Gabriel could feel that something was amiss, and his suspicion was confirmed when Mia asked him to come to her office right after the meeting.
‘What’s going on?’ Gabriel said baffled, when Mia asked him to close the door behind him.
Mia looked at him with an expression he had not seen before, distrustful and intrigued at the same time, her head slightly tilted, almost as if she were trying to read his mind.
‘What’s going on?’ Gabriel said again. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
‘I need to ask you something,’ Mia said. ‘And you need to be totally honest with me.’
‘Honest with you?’ Gabriel smiled. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
Mia found a lozenge in her pocket and placed it on her tongue, still not taking her eyes off him.
‘Skunk,’ Mia said.
‘Yes? What about him?’ Gabriel said with a light shrug.
‘How close are you, really?’
The knot in Gabriel’s stomach tightened. ‘What do you mean?’ he said.
‘What I asked you,’ Mia said, still fixing her eyes on him.
Suddenly their conversation felt like an interrogation, and Gabriel did not like it.
‘We used to be good friends,’ he said.
‘How good?’
‘Very good friends. Where are you going with this?’
‘But not any more?’
‘No, not any more.’ Gabriel sighed. ‘What is this, Mia, are you accusing me of something?’
‘I don’t know,’ Mia said, tilting her head again. ‘Do we have something to accuse you of?’
We?
Gabriel began to get annoyed. They had been talking about him behind his back, Munch and her; possibly some of the others.
‘I honestly don’t know where he is,’ Gabriel said, flinging out his arms. ‘Now that might make me an idiot, but I don’t understand why you would want to accuse me of anything.’
‘So you haven’t seen him for a long time?’
‘Not for years,’ Gabriel said, shaking his head. ‘Not until he suddenly got in touch.’
‘So you’re not friends any more?’
‘No.’
‘What happened?’
Gabriel had had enough. He was already exhausted. He had slept badly; he was unable to get the images out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. The emaciated girl on her knees on the floor. The writing on the wall behind her. The feather-clad shadow. Just thinking about it made him shake.
‘Listen,’ he said, in a voice which came out much angrier than he had intended. ‘I know I’m new here, that I’m not as good as the others, but I do my best, and if I had known where he was, I would have told you. Don’t you think I’ve looked for him? Don’t you realize that? Did you really think I wouldn’t? But I’ve had no response, and do you know why? Because Skunk doesn’t want to be found. Because …’
He stopped. He had to calm himself down, his blood was starting to boil.
‘Because?’ Mia said.
‘Well, what do you think?’ he asked her.
‘Because he gets up to things which can’t bear the light of day.’
‘Exactly,’ Gabriel said, flinging out his arms again. ‘And now what? You all think I’m a part of it? Is that it? Screw you, Mia, I’m not putting up with this. I’ve worked like a maniac ever since—’
Mia raised her hand and interrupted him before he had time to say anything else.
‘Sorry, Gabriel,’ she said, and her gaze softened. ‘But I had to be sure.’
‘Be sure of what?’ Gabriel snapped at her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said again.
Mia got up from her chair and perched on the edge of her desk in front of him.
‘Is that what you’ve been thinking? All of you? Is that what you’ve been talking about? How Gabriel and Skunk are in it together? That the old hackers are running a business on the side? Locking up girls in basements? Seriously, Mia? You make me sick.’
Gabriel was so angry now that he could barely control his temper. He had not seen this coming. How could they think that of him? Had she any idea how proud he was of being a part of this team?
‘Gabriel,’ Mia said.
She moved nearer to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. He wondered if she was closing in for a hug. She looked genuinely sorry.
‘There are times when I’m not as tactful as I ought to be,’ she said, not taking her hand off his shoulder. ‘I – well, I forget to think before I speak. Please forgive me. It’s not that I thought you were involved, but …’
‘But what?’
‘Sometimes if you like someone, then you protect them, don’t you?’
‘And you thought I might be protecting Skunk?’
‘Something like that, yes.’ Mia nodded. She sounded contrite.
‘Number one,’ Gabriel said, ‘I’m sure Skunk can manage just fine on his own. Number two, we’re no longer friends. Number three, even if we had still been friends, if I thought that he was involved in something that we – yes, I say we because I’m a part of this team, although it’s clear that you don’t think so – something that we were working on, I would never have held anything back. Is that what you really think of me, Mia? And here was I thinking that we were—’
‘Gabriel,’ Mia said, looking truly sorry now. ‘Of course you’re a part of the team. Everyone likes you, and thinks you’re doing a fantastic job, I mean, you’ve only been here six months and we can’t manage without you, OK? Please believe that’s how we see it.’
‘Well, clearly it’s not.’
‘OK, please bear with me for a moment.’
‘Go on?’
‘A film appears right out of the blue. A hacker just happens to have found it. On a server he can’t point us to. He gives it to an old colleague who works for the police. This colleague doesn’t know how to contact him. I mean, if you were me? You would look into this? Wouldn’t you?’
Gabriel mulled it over, and conceded that she did have a point.
‘So?’ Mia said, smiling at him. ‘Are we good now? Interview over? Everything is all right? And you understand why? So we’re done?’
‘OK.’ Gabriel nodded, smiling a little. ‘So who have you been talking to?’
‘About what?’
‘About this? Your suspicion that I wasn’t telling the truth?’
‘Only Munch,’ Mia said. ‘And he thought I was wrong, just so you know.’
‘Really?’
‘I forget to think before I speak sometimes, and everybody here likes you. Have I done enough grovelling?’
‘Yeah, all right,’ Gabriel said.
‘Great.’ Mia smiled. ‘Now I want to talk to you about the real reason I asked you in here. He tracked me down.’
‘Who?’
‘Skunk.’
‘You’re kidding? No. He hates the police.’
‘I’m not joking,’ Mia said. ‘I was in the pub, and suddenly he just appeared.’
‘That doesn’t make any sense.’ Gabriel sounded puzzled.
‘No, it’s weird, isn’t it?’
‘Totally.’
‘That’s what I thought. And he said some things which only you can help me with. Can we take a look at it?’
‘Sure.’ Gabriel nodded.