‘Unfortunately, Heck, serious nastiness is not in short supply at present. Which is what Operation Sledgehammer is all about … and as we’re reduced to having to do it in twos, that’s all the more reason why you can’t be spared.’
‘Sledgehammer?’ Heck was finally distracted from his ruminations. ‘We’re … we’re doing it in twos?’
‘Yes. That’s how few people we’ve got available. And you, meanwhile, want to waltz off into some distant Scottish sunset to collar someone purely on sus?’
‘Sorry, ma’am … what do you mean, we’re doing it in twos?’
‘That’s why I wanted you back here. Your new partner’s been waiting in my office for the last two hours or so.’
‘Partner?’ Heck tried not to sound too appalled by this.
‘Yeah. Now there’s a shocking concept, eh?’
The lift doors opened again, and Gemma strode onto the top floor, where many more bodies than usual were flowing back and forth, a lot of them tooled-up techies wandering in and out of the conference room.
‘That’s going to be the MIR,’ she said, as they walked past it.
‘Sledgehammer’s a major enquiry then?’
‘It’s pretty major for us, yes.’
Still carrying the box, Heck followed Gemma down the corridor to her office.
‘And I’ve got a new partner?’ he said. ‘As in someone from outside SCU?’
Gemma glanced back. ‘She’s just joined SCU, as it happens. She’s been trying to come to us for ages. She dropped your name half a dozen times during her last application. Don’t look so worried. You’re not being asked to puppy-walk someone. DC Honeyford’s been a fully operational detective for several years now. She’s clocked up some excellent arrests.’
‘DC Honeyford,’ Heck said slowly.
‘You ought to remember her. That time you were assigned to work down in Surrey, she was your right-hand man.’
‘Yeah, she was.’
‘She also has a rep for not taking any bullshit. Which also makes her the ideal choice to be paired up with you.’
‘Ma’am, she’s spiky as hell.’
‘Like I say, ideal.’ Gemma halted by her office door. ‘Yet, funnily enough … when I interviewed her, she said that you were the main reason she wanted to leave Surrey and come to the National Crime Group. She said that when she worked with you on the Laurel and Hardy murders, she learned more than she has from all the rest of the detectives she’s met put together.’ Gemma registered the disbelieving expression on his face. ‘I know, I kind of doubt that too. But we are where we are.’ She pushed the door open. ‘Come and say hello to her. Let’s hope she’s not died of old age waiting for you.’
‘DC Honeyford,’ Gemma said, ‘DS Heckenburg apologises for his tardiness. The fact that he doesn’t look very apologetic is to be ignored. He doesn’t do apologies often or convincingly. However, on this occasion, despite all appearances to the contrary, he means it.’
Gail Honeyford looked much the way Heck remembered when he’d last seen her, which was just over two years ago: she was still slim and attractive; a cool brunette, with hair down to her shoulders, dark hazel eyes and a pale, ‘peaches and cream’ complexion. She wore a powder-blue trouser suit and blue heeled boots and was sitting in the chair facing Gemma’s desk. A raincoat was folded alongside her, and an empty coffee cup sat on the desktop.
‘Yeah,’ Heck said. ‘Sorry I’m late, DC Honeyford.’
She replied with a polite nod.
Gemma indicated that Heck could dump the box of paperwork in a corner, and slid behind her desk, which was a complex operation in itself, given how little room there was in here. Unlike some senior officers, Gemma had never been given to displays of power. Though she was commander here at Staples Corner, head of the Serial Crimes Unit and second in authority at the National Crime Group only to the director, Joe Wullerton, himself, her office was a cramped, closet-like space, half of it filled with filing cabinets, the rest overhung with shelves groaning beneath the weight of packed files and dog-eared legal manuals.
‘Right …’ She selected a beige folder from her wire basket in-tray. ‘Seeing as Operation Sledgehammer goes live at eight tomorrow morning, there isn’t a great deal of time for us to discuss the niceties of what’ll be expected of you as a Serial Crimes Unit detective.’
DC Honeyford, having realised that she was the one being addressed, sat up straight.
Gemma glanced at her. ‘Except to say that if you needed to learn anything, you wouldn’t be here. So, you’re not on probation. You understand that?’
‘Of course, ma’am,’ the new recruit replied.
‘There’s a serious job needs doing, and in SCU we do it to the best of our abilities,’ Gemma said. ‘If any one of us fouls up, and that includes me, we’re out. But it may even be worse than that.’ She sat back, watching her new charge carefully, probing her with that penetrating blue-eyed gaze. ‘In this department, we deal exclusively with violent psychopaths … that means we can’t afford any errors. Lives, including our own, DC Honeyford, may depend on it.’ She paused again. ‘And … that’s it. That’s the whole of the introductory pep talk. Sorry if it wasn’t what you were expecting, but we’re all a bit short of time at present. You’ve got exactly half a day to get settled in. Because after tomorrow morning’s briefing you’ll all be expected to hit the road straight away in pursuit of the various actions that will have been allocated to you as part of Operation Sledgehammer.‘
‘I’m ready to go now, ma’am,’ DC Honeyford said.
‘Good. That means you can spend the rest of the day familiarising yourself with this.’ Gemma pushed the beige folder across the desk. ‘Consider that a welcome-to-your-new-job present. It’s a perk of sorts … no one else will know what case they’re being allocated until tomorrow morning.’
At last, Heck understood why they were being deployed in twos.
There were clearly several investigations that needed working on at the same time, most likely of historical significance rather than dating to the here and now. So that was Operation Sledgehammer: it sounded dramatic, as if it was something right up SCU’s street, but in actual fact one of the most experienced and productive special investigations units in the British police service was being used to adjust the clean-up rates.
‘And, Heck,’ Gemma said, interrupting his thoughts, ‘let’s make this thing work.’
He nodded, trying not to look as half-hearted about it as he felt.
‘OK … off you go.’ She waggled them away with her fingers.
‘Thank you, ma’am,’ DC Honeyford said, standing and tucking the file under her arm.
Heck dawdled after she’d left the room, edging the door closed behind her.
When he spoke, it was quietly. ‘Ma’am, I—’
She halted him with a raised palm. ‘I don’t want to hear it.’
‘Look, there’s something you may not know …’
‘I said I don’t want to hear it.’
She’d already opened her emails, her manicured fingers rattling on the keyboard.
‘Gemma … come on!’
Two