All hell erupted at the station as the news of the murder broke. The Super charged down the corridor, barged into Roberts’ office, roared: ‘You’re in for it now, laddy, there’s been another one.’
Roberts wanted to say, ‘I told you so’, but instead came running, said: ‘Someone surprise me, tell me Brant is here and reachable.’ Nobody surprised him.
The down-scaled ‘U’ incident room was activated and Roberts was given the details of the killing. He asked: ‘Any witnesses?’
‘No, sir.’
‘The weapon?’
‘A crossbow, Guv.’
‘Bloody hell. Wait until the press get wind of this.’
Silence.
‘What, they’re on to it already?’
‘Sorry, Guv.’
‘Holy shit, we’re fucked. So no chance of containment, the ol’ damage limitation?’
Many heads shook. Negative all the way.
Roberts sat, said: ‘Isn’t there any good news?’
Falls tried to lighten the mood, said: ‘Well, we’ve got a shoplifter in an interview room.’
He turned his full gaze to her. He spoke slowly: ‘That’s some sort of levity, I gather. How about this, WPC! Hop lightly to yer plod feet, go interview them and get out of my bloody sight!’
Roberts had thus made two mistakes. The first was not seeing the shoplifter. The second was alienating the hitherto loyal Falls.