Page 52 of Famous Last Words

Outside Scotland Yard, the London Eye spins lazily, the trees in bright green bloom around it. Beyond that, the river is a purest blue. Summer’s turned up the saturation.

‘That is no surprise,’ Tim says, cupping his face and looking at Niall.

‘It’s quite delicate.’

Immediately, Tim’s expression changes into something more serious. ‘Shoot.’

‘I need to trace a phone number. I suspect it’ll be a burnerphone, but I want to see first. I could’ve gone direct to Claire, but I’m coming to you.’

‘Uh-huh. Understood.’ Tim spreads his arms. ‘And?’ he says, a small, confused frown on his face.

‘I need to allocate it to a file.’

‘… OK.’

‘But once I do that, everyone is going to jump on this. And I’m not sure if I’m right here. The file is Luke Deschamps,’ Niall says.

‘Deschamps?’ Tim says. ‘Rearing his head again so soon since the sighting?’

Niall explains the situation to Tim.

‘Back from the beyond,’ Tim replies, an unreadable expression on his face. ‘Give me the number.’

Niall slides it across the desk. Tim glances at it and then begins typing to telecoms, and Niall is so pleased to have a boss who does things just as quickly as he wants them done. Tim waits a few seconds, then reads something off the screen. ‘It’s a disposable pay-as-you-go, as suspected. But it has pinged two masts.’ Tim’s expression changes into more than just mild interest. ‘One in central London – needle in a haystack. But then also, a mast in Dungeness.’

‘Pretty remote.’

‘Yeah.’

‘A good spot to hide?’

Tim holds Niall’s gaze. ‘Coordinates –now– is weird, isn’t it? Why not send them seven years ago?’

‘I know. Odd.’

‘We need a team on this.’

‘Yeah,’ Niall says. ‘I think we do.’

They pause for several seconds, Niall thinking, andassuming Tim is, too. ‘I suppose we will go down there,’ he says eventually.

‘South-east coast. Kent?’

‘Yes.’

‘Ask some questions. Knock on some doors. Keep up the surveillance on Camilla.’

‘Leave it to me,’ Niall says.

Tim looks up at him, sips the water, then pauses, his expression perplexed. ‘So you’re on this case, are you? Or what?’ he asks; then he holds his hands up. ‘Makes no difference to me.’

‘I’m not negotiating, but I … I don’t know.’ Niall turns away from him, looks at the closed door to his office. ‘I don’t know,’ he says again quietly. ‘We’ll see.’

‘Sometimes, solving a case stops the demons,’ Tim says.

‘Sometimes, looking for a solution is the problem,’ Niall says, but he doesn’t truly believe it.

‘We’ll have you on the case until you say otherwise.’

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