'I've sent Pamela to be an observer at the post-mortem,' said Martin, casual y. The search for Mark McGrath had just been declared exhausted, and the Head of CID and Skinner were sharing an early lunch in the senior officers' dining room.
The DCC felt his stomach churn, involuntarily, but al that his col eague saw was the raising of his eyebrows.
'It's part of the job. Bob. She has to take her turn. Young Pye's gone with her.'
'Fair enough,' said Skinner. 'She's on your team.' He took a deep breath.
'Listen Andy,' he began. 'Wil you andAlex be free this evening?'
Martin looked at him. 'Aye, sure. Are you fed up eating alone? Is that it?'
The DCC shook his head. 'No. There's something I've got…'
'Excuse me, sir.' The voice came from the doorway. Both detectives glanced across, to see a tal thin man in a sergeant's uniform. 'You told me to let you know, Mr Martin, when the media were ready,' said William Rowland, Alan Royston's deputy.
The DCS stood up at once. 'Yes, thanks Bil.' He looked down at Skinner. 'I'm going to carry on taking the briefings, sir, until you've resolved the Royston situation. It wouldn't be fair to leave it to Sergeant Rowland.'
'Fair enough. Listen, will you get someone to tell Royston to be in my office at ten on Monday morning. I'd better have it out with the guy.'
Martin nodded. 'I think that's best.' He headed towards the door, where Rowland still waited.
'Come to dinner tonight, why don't you?' he paused, and said,
'Our place; make it around half-seven. That'll give us time to get ready. To tell you the truth, I think Alex has been working herself up to talk to you about… wel, everything. I know she's not happy about the situation between you and Sarah. Those two are like sisters, you know.'
Skinner grunted. 'Tell me about it! That's part of the problem. But my daughter's right, I haven't been talking to her nearly enough.' He picked up his coffee. 'Okay. I'l see you then.'