DAC Smith looked at the board and forced her tired mind to focus. The uniformed officers were slowly going through hours of CCTV footage trying to find Boyd's car and any footage of Jason Evans returning, assuming he was the kidnapper. (Smith reminded herself not to rule out other possibilities; after all, there were any number of people who'd like to do mischief to Boyd and/or Doctor Foley.) The two pathologists were working flat out on the evidence from the crime scenes and people from the Home Office had finally stopped calling her, probably because it was after midnight. The Commissioner had done an appeal for information on the late evening news and they'd set up a hotline for information. Spence and Kat were looking through the files, trying to find evidence linking Jason Evans to any of the other victims. A process seriously hampered by the lack of identification for most of the bodies. Smith was about to suggest that they take it in turns to get some rest when Spence's phone rang,
'DI Jordan...You have? Where?...Right, we'll be right there.'
Spence rang off and said,
'Ma'am, they've found Boyd's car on a patch of wasteland. Someone had tried to set it alight but apparently not done a very good job of it.'
'Anyone inside it?'
'No, Ma'am.'
'Get forensics over there immediately.'
'Yes, Ma'am. Kat, with me.'
Spence and Kat rushed out of the building.
Grace turned over on to her side and Boyd followed automatically, spooning up against her and putting an arm around her. She mumbled something incoherent before falling into a deeper sleep, feeling safe and warm.
The interior of Boyd's car was a mess. The fire hadn't caught properly but the back seat was badly charred, the roof fabric was blackened and the whole car smelt of smoke. There was a jumble of stuff on the floor in the back and Kat recognised Grace's purse, lipstick and hairbrush.
'Sir, I think Grace's handbag was in here,' she said.
Spence looked at the items and nodded sombrely. It had always been unlikely that Grace had been allowed to keep her bag but finding the contents scattered on the floor was still an unpleasant shock. He stood back to let the SOCO's do their job and looked carefully around. The ground was frozen so there were no tyre or footprints visible in the radius of the arc lights brought by the forensics team (though it would have to be checked in daylight).
Reminding the head of the forensics team that they thought that Boyd might have been in the boot of the car, Spence stepped outside of the circle of light and waited for his night vision to return. Kat joined him and he said,
'We need to find out where the nearest working CCTV cameras are in each direction.'
'Yes, Sir. I'll call Traffic.'
'Find out where the nearest cash points and twenty-four hour supermarkets are too; they usually have cameras.'
'Yes, Sir.'
Kat took out her phone and started to dial but Spence stopped her, saying,
'Might as well do it from the station, Kat, it's brass monkeys out here.'
Kat nodded, aware of the bitter cold seeping through her clothing, and said,
'I pity anyone sleeping rough tonight.'
'They'll probably never wake up if they haven't got shelter,' agreed Spence, bleakly.
By tacit consent neither of them mentioned how cold it would get in an unheated basement tonight.
Grace was dimly aware that her head was very cold even though the rest of her was warm. Not even half awake, she instinctively snuggled down further into the warmth. There was an arm loosely around her waist and she pulled it more tightly against her. There was a vague grumble from the owner of the arm but then she was being pulled tightly back against a wonderfully warm, male body. Before she had time to wonder why she was in bed with an almost naked man the added warmth combined with her exhaustion to send her tumbling back into a deep sleep.
Spence updated DAC Smith who nodded then said,
'Hand over getting the list of places with CCTV to someone else and you and Kat get some rest.'
Spence looked dubious but nodded reluctantly and Smith continued,
'I'm going to go up to my office and get some sleep. Reconvene here at seven unless something breaks before then.'
'Yes, Ma'am.'
Spence watched her leave then turned to Kat and said,
'Who's office do you want? Grace's or Boyd's?'
'Grace's.'
Leaving the PC's to work through the footage and try to find more, they each settled on a sofa, both trying unsuccessfully to calm their minds enough to get some sleep.
Boyd woke up and for one brief, blissful moment he thought that he was at home in bed with a sexy woman. He started to move his hand towards her breasts, bending to kiss her neck. A split second before his hand and lips made contact, his back touched the filing cabinet and he jerked to full alertness. Horrified, he realised that not only had he been about to kiss and caress Grace but his morning erection was pressed firmly into her hip. Desperately hoping that she was still asleep, Boyd turned over. As he did so, the lump on the side of his head came into contact with the barely padded surface of the bed and he gasped as pain shot through his head. Swearing under his breath, he moved his head to a more comfortable position and waited for the pain to subside. Beside him, Grace shifted, saying sleepily,
'Boyd?'
'Go back to sleep, Grace.'
He felt an arm slip round his waist and was extremely glad that the pain in his head had had the same effect as a long cold shower; at least he wouldn't have to put up with the humiliation of trying to explain why he had a hard-on at such an inappropriate time.
