82 #TheFinalCountdown
‘Cap’n, we’re down to our final trolls,’ Haye said, as he entered Sorrell’s office with Fidel.
‘How many?’ Sorrell asked.
‘We have 422 unaccounted for,’ Haye said almost apologetically.
‘Our trolls handing themselves in has dried up, too,’ Fidel added. ‘We’re getting two or three a day, but that’s all.’
‘And we’ve done all our usual checks? The Wi-Fi and the CCTV and all the rest?’ the captain asked.
‘The 400-odd left are more professional. They’ve masked their IP addresses. Just like Baby Angel and Bryce Horrigan’s own account too,’ Fidel explained.
‘Professional trolls, who’d have thought?’ Sorrell said, shaking his head. ‘The colonel isn’t going to like this. He’s convinced our killer will be one of them. Goddamn Twitter. What is its purpose? I mean, really? I might be an old stick in the mud, but for the life of me I’ll never understand it. Never.’
Haye and Fidel thought better of trying to give an answer. The captain had left them well and truly stumped.
***
As Sorrell predicted, Colonel Cowan was incandescent with rage. ‘422? We have 422 suspects we simply can’t find? What other homicide investigation would have 422 suspects unknown?’
‘This isn’t like any other homicide investigation, sir.’
‘I know that, Sorrell. Don’t point out the blatantly obvious.’ His voice was almost at fever pitch.
‘Then don’t tell me how to run MY homicide investigation,’ Sorrell snapped back. He had never spoken to his superior that way. He had never needed to. It stunned the colonel into silence. And Sorrell wasn’t finished. ‘Now will you please let me get on with solving the case my way? I am following some definite lines of inquiry. And I can do without all this Twitter crap.’
The colonel leaned back in his chair and wiped his brow. He was a chastised and defeated man. All he could muster by way of a reply was, ‘Keep me up to speed with any developments,’ but there was no conviction in his voice.
Sorrell left his office without saying another word. But the colonel was left in absolutely no doubt that Bernard Sorrell was nobody’s bitch. It would be the last time he ever shouted at his captain.