When they arrived at the Met, they were kept abreast of the progress of the case. Just like with Maggie, there was no fingerprints to be found except for Lucky Willy's and his sister's. The gun couldn't be found anywhere, and the scientific team was currently looking for smaller clues such as hair.
Thompson was beginning to feel hopeless. He'd been up all night but came up with nothing new but a dead body. He poured his sixth cup of coffee of the morning, hoping it would clear his fogged mind. Yawning, he sat back with the couple. "Once more we have nothing. This guy leaves no traces, he's like a ghost!"
Harry's eyes flicked at Dempsey at those words. His widened motionless eyes told her he was thinking back of their conversation, but immediately he shook his head and gave her a reassuring look. "Ghost? There's no such things as ghosts Thompson. He's bound to make a mistake sooner or later, so we keep looking till we find him."
The sergeant only nodded wearily. James grabbed a pile of paper. "These are the Thorn brothers files right?"
Harry nodded with a smile, he smiled back and leaned comfortably in his chair propping his feet on the desk.
After twenty minutes, James was bored with reading and threw back the files on the desk. "I can't see anyone related to them that would make the link with Coltrane. We don't even know for sure if they were in New York when I had problems with him."
"Maybe we can't find a link because there isn't any to find." Thompson voiced what he had been considering for two days. "There's no proof that this case has something to do with Coltrane! What makes you think this is related to him anyway?"
"I'm telling you it's Coltrane. I know it."
"So we're supposed to base our entire enquiry on one of your hunches?" Thompson snorted. "What if you're wrong?"
Dempsey smiled, but there was no sympathy in his eyes. He leaned towards Thompson and said slowly. "If I say it's Coltrane, then it's Coltrane. You don't have to believe or to trust me, all you have to do is your job! Now you can do that, can't you?"
Thompson was glaring at him. It seemed he wanted nothing more than to tell the American to go to the devil. They stared at each other for a few seconds then Thompson gave in. "Sure." He answered through gritted teeth.
"Good!" Dempsey leaned back smugly in his chair and grabbed some paper. "So what do we know?"
Thompson's nostrils flared, and Harry admired his self-control as he replied professionally. She certainly wouldn't have let Dempsey talk to her like that even if he had been the boss' friend.
They went through all the people they knew the brothers had met or worked with in the last twenty years, from schoolmates to inmates and everything in between neighbours, drug dealers, ex girlfriends... But no one ever seemed to be the connection with Coltrane.
Dempsey looked up suddenly with his finger pointing straight ahead. "What about Lucky Willy? We forgot him."
"Well he's dead." Harry frowned.
"Yes, but we know he was the one who gave information to the Thorns."
"Which is why we wanted to interrogate him, but unless you know a good medium..." Thompson let the end of his sentence hang.
"Well keep your leaves inside your tea Sherlock, I got another idea." He leaned forwards looking both Harry and Thompson. "Lucky Willy was an insignificant crook, making money with con tricks. On the other hand Mike Thorn is a fiend, a bad guy dealing in drugs, weapons and things like that, but he worked exclusively inside the States. I don't think the two of them could have met on a stroke of luck when Thorn landed in Heathrow. Someone had to introduce them." Harry and Thompson didn't answer straight away, Dempsey got upset. "Am I right or am I right?"
"Relax you're right." Harry confirmed. "There has to be something there."
So they dived back into backgrounds and habits, trips and neighbourhood, looking for the link that could finally link two of their suspects. If they couldn't catch the big fish yet, better look for the small fry first and see what would happen next.
DS Thompson didn't look much convinced by this new hunch, but he still searched through the papers with them, though he didn't show any motivation doing so. He put aside another file muttering "Still nothing here" as if it had been obvious there would be nothing to find.
Dempsey looked up, upset. He opened his mouth to tell him that if he didn't want to do his job he could still be useful preparing some coffee but before he could even pronounce a word Thompson said: "Wait!"
Harry had followed the little scene and for one second she wondered if the sergeant really thought he could silence the American so easily after provoking him, but Thompson, who was looking intently at one file, slowly raised a hand and wavered one finger "I think I've got something."
"What?" Dempsey's face changed immediately from rage to interest. "What is it?" he asked getting closer.
"I'm not sure but... Look, Mike and Bill Thorn have a cousin Frank Carter. I didn't pay any attention to him before because he hasn't lived in New York for nearly 30 years so he couldn't have been the link to Coltrane, but he was prosecuted for some minor offences in Manchester and Liverpool ten years ago."
"You mean he's living in England." Harry stood up and walked to stand right behind Thompson so she could read the file over his shoulder.
"It could be our link." Thompson said.
Dempsey nodded. "Do you know where he is now?"
"No, but it won't take long." He started tapping away at his computer. He made a triumphant noise. "I got him! Seems like he's been clean for a while, keeping out of police way. Like I said he's been living in the UK, going back only occasionally to the States. We haven't got a current address, but he's supposed to be in the London area."
Dempsey snapped his finger. "A cousin! I should have thought about that. Family business! It's always family business!"
Family business... Harry's vision got blurred a second as she thought of her own family. Her husband was risking back his life in a crazy job she thought behind them and her children were in a hideout, a death threat hanging over their head. She wondered how Thomas and Jessica were at the moment, but knew she couldn't call them; it would be both too dangerous and heart-breaking. All the same she would have given anything to hug them, to kiss them...
"Don't worry I'm sure they're fine." She heard James 'voice on her left and next thing she knew, he was squeezing her hand. She looked up; he was smiling at her and in his eyes she found the strength to carry on.