A feeble afternoon light attempted to break through the blinds across the incident room windows when Kay and Sharp traipsed through the door, accentuating the sombre mood that permeated the air.
Most of her team had gone home after Barnes had debriefed them, leaving a few stragglers behind who sat at desks with stunned expressions while they tried to finish their work.
Kay edged past Laura’s desk, giving the young detective constable’s shoulder a squeeze and murmuring that she should go home, before moving to the whiteboard at the far end of the room.
Her gaze wandered blindly over the notes, photographs and sticky notes that covered the surface while she hugged the briefing folder for Roman’s interview to her chest.
Soft footsteps padded over the carpet tiles to where she stood, and she acknowledged her mentor’s presence at her side with a slight nod towards the board.
‘Where did we go wrong?’
‘You’ve got to stop worrying that you missed something,’ Sharp murmured.
‘But we did, Devon.’ She turned to him, her throat constricting. ‘We spoke to him and Porter, even before the break-in. Porter lied about the state of the business, and he lied to himself about what his son was up to.’
‘You don’t believe his story that he had no idea then?’
‘Do you?’
He didn’t answer, and instead turned his attention to the tall figure who’d entered the room and was now walking towards them, his bulky protective clothing replaced with jeans and a sweatshirt.
Paul Disher nodded to them both in greeting. ‘Thought I’d drop by after filing my report. You’ll get a copy by email.’
‘How’re you doing, Paul?’ said Kay.
‘I’ll be okay, as soon as I’m back on active duty. I got a call from my DI to say I’m stood down pending the official enquiry.’
‘Nothing to worry about, Paul,’ said Sharp. ‘It’ll only be a formality.’
‘I know. It isn’t the first time, guv – and unfortunately in my line of work, it won’t be the last,’ came the stoical reply. ‘I just wanted to catch you before you left to let you know if you need anything, you can phone me.’
‘Thanks,’ said Kay, shaking his hand. As he left, she saw Gavin heading towards them. ‘You’re going the wrong way. You should be heading home, Piper.’
‘In a minute, honest. I just wanted to give you a quick update,’ he said. ‘I sent a copy of the MacFarlanes’ inventory files over to Andy Grey at HQ with a request to fast-track the data. I thought I’d head back to their place in the morning and do a proper stocktake with Laura’s help, if that’s all right? I was rostered to work this weekend anyway.’
Kay smiled. ‘I think that’s a great plan.’
‘Thanks, guv.’
‘Actually, Piper, we wanted a quiet word with you,’ said Sharp, the corners of his eyes crinkling at the sight of Gavin’s worried frown.
‘Oh?’
‘Yes, in fact you’ve already pre-empted part of what we had in mind. Given the illegal firearms found under the shed, and the information we’ll hopefully get from Andy in due course, we’d like you to head up a new investigation to trace the weapons Roman MacFarlane has sold since he started his black market enterprise. It’d certainly add some weight to our case against him. Think you can handle it?’
The detective constable nodded, unable to speak.
‘What we’re thinking is that you’ve got two suspects – the men Aaron and Dave found on the CCTV footage,’ Kay added. ‘You could start with those and see where it leads you.’
‘Right. Yes,’ said Gavin, recovering from his shock. ‘I’ve already traced current address details for both of those through the DVLA while you were speaking to Roman.’
‘Hopefully once it hits Roman how deep the shit is that he’s in, he’ll offer some more names as well,’ said Sharp. ‘Because without proof marks on those weapons, it’s not going to be easy.’
‘That should keep you out of trouble for a while anyway,’ said Kay, ‘and it’ll give you a taste of running your own major investigation.’
‘Guv, that’s great.’ Gavin tried, then failed to prevent a grin spreading. ‘I won’t let you down.’
‘I know. Just be careful, okay? You know the sort of people we’re dealing with.’
‘Got it.’
Sharp turned to her as Gavin walked back to his desk, and gave her a rueful smile. ‘Do you think that’ll stop him from being poached by headquarters?’
‘For a while, maybe.’ She watched while the detective constable spoke to Laura, his hands animated while he told her the news, and despite her sadness she gave him a congratulatory punch on the arm. Kay smiled. ‘It’ll set him up well for a DS promotion, in any event.’
‘Reckon you’ve got room for two on the team?’
Her attention snapped back to the DCI. ‘I’m not letting either of them go. Not that easily. I made that mistake once before.’
‘Noted.’ He gathered up his jacket and bit back a yawn. ‘Right, I’ll catch up with you tomorrow at Northfleet so we can brief the chief super and the deputy ACC. My advice – stay away from the news tonight. You know what it’s going to be like. Turn off your phone when you get home too. You’re not due back on duty until Monday.’
‘Thanks, guv. For everything,’ she said, following him towards her desk.
He turned for the door, then paused. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come over to Cranbrook with you?’
‘You’ve already had to be the bearer of the news. Get yourself home. I’ll be fine.’
She dropped the folder next to her keyboard, her gaze travelling to Phillip’s empty seat, his workspace cluttered with sticky notes and empty soft drink cans.
Behind his chair, the wall was festooned with memes he’d printed out and pinned up, jostling for space amongst cartoons and photographs of him larking around with friends.
All of it jarred with the grief that ached in her chest and stung her eyes.
Barnes looked over as he pushed back his chair, car key in hand.
‘That’s me done, guv. I think I’m going to need a stiff drink when I get home. Are you heading off too?’
‘No, not yet.’ She gave a weary sigh. ‘There’s one more thing I have to do first.’