Free The Birdwatcher by William Shaw

grey town, passing over the words his dad had written: NO POPE HERE.

SIX
    DI McAdam was all smiles. ‘Good job, Bill,’ he said. ‘You know Sergeant South, don’t you, Chief Inspector?’
    The front room was crowded with coppers, steaming in the warmth. One of the younger policemen was coughing every few seconds without bothering to cover his mouth.
    ‘Excellent idea, using your house as a base,’ said the Chief Inspector, looking around.
    ‘It was Sergeant Cupidi’s idea, sir,’ said South.
    Across the room, Cupidi winked back at him. The Chief Inspector was peering around in the crowded room for somewhere to sit. Seeing one of his neighbourhood PCSOs perching on one of his dining-room chairs gazing at her mobile screen, South nudged her, motioning her to stand. Blushing, she jumped up to make way for the Senior Inspecting Officer.
    The air was pungent with the reek of damp socks. South had asked the policemen to leave their boots in the hallway. Only the SIO and the inspector had left their shoes on. ‘OK, girls and boys,’ the inspector said, loudly enough to get everyone’s attention. ‘Good work, everybody. Fantastic results for a first day. From what we’ve learned, this looks more and more like an opportunist. Especially if that bottle Bill found turns out to be the one missing from the cabinet.’ He’d taken his jacket off and was rolling up his sleeves as he talked. ‘We can concentrate our resources looking for substance users, homeless people, alcoholics. Bill says he saw three men and two women, but didn’t get much of a chance to see their faces.’
    Looking east towards the morning sun was like trying to identify a bird when the light was behind it.
    ‘Maybe they’ll have sobered up and figured out what they’ve done. Or maybe they’re on another bender already. We’re looking for homeless people who were in this area over the last forty-eight hours,’ he was saying. ‘Any CCTV around here?’
    Cupidi said, ‘Some on the pub. I’ve already asked for it. A couple of homeowners, only the houses are empty so it’ll take a while to contact them.’
    ‘We’ll need a multi-agency approach. Coordinate that. Contact the council’s housing and homeless department.’
    ‘Done that already, sir,’ said Cupidi.
    ‘And the local homeless charities and Social Services. Someone will have a list. We need to find everyone who’s been sleeping out around here.’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ said Cupidi, tight-lipped. The more the inspector talked, the less she was smiling. ‘I was thinking maybe tonight, sir. The hostels will have duty officers on. Maybe I can take an officer around with me. Find out what they know? For all we know he’s in one of them now.’
    McAdam smiled. ‘No need for overtime yet, Sergeant. I’ll suggest the duty sergeant puts a couple of the night shift on calling round the hostels.’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she said quietly.
    ‘Good. So, when did forensics say they were going to get back to you about the weapon?’
    ‘They’re calling up first thing tomorrow to say whether it’s human hair or not and whether there are decent prints on the broken bottle. Take a few more days to confirm whether they’re Rayner’s or not.’
    McAdam nodded. ‘But they will be, won’t they?’
    ‘Hard to say with all the rain,’ said Cupidi.
    ‘I can’t see that as too much of a problem,’ said McAdam. ‘I’m convinced that whoever did this is behaving chaotically. They won’t have thought to cover their traces properly. Check all the DIY stores. Get their CCTV. Look for anyone buying an axe handle.’ He looked at his watch. ‘OK?’ he said. ‘Meet back here 8.20 a.m. tomorrow?’
    ‘What about searching the rest of the area?’ said Cupidi.
    ‘We’ll see what manpower we have available tomorrow.’
    ‘Only, we don’t know for certain that what we’ve found is the murder weapon, sir.’
    ‘I’ll bet you a tenner it is.’
    ‘All the same. We need to properly examine the area