Barbara looked at her partner and knew he was thinking the same thing - it was too early for the man to be back in the ward. Barbara was impressed with the speed Tommy reacted with the unfeeling nurse. If it was bad news, he clearly did not want it announced in front of James' friends. Tommy turned to Robbie. "We have to go. We'll keep you informed."
Outside the ward the nurse held up a string of rosary beads. "The surgical staff found these in his hand."
"David was right about him being Roman Catholic. Thank you." Tommy took them from the woman and turned to Barbara. "Let's see if Robbie recognises them."
When they returned to the room, Barbara put her hand out to stop him. Laura was cuddled up on the bed beside Robbie, and they were sharing an intimate conversation. "Give them a moment."
"They seem happy together," Tommy said as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah," she said wistfully.
"We will be too."
"How did you know I was wondering that?"
"Because I love you, and understand you. When this is over..."
Barbara pushed the door open. It would never be over if they did not start investigating. "Sorry to interrupt."
They returned to the command centre with minimal additional evidence. Robbie and Laura had never seen James with rosary beads and none of the injured officers remembered anything other than that the explosion had been on the middle floor. It was a start.
"Winston!" Barbara hugged her London colleague briefly.
"Ma'am," he said as he gave her an awkward return hug.
Tommy and Winston shook hands. "Glad you're leading this, Sir."
"Thanks, Winston."
"He's a Superintendent now, so watch your step."
The sergeant looked perplexed. "Super? How?"
"He was promoted in London but decided not to tell anyone, including his partner of ten years." Even to her ears, her words sounded bitter.
"I regret that."
Winston looked at Barbara then Tommy. "Congratulations, Sir."
"Thank you."
To Barbara's annoyance, Winston did not seem to care in the least that Tommy had failed to mention it. Straight to business, Winston jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Where did you find Whizz-kid?"
"Whizz-kid?" Even Tommy seemed confused.
They looked around to see David busily assembling information on three large whiteboards. "You've been busy," Tommy said.
"I hope you don't mind, Sir, but I thought this might help." The constable pointed to the first board containing labelled photographs. Each officer had a number. "These are all the officers and civilians that worked at the station. When we have confirmation that they are alive or dead, I move them onto one of these boards."
Barbara examined the second board had photos of dead officers with critical details and space for forensic findings. The third board had living officers and detailed injuries, current location, operational status and had a place for the main facts from their interviews. It was hard not to be impressed. "This is great. Thank you, Constable."
David beamed at her. "Thank you ma'am."
"So do you have any leads for us?"
David pressed a button on his computer and projected his screen onto the white canvas wall. There was a map of the three floors of the building. "These blue dots represent the locations where people usually worked. Of course, some might have been in a meeting in one of these rooms, but I thought this might be a start. The red dots represent bodies. Where the recovery teams have indicated a floor they believe that the victim was on, I've added a G, one or two. So when we identify a body and location I can add the number to give us a picture of where people were, and it might help determine who other bodies are."
Barbara watched Tommy's face. He was pleased with his new protege, and Barbara felt a surge of jealousy. It was unreasonable and petty, but she felt her place in his affections slipping. "Good work," she said abruptly and went to ring Stuart. She had to get out of that tent.
Tommy found her behind the porta-potties a few minutes later. "David's got an instinct for this work."
"If you say so."
"Winston's taking his formal statement to see what he remembers."
"He'll probably have it solved by now."
"Good, then we can go home." He gave her a wicked smile. "It's cute that you're jealous, but he'll never be you."
Barbara scowled at Tommy. "I know that! Who says I'm jealous?"
"I think it was reasonably clear, to me at least."
"Poncy, egotistical, self-centred..."
"I've missed you insulting me."
Barbara lost the will to fight him. "I missed it too."
Tommy seemed to sense her change of mood. "I should have told you about my promotion. I know that. I knew it then too, but I couldn't. Just as I couldn't explain why I needed to get out of London."
"You said earlier it was the case and feeling unworthy of promotion."
"And because I didn't know what to do about my feelings for you. I was scared. Being away helped clarify it for me. I need you. I love you. And I respect you, as my partner, but more importantly as a person. I'm only good if I'm with you. Without you by my side, none of this matters to me."
"You shouldn't say things like that."
"Why not?"
Barbara glanced around. No one could see them. "Because it makes me want to do this." She grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him to her. She kissed him so hard he whimpered.
"Oh, my!"
Barbara smiled at Tommy's loving puppy-dog expression. "We have a case to solve, and young David has given us some places to start."
They reluctantly returned to the ops tent. Winston and David were standing by the boards. "Did you remember anything useful?" Tommy asked.
"Maybe, Sir," Winston answered. "David was waiting for his partner, Constable Jones. Apparently, he needed the toilet."
"It was the third time that evening, Sir. He said it was a bad curry. We had been out on our usual patrol. There's always a foot patrol around the central colleges at night. He insisted we come back here. He could have gone near the market. I thought it was a bit odd."
Lynley frowned. "So you didn't come back because of the gas attack threat?"
"No, Sir. I only just learnt of that from Constable Nkata."
Barbara walked to the map. "Where are the toilets?"
"Ground floor. Here."
"Near the stairs. Any chance he went upstairs."
"I don't know. I waited here, near the entrance. He told me to wait there and not to buy a chocolate bar because I'd get fat."
Barbara raised her eyebrows. "Charming."
"Jones runs a lot. Marathons maybe. He thought I was too heavy and would be too slow chasing criminals."
"No point in assuming anything about Jones either way just yet. We'll see where we find his body. Was there ever anything he said that made you think twice? Any radical or extremist views?"
"Other than analysing everyone's body weight, no Sir."
Barbara tried to stifle a yawn. Winston frowned. "You three should get some sleep. It's nearly morning. They've set up camp stretchers in a fourth tent."
David blushed, earning a frown from Winston. "What?" the London officer asked.
"They might want to be alone."
"Why?"
"Winston, I think he's trying to tell you that Barbara and I are... together."
"Since when?"
"Yesterday," Barbara replied. "How did you know David?"
"The way Superintendent Lynley looks at you. He told me he was in love with a very special lady when he was trying to keep my mind off... everything. I knew it was you when I saw you together."
Barbara turned to Tommy. "You were right; he's observant. But don't let it go to your head, David."
"We were going to tell you, Winston. And Stuart of course," Tommy told Winston.
"I knew it! Finally! Hallelujah! When's the wedding?"
Barbara shook her head and scowled. "We have a major case to solve before we think about any of that."
Tommy looked at his watch. "Let's all try to get some sleep. You too Winston. I'll stay up to brief ACC Innocent then try to steal a few hours. We can resume this at eight-thirty. Hopefully, we will have some more information by then."
"I'll stay with you. We can do two shifts."
"Thanks, Barbara."
Jean Innocent was a formidable woman but seemed fair. She was unimpressed by Tommy's looks or charm. She just wanted results. Barbara liked her and respected her clear instructions. The ACC was not going to micro-manage their investigation, but she wanted regular updates about lines of inquiry and progress. Innocent was angry that her friends and ex-colleagues had been targetted. She listened carefully to their briefing and asked relevant questions before allowing them to question her about past incidents and threats. When asked, she happily provided insightful analyses and background for each officer she knew. Jones it seemed was notorious for fat-shaming, something that the well-endowed Innocent found distasteful. "It's hardly a motive to bomb a building, though!"
"No ma'am. We are just piecing together any information we have," Tommy replied.
"I like her," Barbara said as they walked to the temporary dormitory.
"Yes, me too."
Barbara and Tommy took stretchers near the rear of the tent away from Winston's snoring. With others around, they could not push their beds together or even touch, but his proximity soothed Barbara. One 'good night' and a whispered 'I love you' and she was asleep.
Four hours felt like four minutes. When she woke, Tommy was already gone. She straightened her clothes and hair, visited the porta-potties and was ready for work.
"Morning," she said as she walked into the Ops tent. Tommy was talking to Winston. David came up to her and handed her a cup of steaming coffee. "The boss told me how you liked it."
"Thanks, David." She took a sip and began to feel vaguely human. "Any news?"
"Not as big as yours."
Barbara turned at the sound of a familiar voice. "Stuart!" He looked exhausted. Barbara noticed Laura standing beside him. "Morning Laura."
Stuart pulled out a file from his satchel. "We've done preliminaries on all seventeen. We can identify fourteen of them. All of them died as the result of injuries from the blast. We have three unidentified limbs where clothing doesn't match other body parts. We are waiting for DNA tests. You know, I think we should start toe-printing everyone routinely too!"
"Good morning, Stuart. Any idea of the type of bomb?"
"Superintendent," Stuart replied pointedly. "Semtex."
Laura walked closer. "Based on the damage to the building, it's possible there was more than one bomb. They were triggered together so they might have been detonated remotely or by a timer. The latter is less likely as there are invariably small time differences between devices which can undermine the effect. My vote would be a single remote trigger. The bomber could have been anywhere within... maybe 300 yards."
Barbara groaned. "Great. Nothing like widening the search."
They spent the next ten minutes going through what they knew about people's movements and locations and marking up where the bodies were found. Tommy's phone rang. "Lynley... Ah, good... Yes, thank you."
"James?" Laura asked anxiously.
"The man had complications and was placed into ICU after the operation. He's had two haemorrhages near the base of his brain, and his prognosis is still unclear. It looks like he might have some permanent damage."
"Oh!"
"Are you okay Laura?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, sorry. When it's someone you know, this is much harder."
"The nurse said his face is severely swollen and unrecognisable, so they are sending dental records. I don't suppose you have James' dental record on file?"
Laura regathered herself. "The ones from when he joined will be in the police file on the system, but I know his dentist."
"Good, Barbara and I will take you and then drop you home."
"I want to go and see Robbie. Then I'll get some sleep."
"We were going to the hospital anyway," Tommy said, "we can take you. Stuart, there are stretchers in a tent here. You look exhausted. You should rest too."
"Is there a double stretcher?" Stuart asked mischievously. Tommy frowned. "For you and your future countess."
Barbara rolled her eyes and tried not to blush. She turned at glared at Winston. "News travels fast around here."
"Winston texted me last night. I think you're wasted on him of course."
Tommy surprised her by not biting back. "So do I Stuart. Don't tell her, though."
"I already know," she said cheekily. They exchanged a quick but meaningful look.
"Winston, trace all the phone calls into the station last night. Focus on those within thirty minutes of everyone being recalled to the station. I want to know where that call came from."
"Yes, Sir."
"We'll drop Laura off, check on this man, then come back here. If you need us or turn up any leads, call me immediately."
Tommy and Barbara waited in the car while Laura spoke with the dentist. "Any ideas?" he asked.
"I think it is someone inside the station. Too many things point to it, like knowing the layout, and understanding procedures."
"I agree. I've asked Winston to do background checks on everyone."
"Even David?"
"Especially David. He's new. He was near the door. He might have been trying to leave."
Barbara nodded thoughtfully then shook her head. "I don't think it was him. He seems too natural."
Tommy nodded. "Unless he's an icy psychopath."
"I'm hoping the phone call will give us a clue. We need something to start on."
Laura opened the rear door. "I've got them. Now we just need to compare."
"Can you do that here?" Barbara asked.
"Miracle of modern science." Laura keyed a few instructions into her iPad. "Yes! It is James."
Barbara was relieved. "I'm glad. Let's hope he's on the mend."
Tommy nodded. "He's a valuable witness."
"Tommy!" The two women turned on him.
"Yes, and a friend. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound impersonal. We had better go and see him."
