The film rolled past him. Another foil had entered the picture, a big-hearted con man. Rebus had yet to meet a con man in real life who was anything but the most predatory shark. What was the phrase? – they’d steal your false teeth and drink the water out of the glass. Well, maybe this con man was in with a chance. The secretary was interested, but she was loyal to her boss too, and he was doing everything short of whipping his sausage out and slapping it on her desk . . .

‘A penny for them.’

‘They’re not worth it, Patience.’ They’d find Steele, they’d find Jack. Why couldn’t he relax? He kept thinking of a set of clothes and a note, left on a beach. Stonehouse. Lucan had done it, hadn’t he, disappeared without trace? It wasn’t easy, but all the same . . .

The next thing he knew, Patience was shaking him by the shoulder.

‘Wake up, John. Time for bed.’

He’d been asleep for an hour. ‘The con man or the student?’ he asked.

‘Neither,’ she said. ‘The boss changed his ways and gave her a partnership in the firm. Now come on, partner . . .’ She held her hands out to help him up on to his feet. ‘After all, tomorrow is another day . . .’

Another day, another dolour. Thursday. Two weeks since they’d found Elizabeth Jack’s body. Now all they could do was wait . . . and hope no more bodies turned up. Rebus picked up his office phone. It was Lauderdale.

‘The Chief Super’s bitten the bullet,’ he told Rebus. ‘We’re holding a press conference, putting out wanteds on both of them, Steele and Jack.’

‘Does Sir Hugh know yet?’

‘I wouldn’t want to be the one who tells him. He marches in here with his son-in-law, not knowing the bugger killed his daughter? No, I wouldn’t want to be the one who tells him.’

‘Am I supposed to be there?’

‘Of course, and bring Holmes, too. After all, he’s the one who spotted the car . . .’

The line went dead. Rebus stared at the receiver. Alsatian bites man after all . . .

*

Spotted it and told Nell about it all last night. Repeating the story, adding missed details, hardly able to sit down. Until she’d screeched at him to stop or else she’d go off her head. That calmed him down a little, but not much.

‘You see, Nell, if they’d told me earlier, if they’d let me in on the whole story of the car colours, of why they were needed, well, we’d have nailed him all the sooner, wouldn’t we? I don’t want to, but really I blame John. It was him who . . .’

‘I thought you said it was Lauderdale who gave you the job in the first place?’

‘Yes, true, but even so John should have –’

‘Shut up! For God’s sake, just shut up!’

‘Mind you, you’re right, Laud –’