Page 80 of The Final Vow

‘Then whydidshe call?’

‘Five quid gets you six it was to wind us up. Make sure we stayed on task. She’s committed to a play she doesn’t like, probably been told to cut us loose. But she’s not an idiot. She knows how stubborn we are—’

‘Speak for yourself.’

‘She wants us working Ezekiel Puck, but she doesn’t want us reporting back to her. That was why she was so rude. Someone must be monitoring her emails and phone calls. Making sure she toes the party line.’

And once more Poe thought,Tilly and I have a plan. . . And it didn’t involve toeing the party line, that was for sure.

Flynn didn’t immediately respond. ‘I think you’re right, Poe,’ she said eventually. ‘Shewasunusually rude.’ She paused again. ‘OK, we’ve understood the subtext – now what do we do?’

‘What we always do.’

‘Fuck around and find out?’

‘It’s worked so far.’

‘OK, so we know whatwe’regoing to do. Tilly hits the data. We hit the witnesses no one has thought of hitting. The usual stuff. The big question is, what will Ezekiel Puck do?’

‘I think he’ll do two things, boss.’

‘Which are?’

‘First, he’ll change his appearance. Tinted lenses, cheek implants, that kind of thing. You can make yourself taller, heavier or older, but not the other way round. So, while the description and the E-FITs said to be on the lookout for a tall, thin man in his fifties, I think we need to be looking for someone two-stone heavier and twenty years older. He’s already standout tall but he might walk with a stoop now.’

‘OK, Tilly, can you work up some alternative E-FITs?’

‘I’ve already started, DCI Flynn.’

‘What’s the second thing he’ll do, Poe?’

‘He’ll react to Mathers releasing the E-FITs,’ Poe said.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m certain. His ego won’t allow him to do anything else.’

Which was strange, because for seven days Puckdidn’treact.

But then he did.

And everything changed.

Chapter 66

Poe had gone to bed late. He and Bradshaw had spent the day in Gretna Green talking to Joanne Addy, Ezekiel Puck’s ex-wife. When they’d arrived, the armed cops protecting her made themselves scarce. Almost as if they’d been expecting them. Poe was relieved. He liked Mathers and was disappointed by her earlier outburst. Now he understood it was the only way she could keep them involved, he liked her even more. She wasn’t just a good cop, she was aclevercop. Poe didn’t get anything new from Joanne Addy, although Bradshaw said it added depth to her emerging profile. By the time they got back to Highwood, it was past midnight. Not even Doyle and Edgar were waiting up for them. He said goodnight to Bradshaw then went straight to bed. He was asleep within three minutes.

An hour later, the grating sound of ‘I’m Too Sexy’ by Right Said Fred filled the bedroom. Poe reached for his phone, silently cursing Bradshaw and the new ringtone she’d given him. Every time he did something she disapproved of – which could be anything from eating sausage rolls to telling elected officials to piss off – she changed his ringtone to something he’d hate. She also did something with the phone settings so he couldn’t change it. He suspected Right Said Fred was her way of letting him know that she’d found out he’d hadtwopie lunches the day he’d collected Uncle Bertie.

He stared at the screen, blurry-eyed. It was Flynn. And it was half past one in the morning. This wasn’t going to be good news.

He pressed accept and said, ‘Boss?’

‘Good news, Poe,’ she said.

‘I knew it would be.’

‘How quickly can you and Tilly get to London?’