The door of the SI10 office banged open and James Dempsey entered with a big smug smile on his face. He walked across the room to Thompson's desk. "We got a description of the guy who paid for the pizza."
"Really?" Thompson couldn't help being impressed. He hadn't thought about the pizzeria as a possible lead. After all, the couple might prove to be more effective than intruding. Thompson felt better-disposed towards them.
"The delivery boy is making up a Photofit picture." Harry informed him.
"Great, maybe the face will lead us to a name!" he gestured them to sit.
"Yeah" Dempsey agreed hopefully, but his face had become suddenly darker again. When they had been outside getting information he had seemed to relax, but now he was back to this morose state, getting lost in his own thoughts every now and then. Harry frowned, his changes of mood were starting to worry her slightly but they had a job to do so she focused on Thompson instead.
"What about you? Anything new?" She queried.
"I asked for a few names to be checked; you know, people who visited Coltrane when he was in jail but I can't be sure of anything yet, maybe they're just old friends. But I've got good news! We found a knife in a bin near the garage, it could be the murder weapon. It was sent straight away to the lab to check if it's a match or not."
"Great. When will we know for sure?" Harry could see a faint light of hope in this. Maybe it would help them to discover something. Anything.
The sergeant looked at his watch. "I called the scientific team an hour ago, they were about to finish the autopsy and other exams, maybe they'll be done with the knife too." He said hopefully. "In fact, I was thinking I might pay them a little visit. You know, listen to what they've found for myself rather than read the report." He paused. "You wanna come with me?"
James was already up but Harry glanced at Chas' door with hesitation. He had gotten them a clearance so that they could investigate and be present here in the Met, but there were still limits not to cross, like with the garage. After all, they were only civilians now. Dempsey saw her waver and exclaimed. "How does he want us to solve this case if we can't go anywhere!"
Thompson watched them, then his boss' office, and back to the couple again. The American seemed eager to go but his involvement in the case was sometimes so strong that the sergeant thought it could be dangerous. His wife, on the other hand, was more reasonable, sensible, dealing with the facts but she didn't seem to be keen on being back here. Maybe they shouldn't come after all. But then, Thompson understood what they felt at the moment; if he was in their shoes he would want to be part of it no matter how hard it would be. And anyway the ex-lieutenant was right, they had to be part of the enquiry to come up with something, and their recent idea for the pizzeria proved they could be useful. He addressed Harry. "Yes, come with me, I'm sure Jarvis would agree."
Harry nodded slowly and stood up. Yes, maybe Chas would agree, but she would have given anything not to go there. She feared to see Maggie's body, the mere idea made her feel sick as memories of the picture Chas had showed them two days ago flashed back in her mind. Years ago, when she had to face barbaric murders she never felt at ease, but now that she was well off this job and mother of two children, she felt it was even harder to bear.