Free Nocturne with Bonus Material by Deborah Crombie Page A

a smile.
    â€œYou look like shit,” Tavie said. The smile hadn’t fooled her for a second.
    â€œYou’re always one for the compliments.” His stab at their usual banter sounded false even to him. “I’m okay, really.” He nodded towards the bag she’d taken from her kit in the truck. “Let’s get on with it. What have you got for the dogs?”
    â€œI raided the laundry hamper when we cleared the cottage to make sure she wasn’t there. It was a treasure trove—socks or undies for every team. But let’s get over the fence first.” Tavie led the way through the gate, with Tosh crabbing sideways and stepping on her boots in her eagerness. Finn seemed unusually subdued, and Kieran knew the dog was picking up on his mood.
    When they were clear of the fence, with only the muddy expanse of meadow between them and the river path, Tavie stopped. She and Kieran unclipped both dogs’ leads, then, slipping on gloves, she opened the bag—bags, really, as a paper bag was nestled inside the plastic one—and pulled out a white scrap of fabric. A woman’s stretchy knickers, the utilitarian, moisture-wicking kind that absorbed sweat from a rowing workout. A perfect scent article, and horribly familiar to Kieran.
    Tavie held the pants out to the dogs, an inch from their noses. “Smell it, Tosh. Smell it, Finn,” she encouraged in the high, singsong voice that made the dogs quiver with excitement.
    The dogs sniffed obediently, and Kieran imagined, as he always did, the rush of scent molecules flowing into their noses and triggering the receptors in their brains, a sensation that humans could never duplicate. For the first time, the idea made him feel sick rather than envious.
    Traffic crackled over the radio as the teams on either side of the river marked their positions, and Kieran heard the distant drone of a helicopter. Thames Valley Police had got the chopper up. The chopper would search the area simultaneously, using both sight and thermal imaging.
    Tucking the pants back into her pack, Tavie said, “Find her, Tosh, find!”
    But before Kieran could echo the command to Finn, both dogs began to whine and paw at his legs. Finn jumped up, putting his front paws on Kieran’s chest, his signal for a find.
    â€œFinn, off.” Kieran pushed the dog down as Tavie stared at him.
    â€œKieran, what the hell? Did you touch any of my kit?”
    He knew she was worried about more than confusing the dogs. She’d have signed off on chain of evidence for all the scent articles and would be responsible if anything had been contaminated.
    â€œOf course not. I haven’t been near your pack.” It was only half a lie. He tried to pull himself together. “Come on, we’re losing ground here.” Turning to the dogs, he clapped his hands. “Finn! Find her!” he managed, but he couldn’t bring himself to say her name. He began to trot towards the river, the signal for Finn to begin checking the scent cone. Tavie followed, and the dogs quickly ranged out in front of them, falling into their familiar zigzag pattern.
    The wind was blowing upriver, the ideal working condition for the dogs, but he knew the morning’s heavy rain would have seriously reduced the dogs’ chances of finding an air scent.
    Just as they reached the river, they heard the team directly across the river on the radio. Scott’s voice came through intermittently. “Dogs . . . alerting . . . can’t—”
    â€œThey’re just opposite us,” said Tavie, then called Tosh to her with the Wait command. “Look. Can you see them? They should be just there, where Benham’s Wood comes down to the water.”
    Kieran skidded to a halt behind her, gazing past the end of Temple Island towards the cluster of trees on the far side of the river. Then he saw a flash of liver and white as Scott’s springer spaniel broke through the