?'

'They've been behind us on this from the beginning, Chief Inspector. Their help has been invaluable.'

Campbell threw the reporter a pointed look. 'What help? Delaney tracked the girl down both times.'

Walker glared across at the barge. 'What is he doing on there?'

'Morgan's poured petrol all over it. Delaney's playing the hero.'

'That man is a liability.' Walker looked at the armed officers. 'Have they had a clear shot?'

Bonner nodded. 'Almost.'

Walker's scowl faded as the cameraman arrived and Melanie Jones moved forward to interview him.

'Come on, Howard. Put the lighter down.'

Morgan had tears in his eyes. 'I'm done talking. Get off of my boat.'

'No one's going to hurt you.'

Morgan pointed out of the window to where he could see Candy waiting by the uniformed police. 'She hates me. She's going to make Jenny hate me.'

'Is that why you were taking Jenny away?' Delaney fought to keep his voice level.

Morgan's shoulders slumped slightly. 'I don't want Jenny hating me like she did.'

Delaney stepped forward. 'Let her go then. Let Sally take her off the boat. We can sort this out.'

Sally moved to the side of Delaney and held her hand out again to Jenny, who took it but didn't move from the table, which she kept in front of her like a barrier.

Morgan looked at his daughter. 'I always loved you, Jenny.'

Sally crouched down and smiled reassuringly at the girl. 'Come on. We're going to be just outside.' Howard said nothing, but the arm holding the lighter relaxed as Sally led Jenny off the boat.

Delaney stepped forward to take the lighter, but Howard stiffened, holding it up again. Delaney breathed in, the petrol in the air tasting of bad memories. Tasting of an opportunity to put all those bad thoughts that tumbled constantly in his brain behind him once and for good.

Morgan's eyes darted back and forth again as he stepped back. 'It's time for you to get off my boat.'

'Come on, you don't have to do this.'

'It's over, isn't it?'

'Is this how you want her to remember you? Setting yourself on fire? Don't you think she's been through enough?'

Morgan's hand trembled as he held the lighter up. 'I'll do it.'

Delaney stepped right into Howard's face. 'Then fucking do it! Put us all out of our misery.'

Morgan took a step back, surprised. Delaney snatched the lighter out of his hand and started flicking the wheel in his face.

'Is that what you want, is it?

Morgan backed up against the table. 'What are you doing?'

'Pest control. It's what I'm good at. Do the world a favour if I torched us both.'

He flicked the wheel again and laughed as Morgan almost whimpered, 'Don't do it.'

Delaney gripped the lighter in his fist, squeezing it. Then stepped back and jerked his head toward the exit.

'Go on, get out of my sight.'

Morgan stumbled to the door as Delaney looked at the lighter in his hand and threw it hard across the cabin.

A flurry of uniforms and noise. Blue and black uniforms, padded jackets. A lot of shouting way past a time when the urgency implied would have been any use. Superintendent Walker making sure he was prominent in the shot as Morgan was bundled off the boat and led away.

Inside the barge, for a moment or two Delaney looked down at the open petrol canister on the floor, his eyes slate dull. He glanced across at the bench that Jenny had been sitting on. A ragged teddy bear was tipped upside down on the corner of it.

'Boss?'

Delaney looked up at the window. 'On my way, Sally.' He walked over to pick up the teddy bear and followed her to the exit. Stopping at the fore cabin to pick up the DVD he'd seen earlier. Sin Sisters . He turned it over so he could see the cover. The two women on the front were dressed in miniskirted, latex nun's outfits, one with a riding crop in her hand and a shock of curly black hair and laughing eyes. Jackie Malone. And the woman with her, heavily made-up, with a wig to match Jackie's hair. Melody Masters, according to the credits.

He slipped the DVD into his pocket and stepped off the barge, walking out into the golden light of the setting sun and the furious gaze of Diane Campbell as she bore down towards him. Ignoring her, he watched Morgan as he was led by uniformed officers to a waiting police van.

'What the hell do you think you were doing in there, Delaney?'

'Excuse me a minute, ma'am.' Campbell was left speechless as Delaney walked to where Jenny was standing with Candy and a couple of uniformed officers.

'Here you go, Jenny, I think he's yours.'

Delaney handed the teddy bear back to Jenny, who took it and hugged it as if she was a much younger girl. Today, he figured, she did feel a lot younger. In the days to come, the years ahead, she would come to realise that what had happened could have made her so much older.

Delaney put his hand on Sally's shoulder. 'You did well.'

'Thanks, boss. It's a good result. Celebratory drink?'

Delaney looked over at Campbell as she shouted into her mobile phone, and hesitated. If he could face down a psychopathic mechanic with severe emotional difficulties and a homicidal history, he supposed he could face his boss. But as Campbell closed her mobile, Superintendent Walker approached her with his pet Sky News reporter close behind. Delaney turned to Sally.

'Come on then, before people start asking questions.' And he led her behind a bank of uniforms and away.

Kate Walker lay on her bed, the covers thrown back, fine beads of perspiration dotting her forehead. She moaned softly in her sleep and twisted her body for the hundredth time in half an hour. In her dream she was walking up a familiar staircase, broad oak steps with a large hall below her on the right. The staircase turned to the right and led up to a wide corridor. A procession of portraits marched uniformly along the wall, and at the end of the corridor a wide, panelled white door stood slightly ajar. Kate walked slowly towards it, her bare feet soundless on the thick pile of the rich green carpet. She put her hand on the door, opened it further, and walked into the room. A pool of blood reached out, almost kissing her bare toes. And at the top of the elliptical pool was the fanned hair of Jackie Malone, her eyes still wide and uncomprehending, her pale skin still horribly violated.

Kate awoke with a start. She remembered where she had seen a murder scene like it before, and realised why Jackie Malone's body had swapped places with the corpse in her dream. Her dreams were telling her something, and she felt a chill run through her veins as she realised what it was.