Free Blood Line by Lynda La Plante Page A

to this sort of violence. They could have police equipment, handcuffs, ropes, knives, so search their vehicles . . .’
    He took a deep breath and glanced at his watch.
    ‘Right, that’s it for tonight. Weekend leave is cancelled. We work round the clock on this one.’
    His team began to disperse, taking chairs back to their desks and talking quietly to each other. No one as yet had seen Anna, and she now stood up, waiting for the moment to speak to Langton. However, he was in a huddle with Mike Lewis and Paul Barolli. She decided that rather than wait in the incident room, she’d leave her notes with the Duty Sergeant downstairs. She also didn’t feel like talking to anyone from the old team.
    ‘DCI Travis!’ It was Barbara. ‘How are you?’ Barbara was carrying her coat, eager to leave. She was always the first out if it was possible.
    ‘I’m fine, thanks. This sounds like a nasty case.’
    ‘Christ, it’s awful. The victim’s husband was an ex-detective working for a private investigation company.’
    ‘Anna.’ Joan now joined them and she had that sorrowful look in her eyes. ‘How’s things?’
    ‘Good, thank you. I just wanted to pass this over to Langton.’
    Joan turned and pulled a face. ‘He’s been sleeping nights here, as usual keeping us all on our toes, but I hear you got a good result – guilty verdict. Consensus was it was pretty well on the cards though, wasn’t it?’
    ‘Yes.’ Anna felt hemmed in by the two women. If she left with them they’d want to continue the conversation so she stepped aside.
    ‘Just want to give this to him.’ She held up the file of her notes on the Alan Rawlins enquiry.
    The two women left and Anna still hovered. She found it annoying that they seemed to think her last case was an easy ride – although it had been. Had Langton chosen her to head it up for that reason? She now suspected that was exactly what he had done. Her anger made her confident enough to walk towards him.
    ‘Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to run these reports by you.’
    Langton turned, surprised. ‘Travis.’
    Mike Lewis and Barolli both smiled, but Anna cut through any start of a conversation by handing Langton the file.
    ‘Maybe talk about it tomorrow?’ she said briskly.
    ‘Hell, no. Come into the office. As I’m here we might as well deal with it all now.’
    Mike and Barolli moved away, giving her those sad smiles that she loathed, and she forced herself to look back at them with a grin.
    ‘Nice to see you again. Goodnight.’
    Langton put his hand in the small of her back, guiding her towards the office section.
    ‘You want a coffee?’
    ‘No, this won’t take long.’
    The office was sparse, but very modern. Langton sat behind the desk on a leather chair and Anna drew up another equally new chair in front of him. He opened a pack of nicotine gum and then gave a sheepish grin, saying, ‘I’ve given up, but I think I’m getting tooth decay from chewing so much of this stuff.’
    ‘You should get the patches,’ she said.
    ‘Got them all the way up my arm.’
    Anna watched as he flicked through the pages so fast that she doubted he was really able to read them properly. It took him about ten minutes. He looked well, she thought. Also, he’d put on weight, perhaps thanks to giving up smoking.
    ‘How’s that knee of yours?’ she asked.
    ‘Fine – just the occasional twinge. How are you doing?’
    She managed a smile. He stacked the pages and replaced them in the envelope.
    ‘What’s your gut feeling?’ he wanted to know.
    ‘I knew you’d ask me that.’
    He leaned back in his posh leather chair. ‘So what’s your answer?’
    ‘I don’t have one.’
    ‘Mmm.’
    ‘Can I ask you something about my last case?’ Anna said abruptly. ‘Did you handpick it for me because it was a no-brainer?’
    ‘No such thing, Travis,’ he replied immediately, ‘but as a first-time DCI you had to be able to control it and not feel pressured; you needed