Page 104 of Night Call

Blake folded his arms, strumming his fingers over his bicep. “Lily, what do we know about the omega’s direction of travel?”

Lily cleared her throat. “We tracked him through CCTV to the top of the high street. He’s on his phone a lot but nothing unusual. He goes down a public footpath next to the bookies and we lose sight of him after that.”

“Right,” Blake said, running a hand through his hair. “Has his picture been uploaded to the wanted gallery?”

Lily nodded. “Yeah. No one’s come forward to identify him, but the qualityisterrible, so it’s not surprising.”

Blake bit the inside of his cheek. There were two people who might recognise him, but he was loath to call Pember during his heat, and there was no way in hell he was asking Maya until he’d gotten his head around the shitshow of new information.

“Can you get me the CCTV from the night of the Green murder? Tokyo Treasures, the one that overlooks the Nock and Ore side door.”

“Yes, of course, but we already?—”

“Lily,” Blake said, giving her a firm look. “Please?”

She nodded and sloped back into the exhibits office. When she returned, they both studied the footage.

“He takes a call at ten minutes past midnight, correct?”

Lily nodded, wrapping her hands around a steaming mug. “Yeah. It was a pay-as-you-go number. No subscriber details, likely a burner phone.”

“Were we able to find any more cameras along his route to the park?”

“We’ve got one Ring doorbell capturing him turning onto the footpath, but then it’s practically woodland all the way to the shifter park.”

Blake frowned “Scouts? Birdwatchers? Has no one set up any kind of hidden camera in the bushes?”

Lily shook her head. “Not that we could find. Hopefully something will come up when we do the press appeal tomorrow.”

Blake sighed, turning his eyes back to the footage. He watched as Robert Green stepped out of the pub, pulled up his hood and rubbed his hands together. He had no idea it would be the last walk he ever made.

Hood. Coats had hoods. Robert Green was wearing a coat.

“Lily?” he said, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Was Green’s coat sent off for forensic testing with the rest of his clothes?”

“No, Sarge. The coat was never recovered.”

Blake’s stomach jolted as he recalled the victim lying on the ground, his white T-shirt torn to shreds.

“Fuck,” he said, rewinding the footage. He set the video to play in slow motion, eyes narrowing as he tried to pick out the details of the coat. “Would you say those are white stripes down the arms or fluorescent? It’s hard to tell with the camera’s night vision.”

Lily shrugged. “I’m not sure, shall I get the Ring doorbell footage?”

“Yes, please.”

Blake cleaned his glasses as he waited for Lily to load the video. He’d had to resort to his emergency pair after his and Pember’s little soiree in the fountain, because ‘corpse juice’ had embedded itself between the lenses and the frame.

“White stripes,” Lily said, nose almost touching the screen. “And there's some kind of… logo? Maybe? Over the left breast pocket.”

Nodding, Blake paused the footage and took a still image. “Try and find me details of that coat, or as close as you can get. I want the brand and whether any shops sell it locally.”

Lily ran her tongue over her teeth. “Forgive me, but he probably bought it online. Does anyone actually go to shops these days?”

Blake sighed, feeling like a dinosaur. “I don’t want to knowwherehe got it. I want to find one so we have something to physically show the general public during the press release.”

“Right.” Lily nodded. “Gotcha.”

As she padded away, Blake couldn’t help but notice the nervous thrill growing in his belly. It was a feeling work had failed to bring out in him for a very long time, but one that Pember conjured every time he smiled.

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