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Back Cross and Burn Save as PDF
Chapters (74)
  1. About the Author
  2. Also by Val McDermid
  3. COPYRIGHT
  4. CROSS AND BURN
  5. Dedication
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Epigraph
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. 50
  58. 51
  59. 52
  60. 53
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  62. 55
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  64. 57
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  67. 60
  68. 61
  69. 62
  70. 63
  71. 64
  72. 65
  73. 66
  74. 67

Paula looked disgusted at the thought of what had happened to Stacey Chen, the terrifyingly effective analyst she’d worked alongside in Carol Jordan’s Major Incident Team. ‘They’ve got her working on computer fraud. She says it’s like sending a Lear jet on the school run. All the forensic computer work in CID gets farmed out to private companies now.’

‘She should quit the force and set up in competition to them.’

‘Don’t think she hasn’t thought about it. But running a company would interfere too much with the programming she does in her spare time. That’s where the real money comes from in Stacey world. Besides, if she wasn’t a cop any more, she wouldn’t have the licence to go poking around in other people’s hard drives.’

‘Could you ask for a copy of the hard drive before it goes off to the specialists? Would that work for Stacey?’

‘Good idea. I’ll ask her. And if it was a stranger?’

‘You don’t need me for this bit, Paula. This is nothing but old-fashioned coppering with new-fashioned methods. Interrogating the CCTV, looking for her car on the number-plate-recognition software records, examining her Facebook page and her Twitter feed, seeing who she’s connected to on LinkedIn, checking her phone records. A profiler’s no use to you at this stage. I need data, and that’s what you haven’t got. All I’ve done is confirm your worst fears.’

‘I need a smoke,’ Paula said, standing up abruptly.

‘Just go out the back.’

‘Come with me, would you? I want to take you through the rest of my day.’

‘Will I need my coat and my keys?’

Paula’s smile promised dark mischief. ‘Only if you fancy a bit of transgression.’

Tony grabbed the waxed jacket that was hanging next to Paula’s coat. ‘For a lesbian, your knowledge of the way to a man’s heart is remarkable.

17

Carol had never really grasped the concept of survivor guilt. She’d always believed that being a survivor was a good thing, something to be proud about, not ashamed of. Her past was dotted with struggles to get past bad things that had happened to her; if she’d been pushed, she’d have said she was gratified not to have caved under their weight. That was something else that had changed.