Free Greed: A DI Scott Baker Novel by Jay Nadal

from you today.” Scott pulled a business card out from his wallet. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you think of anything else.”
     
    ***
     
    Scott headed back over to the car park just as Cara Hall was putting away the last of her things. She looked up as Scott approached and greeted him with a smile.
    “Safe to come near you?” Scott questioned.
    She tipped her head to one side, “Is that the best you can do?” she fired back. We’ve got to stop meeting like this, the neighbours will talk,” she replied as she looked around in mock fear, her eyes wide open.
    Scott smiled in response. “So what have we got?”
    “Similar to the last killing I’m afraid. Stab wound to the neck, bit messier this one though. Someone likes giving their money away, too.”
    “Sorry?” Scott asked quizzically.
    Cara looked up from checking her messages on her phone. “I’ve just been talking to SOCO, and they’ve found three twenty pound notes stuffed in the vic’s mouth.”
    “We dealing with the same person?”
    “Possibly. I’ve not come across another case that carried these hallmarks, especially the money,” said Cara. I’m going to get a PM done late this afternoon, so I’ll call you later if that’s ok?”
    Scott nodded his agreement.
    “I do find this case particularly fascinating and intriguing, the money in the mouth has certainly piqued my curiosity.”
    “It’s a strange one,” replied Scott.
    “Perhaps we should catch up over a drink and swap theories?” suggested Cara.
    Scott hesitated for a moment, unsure how to respond, taken aback by the strange feeling of uncertainty he felt inside. “Erm, yes, that sounds good. We’ll talk later,” he replied.

Chapter 10
    The afternoon was spent doing the various admin tasks a senior officer was expected to undertake which also took him away from the recent murders that needed his attention. Scott didn’t enjoy this part of his job. He’d much rather be out there at the coal face. He soon realised with promotion comes added rounds of meetings, an in-tray that seemed to have a mind of its own, and the supervision of junior officers.
    Not forgetting, the ever increasing pressures for accountability from senior managers and the police crime commissioner, that heaped more work upon him.
    Scott had recently read several internal papers, perused police forums and digested reports relating to the changes the force was going through.
    Scott often felt it required the tact and diplomacy of a slippery politician to balance politics versus policing. He wasn’t a political person by any means, but it was often felt that beneath the surface bubbled a long-standing issue in British policing. That being, who really controlled police tactics and policies, and in particular, where the reasonable limits of acceptable political influence should lie.
    He knew though that there was considerable political controversy over a number of policing issues and police reform. It wasn’t just police numbers and public order tactics, but also about government cuts, the input of elected police and crime commissioners, and even the hotly contended issue of possibly importing police chiefs from other countries. Scott shook his head in disbelief as he thought of that last point.
    With such a convoluted approach, any officer had to question the notion of whether the police had any degree of o perational independence, or further still, whether politics and policing needed each other to co-exist for mutual benefit.
    Above and beyond that, he had a team to supervise, a team that faced its own problems. He was already down a few officers who were signed off with stress as result of too much work and fewer resources. Scott was resigned to that fact, and he knew that it wasn’t a localised problem. All forces were experiencing this crisis.
    He sighed as he rubbed his temples and pushed his chair away from his desk. Turning around he stood at his window looking out over a sullen grey sky that