32

Now they were all convinced they were investigating two murders which were related, Geraldine spent a dreary afternoon trawling through paperwork looking for evidence that the brother and sister had a shared enemy. After the initial flurry of activity viewing the crime scene and questioning people who had known the two victims, there was little else to do but await the forensic results.

‘That’s all policing is, these days,’ Ted grumbled. ‘Looking things up online. I won’t be sorry to leave the job. It’s not what it used to be. Even the community links are going because people move around so much.’

‘Well said, Sherlock,’ Ariadne chipped in, grinning at the speaker.

Someone else cracked a joke about Methuselah.

‘Hey, steady on,’ Ted grinned, his good humour restored.

Geraldine laughed. ‘If you think the population’s transient here, you should try working in London.’

‘It may be true that there have been a lot of advances in forensics,’ Naomi joined in, ‘but surely that’s all to the good. Think of the number of cases that would never have been solved if it wasn’t for forensics.’

‘Yes, yes, I know that,’ he replied. ‘I’m not wanting to turn the clock back.’

‘Just as well,’ Ariadne said. ‘Because you can’t.’

‘Maybe you should retire to Brigadoon,’ a constable suggested.

Geraldine answered Naomi. ‘But how many cases are actually solved by forensic results? Yes, they back up or confute our suspicions, and they supply us with that all important evidence that gets a conviction in court, but most cases are still solved by people like us doing our job. Old-fashioned police work.’

‘Hear, hear,’ Ted said.

‘But what’s the point of all that if you don’t secure a conviction?’ Naomi asked.

‘But without us, there wouldn’t be anything for the forensic results to prove,’ Geraldine insisted.

The conversation continued for a while, but Geraldine’s attention wandered. They were just passing the time while they waited. When Ian entered the room, the discussion stopped abruptly as everyone returned to their desks. Geraldine wondered whether her junior officers had reacted to her presence in a similar way when she had been an inspector. It was curious, witnessing her colleagues’ behaviour when a senior officer entered the room. Before her promotion, she hadn’t been aware that she had behaved any differently when an inspector appeared, but perhaps she had done so unconsciously. There was something compelling about watching her senior officers, now that she had lost that status herself, like picking at a scab.

As she was packing up at the end of a long afternoon, Ian walked past her desk and stopped to enquire whether she was going straight home or if she would like to go for a drink, but she had already arranged to meet Ariadne for a meal that evening. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but she thought he looked disappointed by her refusal.

‘Another time,’ she said.

‘How about tomorrow? Only, there’s something I want to discuss with you.’

‘How mysterious,’ she replied, but Ian didn’t return her smile.

‘Are you ready?’ Ariadne called out and Geraldine nodded.

‘Tomorrow then,’ Ian said.

‘I’ll look forward to it.’

This time he smiled. Less than twenty-four hours ago she had been pleased when Ariadne had suggested they go out together. Now she regretted making that arrangement. But when she thought about Ian’s invitation, she realised he must want to talk to her about his relationship with his estranged wife. There was nothing in that to make her feel excited. She picked up her bag and walked down the corridor.

Ariadne took her to a restaurant in the centre of York with views overlooking the river.

‘It’s better coming here in the summer when the evenings are longer and you can see out,’ Ariadne said apologetically.

‘It’s nice discovering somewhere new,’ Geraldine assured her. ‘I know so few places to go in York.’

It was true. Even though she had been there getting on for three months, she had seen very little of the town. The restaurant was airy and pleasant. They took a corner table and spent a few minutes studying the menu.

‘So how are you settling in?’ Ariadne asked when they had placed their orders. ‘It must feel strange, being a sergeant again. Having seen how hard you work, I can’t imagine you were happy about it?’

Geraldine paused as she reached for her glass of wine. ‘How did you know?’ she asked, doing her best to hide her surprise.

‘Oh, I wasn’t aware that it was a secret.’

Geraldine hesitated, absorbing what she had just heard. Ariadne seemed to imply that everyone at the police station knew all about her demotion.

‘Well, no,’ she said, registering that her colleague had asked her a question. ‘It’s not a secret exactly. I just didn’t think it was common knowledge. No one’s ever mentioned it. I mean,’ she stammered, afraid of sounding like a narcissist, ‘I mean, of course there’s no reason why anyone else would be at all interested in the reason for my relocation.’

‘It happens,’ Ariadne replied in a slightly dismissive tone. ‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.’

‘It’s not that,’ Geraldine hastened to reassure her, although of course she didn’t want to talk about it.

But idle speculation might be worse than the truth. With a sigh, she launched into an account of her ruined career.

‘It’s a long story,’ she began.

‘I’m listening, but only if you want to talk about it.’

Geraldine explained how she had only recently discovered that she had an identical twin, a heroin addict.

When she had finished, Ariadne raised her eyebrows. ‘So you put your job on the line to save your sister’s life?’

‘Well, that’s a rather dramatic way of putting it, but yes, actually, I suppose that is what happened. Although in the end she probably wouldn’t have been shot by her drug dealer because he was arrested as she was handing over the money. Only of course it wasn’t her, it was me who was doing the handover. She was too scared to face him but if she didn’t get the money to him he would have found her and killed her.’

‘And he thought he was dealing with her because you’re identical, but the police had been tipped off and you were arrested instead of your sister! Bloody hell, Geraldine!’ Ariadne stared at her. ‘Why did you do it?’

Geraldine had asked herself that question many times. It was difficult to explain that, desperate to convince her screwed up twin that she wanted to help her, she had acted as much for herself as for Helena.

‘I wanted to offer her a chance,’ she said.

She didn’t try to explain that she had wanted to create a chance for both of them to get to know one another and build a relationship. Only that hadn’t happened. Not yet, anyway.

‘And how has that worked out?’

Helena had gone through a rehabilitation programme and seemed to be coping, but it was early days.

‘I’m hoping she’ll be OK.’

Ariadne nodded. ‘Does she even realise how much you sacrificed for her?’

‘I don’t know, I really don’t. But at least I’ve given her a chance. No one’s ever done that for her before. And I was in a position to help her. I couldn’t just stand back and watch her destroy herself without doing everything I could to help her.’

‘Bloody hell, Geraldine, I can’t make up my mind if you’re a saint or an absolute bloody lunatic.’

‘Somewhere between the two, I guess, but more of a lunatic than a saint,’ Geraldine laughed.

Once she had recovered from her surprise, instead of feeling mortified, she was relieved that her new colleagues had been informed about her demotion. Far from being judgemental, no one seemed bothered by it in the slightest. In fact, no one but Ariadne had even asked her about it, and she was just being friendly. And now Ian wanted to confide in her as a friend. Relocating to York wasn’t turning out to be such a bad move after all.