"So, who was the woman in the picture? Do I remember a girlfriend?"
I grin at Gail. "Did I mention you're observant?"
"Yes, you did."
"Well, I was right with that."
She laughs and I continue my tale.
***
"Mr. Gills?"
"Oh my God..."
As Mr. Gills seemed too shocked to speak, I turned to the screen to read the short text that accompanied the photograph.
'Oh, isn't she pretty, the little slut? If you don't want this and the other photos of her to show up on the internet with her name alongside them, you'd better stop messing with me. You know what I want.'
I checked the sender but there was no name given and the address was at a domain that offers free addresses. Not much help. In my mind I was already going through the motions of having the email traced back, if it was possible at all.
"Bianca...," Gills whispered.
I turned to him again. "Mr. Gills – what's this about? Who's this woman?
Finally he looked up at me. "Bianca, my girlfriend. I took some photos of her last weekend. We had gone down to the sea, fooled around a bit. Oh God. I can't let those pictures end up on the web. Dammit, I should have transferred them off the card straight away when we returned from our trip."
"They had been on the memory-card in your camera?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who's sent this email? It says you know what he wants..."
Gills looked away, not meeting my eyes. "No, I don't know what he wants."
I let it pass for the moment, unsure if he was hiding something or was simply ashamed of me seeing the picture of his girlfriend. "Mr. Gills, who sent this email? It must be the person that attacked you. You must know him if he knows this is your girlfriend."
"I don't know, Sergeant."
"But he called you and told you to check your emails?" It was pretty obvious from the way he had turned pale and then rushed to the computer.
"Yes."
"Then his number must be on your phone."
"It was number withheld."
"What did he say? Did you recognize the voice?"
"He said he had something I'd be interested in and that I should check my emails."
"Did you recognize the voice," I asked again, wondering if he was deliberately avoiding answering my questions.
"I told you – I don't know how it is."
"Look, I can help you, but you need to give me something to go by, Mr. Gills."
He looked up at me nearly pleadingly. "I don't know who it is or what he wants, Sergeant."
"I think you do. Please think, Mr. Gills. Who would try to blackmail you? Who holds such a grudge against you?"
"I told you, I don't know. And it's no secret that Bianca is my girlfriend, we've been together for over a year. A lot of people know. We often go out together. I'm the local plumber and she works at the grocery so people know us both. It could be anyone." He sighed and slumped deeper into his chair.
The phone rang again. This time Gills hesitated before taking the call. "Gills' Plumbing." His voice sounded weak. He hesitated a moment, looking away. I hit the button for open listening, sensing that it was the blackmailer again. Gills looked up at me but didn't complain about my interference.
'I see you read my email,' a male voice said.
"What do you want?"
'You know damn well what I want. The coins of course!' The voice sounded angry and annoyed.
"You can't do this to Bianca... please."
'You'll get another email with instructions shortly.' The man hung up.
***
"Wow, it's blackmail now? I thought it was only a mugging."
"Ya, so had I. I suppose it's not that boring a story after all."
"No, not at all. It's one of the things I like about the job, there are some real good stories happening right under our noses. And we don't have to wait for the morning newspaper to learn about them."
"Interesting way to look at it..."