BooksBarbecue
Back Found Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. About the Book
  6. Dedication
  7. Your Worst Nightmare
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. The Answer to All Your Prayers
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. Somebody Else’s Child
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. Sunlight on Water
  60. July
  61. September
  62. Acknowledgements

‘Sounds good,’ says Campbell. ‘When will you meet?’

‘We’re planning to travel up this afternoon, just as soon as Rose can confirm childcare arrangements, with a view to seeing Evan tomorrow morning, as early as we can. Obviously Cheshire are pushing us to get on with it but it’s not an easy situation. As we understand it, Evan’s still very fragile. If we go too fast, he might clam up on us again.’

‘Rose knows what she’s doing,’ says Campbell.

‘With respect, Sir, she didn’t get far last time,’ says Hagen. ‘I think we need to stay mindful that Evan’s been highly traumatised and he may never open up, or not before we’re collecting our pensions, anyway. Maybe you could advise Cheshire that we’re doubtful of a result through this interview and suggest they pursue every other avenue they’ve got as aggressively as possible.’

‘I’m sure they’re already doing that. But we can hardly blame them for keeping their fingers crossed, can we?’

‘As long as there’s no reliance,’ says Hagen. ‘That’s all I’m saying. The other thing to bear in mind is that the family’s not exactly overwhelmed with what we did for them. Evan was only recovered by a happy accident, so I can’t say I blame them. If he reacts badly, I can see them pulling the plug. We’ve had no resources on this case for months. Now it’s all hands to the pumps again. It just feels like we’re fire-fighting all the time, instead of taking a methodical approach which might have got a result.’

‘I’ll be sure to pass your comments on to the Chief Constable, Bradley,’ says Campbell, ‘but you’re not saying anything I don’t already know. Just do your best. And let’s hope Rose and Rachel come back from Yorkshire with something we can use.’

‘Is that your strategy for a fast-track promotion?’ Naylor asks Hagen as they walk down the stairs. ‘Telling him he’s mishandling our caseload?’

‘It wants saying,’ says Hagen. ‘How can we work like this, dropping investigations and picking them up again at a moment’s notice? We need to be methodical, organised. If he’d left us on the case, we might have had a result by now and Liam Keslake might never have been taken.’

‘And all those cases we’ve looked at in the interim would still be waiting to be assigned,’ says Naylor. ‘I get what you’re saying, of course I do. We’ll just have to make sure we use this breakthrough to nail these bastards, for all our sakes.’

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-SEVEN

11 December