Getting up, Janine looked in the cot. Charlotte greeted her with a little shriek.
‘Good morning,’ Janine rubbed the baby’s stomach. ‘Aren’t you lovely,’ she told her. ‘Yes, you are. My best girl.’
There was an edgy mood in the incident room that morning. The banter a little too savage, the laughter forced. As soon as she began to speak the team were made unequivocally aware of Janine’s ire. She could have been reading a shopping list and they’d still have got the message. The boss was steaming. She tapped the edge of Jeremy Gleason’s photograph. ‘He was a suspect in the death by reckless driving of a seven-year-old. He may also have been able to help us with the murder of Rosa Milicz.’ She paused, scanned the room. Took in Butchers avoiding eye contact, hunched in his seat. As well he might.
She carried on, her voice quieter which only emphasised the contained fury. ‘Someone on this team leaked crucial identifying information to a man half-deranged with grief. We don’t know yet who pulled the trigger on Jeremy Gleason but, whether or not it was Chris Chinley, I will never accommodate such a serious breach of discipline.’ She looked from one officer to another, insisting that they share her frustration. ‘We are a team. A stunt like this reflects on every other person in this room. There’s only one side – you’re on it or you’re out. I expect whoever jeopardised this investigation to have the basic bloody guts to own up. You know where my office is.’
She stepped back, folded her arms and leant against a desk, her eyes still roving the room, taking in the discomfort that rippled through the group.
Richard took over. ‘OK, three cases – we’ll take new information on them one by one. Jeremy Gleason, murder. Pathology has promised an initial report first thing after lunch. At this point in time we’re looking at Chris Chinley and Lee Stone. Chris Chinley has agreed to a gunshot residue test and his clothes are with the lab. He was in the area, intending to go after Gleason and Stone. Claims he bottled out.’ He shrugged; the jury was still out on that one. ‘All forces are on lookout for Lee Stone and we are calling on family and known associates and checking places he may have holed up.’ Officers nodded, exchanged glances, scribbled notes.
‘Prior to this, we know Stone and Gleason were mates. Maybe they quarrelled or maybe Stone took him out because he knew too much. And remember, although we have no other suspects at present, enquiries might turn up someone new. Talk to Gleason’s other pals, neighbours, family – did Gleason have any enemies we should know about?
