Free Blind Fury by Lynda La Plante Page A

“lined with hardback books like a library; he even offered Anna still or sparkling water! I dunno about it being a prison within a prison. It’s more like a ruddy holiday camp, and he was as tanned as if he’d been to the South of France.”
    Mike looked at Anna and grinned. “Must be out of a bottle, as it’s not exactly sunbathing weather. So, wasted journey?”
    She was about to agree when Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton walked in. They all turned, and he gave them a brief nod of acknowledgment, then came over to survey the incident board. He read Anna’s note about the prison visit and indicated for her to join him, tapping the mug shot of Cameron Welsh.
    “How did you find him?”
    “As arrogant as ever. In fact, he looked even younger than his mug shot.”
    “Shows what three meals a day and no stress can do. You want to take me through the meeting?”
    “It’s all there. He didn’t have anything, and we think it was a ploy to entertain himself.”
    “So he wrote to you.”
    “Yes. That’s a copy of the letter he wrote—you’ve already seen it.” Anna pointed to the board.
    “Taken a fancy to you, has he?”
    “I would say he’s too in love with himself to fancy anyone else. He makes my skin crawl.”
    Langton looked at her and smiled. “What if he could get inside our killer’s head?” he said.
    “I truthfully think his own head is stuck so far up his arse that he’d be incapable. He just wants to pull our strings. All this is a sick game, and I don’t want to see him again.”
    “Got under your skin, did he?”
    “Yes—and Barolli’s. Ask him what he was like.”
    “I will. Okay, thanks.”
    Anna returned to her desk as Langton went into Mike’s office. They were there for quite a while. Meanwhile, the incident room was quiet, as the officers had no new evidence and still no identification on their victim. Both Jean and Barbara had been working through all the Mispers on file but had no result.
    Emerald Turk’s address had been searched while Anna was at Barfield, but no suitcase had been found. Barolli had also started looking for any ex–police officers who might have known Margaret Potts, but his inquiries fell on stony ground. It was depressing; the case was grinding to a halt.
    Barolli came up to Anna’s desk and pulled at his tie. “I’ve been on to bailiff companies, but so far I’ve had no luck in tracing anyone who knew Potts or anyone who was an ex-copper. I dunno how far back I need to go in checking out retired Flying Squad guys, because they’re usually the ones that take up security or bailiff work. Maybe we need to talk to Emerald Turk again.”
    Anna shrugged. They were grasping at straws, but to date, Emerald had been the most informative person with regard to the first victim.
    “I don’t know if she can be any more help, but I don’t mind doing it,” Anna said. She wished they at least had the victim’s suitcase, and even better, her notebook with the license numbers.
    Barolli ran a hand through his hair. It was hard to believe that they had no ID on two young beautiful girls and were still concentrating on Margaret Potts because they had little else to go on. Joan had been working on the possibility that they could identify their girl from dental records, but even though they were able to show on Crimewatch the two unusual front-teeth implants, they had not received a single call.
    Mike came out of his office and signaled to Anna for her to join him and Langton.
    Langton was sitting behind Mike’s desk, flicking through reports. He looked up and smiled at Anna as she came in. She was slightly thrown, although he had promised that their relationship would be more relaxed. She sat down and waited for him to finish glancing through the reports. Eventually, he let out a long sigh. “Not good, is it?” he said.
    She knew he was referring to their inquiry, and she nodded.
    “We have nothing, which is worrying,” he went on. “Pity the team