Gay Longworth - The Unquiet Dead

‘I don’t know, how did that go?’

‘A couple of ageing actresses first thing in the morning, how do you think?’

‘Shit,’ said Mark.

‘Tell me she isn’t appearing in a play that’s dying a death. Can you believe how far these people will go to get good box-office receipts?’

‘But that’s just it –’ Mark stopped but Jessie had already felt the draught. Her office door was open. She turned. Sarah Klein’s clone was looking at her with a very unnerving expression on her face. Clearly she’d heard what Jessie had said. Her only option was to bluff it. But before she’d even managed to force her mouth into a smile, or utter polite platitudes, the angry woman spoke.

‘That was very unimpressive.’

‘I’m sorry if you think that, but in my experience –’

Mark pushed the back of his shoe into Jessie’s heel. She ignored his warning. She’d had enough of the arrogance of vaguely famous people, assuming they were more important than everyone else and therefore deserving of special treatment.

‘– these sort of situations –’

‘How can you possibly judge the situation when you didn’t ask the right questions?’

‘If you have anything to add, please go ahead.’

Mark pushed her aside and stepped forward. ‘Driver, perhaps you haven’t met –’

‘Careful,’ protested Jessie.

‘I think he is trying to tell you to be careful. Thank you, Mark, but I think we can handle this from here.’

Jessie looked from her colleague to the heavily made-up woman and back again.

‘Handle what?’ asked Jessie.

‘That will be all, Mark. Thank you,’ she said imperiously. To Jessie’s astonishment, Mark nodded curtly and left. A little hole opened up beneath her feet and she looked longingly into it. But the ground was solid; she wasn’t going anywhere.

‘DCI Moore,’ said Jessie, offering her hand. ‘I don’t believe we’ve properly met.’

‘No. Seems you were unavailable to attend my induction yesterday afternoon. DI Ward said you were …’ she paused looking Jessie up and down, ‘indisposed.’

Bollocks was the only word that sprung to Jessie’s mind. Bollocks. Bollocks. Bollocks.

‘I wouldn’t have got where I am if I didn’t know the difference between indisposed and a hangover. You, DI Driver, have a hangover. I can smell it.’

Jessie opened her mouth, then closed it again. A series of other swear words were now filling the void in her head where fabulous excuses should have been.

‘I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your performance in there is down to your,’ she paused again, ‘indisposition. However, had I been Ms Klein’s lawyer – and for all you knew I might have been just that – I would have advised her to make a formal complaint against you. Don’t ever treat a victim of crime like that again.’

Getting defensive wasn’t going to get her out of this. ‘I apologise,’ said Jessie. ‘I shall take over from Niaz immediately.’

‘Who is this Niaz? What’s a PC in uniform doing here in CID?’

‘He’s been seconded to CID from Putney. He shows true promise and I’m hoping he’ll take the exams.’

‘“True promise” in whose judgement?’

Jessie didn’t reply. She wasn’t going to let DCI Moore tar Niaz with the same brush. Moore turned on her high heel and walked away, leaving Jessie reeling. What bloody induction? Where was Jones? He wasn’t supposed to be leaving for another week. And why didn’t Mark warn her? She kicked Mark’s door open. He held up his hands as if she were wielding a gun.

‘She turned up about an hour after you called in.’

‘Why didn’t you phone me, tell me to come back?’

‘I tried to, but your mobile was switched off.’

Jessie had a vague memory of listening to some messages when she and Bill got home that evening. But by then she’d been drinking for ten hours and was in a fairly shoddy condition.

‘I feel like shit.’

‘You look like shit. I came to find you first thing. I didn’t know she was going to hide in your office like that.’

‘What was she doing there, anyway?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe you share a common hobby.’

Hungover and slow on the uptake, Jessie just frowned.

‘Star-fucking,’ said Mark gleefully.

‘I’m not going to dignify that with a response,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Only because you can’t.’

‘What is it, fuck on Jessie day? And what the hell does “indisposed” mean?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You told that overly made-up harridan that I was indisposed.’

Mark’s eyes suddenly widened and he appeared to swell. Jessie didn’t dare turn around.

‘Mark,’ said the cool voice of DCI Moore over Jessie’s left shoulder, ‘I was wondering if you would give me a tour of the premises. Jones isn’t going to be able to make it in again today.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ The words exploded out of him on his pent-up breath.

‘Thank you.’ Jessie heard the heels click away from her; she must have been tiptoeing earlier. The clicking stopped. Jessie braced herself. ‘Incidentally, Driver, you should think of doing something about your hair.’ Jessie turned reluctantly, imagining what it would feel like to turn into a pillar of salt. ‘You may not be in uniform, but you still represent the police force. Most importantly, you reflect your superiors and that means more than getting out of bed in the morning and hoping for the best.’

Again, the doors closed behind her. She turned to Mark. ‘I’m fucked.’

He shrugged.

She could have killed him.

Bill and Jessie sat on her sofa, their feet up on the coffee table, tea in hand. Neither her day nor her hangover had improved. Bill had made comforting noises when she finally fell through the door, but Jessie knew he didn’t really understand. He wasn’t a locker-room sort of man, whereas Jessie lived in one.

‘So what have you been doing all day, while I’ve been having my balls busted?’

‘Eating crap food and watching videos. Malcolm X , excellent film. I’d never got round to –’

She lifted the remote control and increased the volume. ‘Shh, this is it.’

‘Our main story tonight,’ said the newsreader. ‘Anna Maria Klein, the only child of actress Sarah Klein, is missing. The schoolgirl was last seen in London’s red-light district –’

‘She won’t like that,’ interrupted Jessie.

‘– where she was supposed to be meeting friends at a coffee shop. Amanda Hornby is there now. Amanda, what can you tell us?’

‘She’s foxy,’ said Bill. Jessie hit him.

‘Good evening. Well, the police are telling us very little at the moment. Anna Maria was reported missing by her mother this morning at West End Central police station. After initially being told to wait and see by one senior officer, the panicked mother was finally taken seriously late this afternoon.’

‘Why the change in approach?’

‘Sarah Klein apparently spent the day calling her daughter’s friends, until she found who Anna Maria was supposed to be meeting. The friends then confirmed that Anna Maria had never arrived at the coffee shop just behind me.’

‘And this had them worried?’

‘No. They say that Anna Maria often changed her plans.’

‘See? Flaky,’ said Jessie.

‘But time is very much of the essence in situations like these,’ redirected the newsreader.

‘That’s right. Every second counts, and it’s true many hours were lost before an investigation into Anna Maria’s whereabouts got underway. Now the teenager is facing her second night away from home and all her mother can do is hope for her safe return. This is Amanda Hornby, Soho, in London, for Channel Five News.’