Helen Fields - Perfect Silence

‘That’s not nice,’ Stonk said. ‘I’m helping you.’

‘And I appreciate it, but an accurate picture would be more helpful than the one you’re giving me. So you didn’t actually see it fall then, you just heard a metal object hit the floor and this was what you found?’

‘Aye, maybe,’ Stonk said. ‘But it was in the right place at the right time. That’s got to count for something.’

Salter rubbed a tired hand over her eyes. ‘You three stay here,’ she said. ‘I’ll need a statement from each of you. Do you want dinner before that or after?’ Predictably, there was a chorus response in favour of before. She called a uniformed officer over to stand guard so that none of her witnesses could disappear before she returned from the cafe with their food, not that they were likely to get difficult until after their bellies were full. Still, a deal was a deal.

‘Sarge,’ she shouted, holding out a gloved hand for Stonk to give her the key. She walked over to find Lively staring at a patch of ground that even in the dark she could see was crimson.

‘They cut deep this time, much deeper than with Mikey Parsons. That’s a lot of blood right there,’ Lively said.

‘Apparently three men ran from the scene. This was picked up afterwards, over here, and it was heard hitting the floor at the same time as the men ran. It needs logging as evidence.’ She dropped it into a bag that Lively produced from his pocket.

‘Could have been from anyone,’ Lively said. ‘They might just have kicked it when they ran.’

‘I know, but it’s enough that I’ve to buy them all dinner,’ Salter said.

‘Right you are. I’ll have one of the uniforms go and start taking statements. Bloody mess this is. Two attacks days apart, same Z mark on the face. What sort of animal does that to a bunch of men already down on their luck?’

‘The sort that don’t want to run any risk at all of a victim fighting back or being able to identify them,’ Salter said. ‘Cowards.’ She wandered off towards the lights of the cafe, hands shoved deep into her pockets, head down.

Ava inspected the key. ‘How good are the descriptions they gave of the men running away?’ she asked Lively and Salter.

‘Three figures that looked male, all wearing dark clothing with hoods up. Can’t accurately state height. Average weights, not obese, too tall to be young kids. Didn’t see any faces. That’s the best we can do,’ Lively replied.

‘And the witnesses themselves? If one is very poor and ten is perfect, how are we rating their reliability in terms of them being made to look absolutely ridiculous by a defence lawyer?’ Ava asked.

‘It really depends if you regard being drunk, potentially stoned and possibly with some mental health issues as affecting credibility,’ Lively said.

‘It’s a one, ma’am,’ Salter added.

‘Great,’ Ava replied. ‘Prognosis for this victim?’

‘He’ll live. Lost a lot of blood though. Might easily have died from shock alone. We phoned the hospital when we got back. He’s out of surgery but has lost an eye. They say his vital signs indicated severe amounts of drugs in his system, so to be frank, he’ll be sod-all use in terms of identifying his attackers,’ Lively said.

‘Right, let’s process the key for prints, DNA and any useful fibres. It has a tiny fob on it. Have you checked that out yet?’ She peered closer at the key, turning the bag over in her hands.

‘Not yet. We came straight to see you,’ Salter said. ‘Quite a large area of the Meadows had to be sealed off and by the time we left there were journalists grilling the officers at the cordon. It seemed likely you’d need an update as a priority.’

Ava hit the space bar of her computer and brought the screen to life. ‘“Pro Libertate”.’ She squinted to read from the fob, typing the words into a search engine. ‘Blue and white quarters, with a unicorn.’ She hit the enter button and waited. Seconds later a website appeared, displaying photos of happy young men and women under a decorative banner across the top of the screen, and the legend ‘Scotland’s future leaders, educated here today’ written in bold script below the words ‘The Leverhulme School, Edinburgh’.

‘That’s an independent school not far from the city centre,’ Ava said. ‘Its pupils must use the Meadows as a thoroughfare into the city. What we have here is probably a locker key.’ She turned to Salter. ‘What was your impression of the witness who produced it?’

‘He was reluctant to hand it over at first, but when he did I got no sense that he was lying, ma’am,’ Salter said. ‘Although I had offered them a hot meal if they gave me anything concrete to go on,’ she added slowly, her tone acknowledging the fact that such inducements were likely to produce results just for the sake of the food.

‘Feels like a hiding to nothing, but we can’t leave it without checking it out. Lively, get the key through forensics so we can take it to the school and follow it up. We’ll need a public appeal for witnesses in the Meadows at the relevant time, anyone who might have seen three men leaving the area quickly. You handle that, Salter. I also want to pursue a line of enquiry to see if we can link Lorna Shaw with either Mikey Parsons or the latest slashing victim, Paddy Yates. Same dealers, same drugs, known common associates or hangouts, anything at all. Concentrate on Lorna first, then double-check all the same information for Zoey, just in case they ever crossed paths. We now have three victims who’ve been on the wrong end of a blade, and one more still missing. I want to know what the common factor is.’

Lively seemed to be having a problem with his neck, tipping his head with increasing jerkiness in Salter’s direction. Finally Ava realised what he was doing. ‘How are you holding up, DC Salter? I’m happy to accommodate you coordinating in the incident room if the crime scenes are proving difficult for you.’

‘They’re not, ma’am, and whilst I appreciate the sergeant’s concern, I’d prefer it if he’d stop trying to send messages behind my back. With respect, it makes him look like a complete prat.’

‘I agree with you on that score, Constable.’ Ava smiled. ‘Although he means well. Just take it a week at a time, and make sure you come to me if you feel you’re being coddled. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ Salter said.

‘You can go, Constable. I’d like the appeal for information to go out while it’s still fresh in people’s minds. If we don’t get a lead soon we’re going to have to set up an undercover operation. I won’t leave the city’s homeless population to get butchered with no one out there to protect them, but uniforms aren’t the answer. More importantly, if we can find whoever’s assaulting the city’s drug addicts, it might just lead us to Lorna Shaw.’

Salter and Lively turned and moved towards Ava’s office door.

‘Not you, Sergeant,’ Ava added, waiting until Salter had left before continuing. ‘DS Lively, you’ll have noticed that we’re busy at the moment. We have one dead young woman, two badly injured vulnerable members of our community and a missing mother whose baby needs her. Is there any particular reason you appear to be choosing this week to pick fights with the Detective Superintendent?’

‘To be fair, ma’am, no one needs to pick a fight with the Evil Overlord. She just seems to have taken a shine to me. What can I say?’

‘That was more than enough, so let me issue a very clear order. Stay out of her way. Don’t break any more rules. Do not add to my to-do list, and sort this case out immediately so that I have every pair of boots back out there looking for Lorna Shaw. The only response I require is confirmation that you have heard me and understood.’