There are countless moments in the average life when you have to decide whether to open yourself up or bury yourself deep. In love, at work, amongst your family, with friends, there are moments when you have to decide whether you are ready to reveal your true self.
Helen had deliberately made herself an enigma. She had a thick carapace that she presented to the world and it defined her – she was tough, resilient, incapable of doubt or regret. She knew that was far from the truth, but it was amazing how many others bought it. We always question ourselves more than we question others and most of her colleagues and occasional lovers seemed to buy the image of a tough, committed career copper who could not be shocked, frightened or intimidated. The longer she kept it up, the more people believed it, which is why she had taken on an aura of other-worldliness, especially amongst uniform.
Helen knew all this and paused for breath now as she stood on the verge of smashing the idol she had created. Letting others in now was the right thing to do and could save lives, but it came at a cost to Helen, dredging up events and decisions that had been buried deep.
DC Bridges entered, breaking Helen’s introspective trance. He was carrying the case files she’d requested. As they pored over the pages together, discreetly tucked away in her office, Helen was constantly evaluating each link in the chain, double-and triple-checking her assumptions. There could be no room for doubt.
Then suddenly her heart stopped.
‘Go back.’
‘To personal effects? Or -’
‘The forensics report. From Morten’s house.’
In the wake of Sandy Morten’s disappearance, forensics had scoured his house. They knew the abductor had been there, had drunk champagne with Morten and Mickery, so had searched long and hard for any traces of her.
‘Nothing there, boss. Forensics found lots of DNA from Mickery, Morten, his wife, all the main -’
‘The second page.’
‘Just the incomplete samples, most of which we’ve signed off…’
Helen snatched the report from him and stared at it. There could be no doubt now. She knew who the killer was and why she was killing.
Tanner was nowhere to be seen. But a discarded handbag near the boarded-up childrens’ hospital suggested she had been here recently and perhaps bagged the prize she was after. They were about to leave, when they heard something that made them stop in their tracks. A sharp metallic clunk from within the derelict building, as if something had been dropped.