That was the way his mind tended to go: the comforting way, toward the absolute. There was a fire. The fire was a fact. So was his father's death, of course, but even to form the phrase in his head was to invite in the doubt and the torment to f.u.c.k with him for a time. To crack open the carapace of everyday nonsense and force that fissure wider, until it gaped. Until Thorne could do nothing but shut himself down and wait for the churning in his guts and the pounding in his head to stop.

He guessed that Hendricks had done the postmortems on Mannion and the first victim. That he'd also do the PM on Paddy Hayes when the time came. Hendricks hadn't mentioned the case when they'd spoken, but then Holland had been a bit cagey about it, too. Thorne knew that they were trying to protect him. They believed he was better off where he was. Uninvolved.

Grief and work, so everybody seemed to think, were mutually exclusive. Each got in the way of the other.

Any bright ideas?

Perhaps, though, he wasn't sure how bright it was . . .

Moving to the window, Thorne could feel the draft creeping beneath the sash. Not so long ago the country had been at a standstill for a week as temperatures climbed toward three figures. Now, three weeks into August, the summer was on its last legs. He thought about how those who lived on the streets were at the mercy of the seasons. How that first hint of autumn would change everything. For those who slept outdoors, who had no other options, a harsh winter could be far more serious than any amount of burst pipes or shunts on black ice.

Not so long ago . . .

Thorne blinked and remembered the feel of the pew beneath him. The smell of himself, sweating in a black suit. No more than three rows filled and most of them there to support him. Feeling a bead of perspiration roll behind his ear and creep down inside the tight, white collar. Knowing he would soon have to stand up and say something . . .

He couldn't carry on with what he was doing now. He wasn't ready to go back to what he'd done before. He could work through grief, or he could grieve at work, but guilt choked the life out of everything.

He moved quickly to the phone and dialed.

"You should think about sending an officer in undercover. Among the rough sleepers." Thorne wasn't sure if Brigstocke was thinking about his suggestion or had just been stunned into silence. "It makes sense," he continued. "n.o.body's talking to you. I can't see there are many other options."

"It'll take too long to set up."

"I don't see why; it isn't complicated. You're sending one officer onto the streets, into that community. All we need to set up is a simple line of communication with him."

"I'll talk to Jesmond, see what he thinks. See if he can find anybody. Thanks for the call, Tom . . ."

"Give it some thought, will you?"

A shorter silence this time and then a snort. "How much more have you had to drink since lunchtime?"

"I can do this, Russell. I did the course . . ."

"Don't be so b.l.o.o.d.y stupid. An Undercover Two course?"

"Right . . ."

"And how many years ago was that?"

Thorne tuned Brigstocke out momentarily. Elvis was rubbing herself against his shins. He wondered who would feed her if he was away for a while. The woman upstairs would do it if he asked her nicely. She had a couple of her own cats . . .

"I'm hardly going deep inside an organized-crime firm, am I?" Thorne said. "I can't see how this can be high risk. We're talking about gathering information, that's all."

"That's all?"

"Yes . . ."

"So you haven't really thought about this bloke who's going round kicking people to death?"

"I want to help catch the f.u.c.ker, yes."

"What, you think you can . . . draw him out or something?"

"I don't see how I could . . ."

"Some c.r.a.p like that?"

"No."

"How does putting yourself in danger help anyone, Tom? How does it help you?"

"I'm just going to sleep rough, for Christ's sake," Thorne said. "Presuming for a second that this killer is still around, how can it be dangerous if he doesn't know I'm there?"

He heard the click of a lighter on the other end of the phone. There was a pause and then the noisy exhalation of smoke.

"The mouse doesn't know there's cheese on the trap," Brigstocke said. "But we still call it bait . . ."

FOUR.

If a man jumped out in front of him with a severed head in one hand and a blood-spattered ax in the other, gibbering about how the voices in his head had made him do it, Detective Superintendent Trevor Jesmond would be a little out of his depth. He was not, however, a man who thought the Murder Investigation Manual was boring, and when it came to "Communications Strategy"-Chapter Seven, Section Seven, Subsection Two (Managing the Media)- there was n.o.body to touch him.

"Let me stress again that the victim of this despicable crime is among the most vulnerable members of our society. His attacker is someone whom we believe has killed twice already. Make no mistake, we will do whatever it takes to apprehend this man before he has a chance to kill again."

They were gathered in the press room at Colindale Police Station; five minutes away from the Peel Centre, where the Murder Squad was based in Becke House. Thorne watched from the back. Staring across the heads of several dozen a.s.sembled hacks. Leaning one way and then another to get a clear view of the stage between an a.s.sortment of camera tripods.

"Is this latest victim expected to live?"

"Mr. Hayes is in a critical condition. He is presently on life support at Middles.e.x Hospital. Without talking further to those doctors caring for him, I'm not in a position to give any more information than that."

There can't have been too many people in the room who couldn't work out that Paddy Hayes was f.u.c.ked.

"You've suggested that the attempted murder of Mr. Hayes is connected to the two other murders of rough sleepers. That this latest attack is part of a series-"

Jesmond held up a hand, nodded. He was acknowledging that the journalist was right, but only up to a point. He was also stopping him before he ventured too far down that avenue of questioning. Of course, they'd had to come out and admit that the murders were connected. When the tabloids were putting two and two together, the Met could not afford to appear dim by looking as if they hadn't.

"We must a.s.sume there's a connection, yes," Jesmond said.

"So we're talking about motiveless killings, then? Random attacks?"

A grim half smile. "DCI Brigstocke and his team believe that they are hunting a killer who has struck before. The investigation is proceeding, vigorously, along those lines."

He was playing it very nicely. Striking that essential balance between rea.s.surance and warning. It was, of course, crucial not to alarm the public.

Thorne knew, as Jesmond must have known, that, irrespective of what was said, the papers would print stories about a serial killer. It would shift copies quicker than Posh and Becks, and Fleet Street editors didn't have any qualms about alarming anybody.

It was a phrase Thorne hated. He had caught, and not caught, a number of those who had murdered strangers, and none had borne the slightest resemblance to the creature conjured up by the words serial killer. All the men and women he'd known who had taken more than one life had done so with what they believed to be good reason. None had thought themselves superhuman, or hunted their victims when the moon was full. They had motives for what they did that had nothing to do with being locked in a cellar when they were children, or made to dress up in their mother's clothes . . .

"As always, we are seeking the cooperation of the public in helping to put an end to these appalling attacks."

The appeal was textbook stuff. Jesmond gave out the salient facts, insisted that anyone with information, anyone who was in the vicinity, had a duty to come forward. It would, more than likely, prove useless. There can't have been many people hanging around in dark alleyways in the dead of night, and if there had been, it was unlikely, for one reason or another, that any of them would want to come forward. Still, it had to be done, and it had to be specific: dates and times and localities. The last thing they needed was a bland, generalized plea that gave out the wrong message.

We haven't got the first idea who's doing this, but somebody out there must know something. Please help us . . .

"We will catch this man," Jesmond said, winding up. Public confidence was important but so was his own, and he made a point of showing it. Hearts and minds were not won by being mealymouthed. His body language and the expression on his face were determined and dynamic. Thorne could easily picture him learning how to project the image, on a weekend course at a country-house hotel. It was as though he were inviting those present to take a b.l.o.o.d.y careful note of the message, written in foot-high letters across the smart, blue Metropolitan Police backdrop: working for a safer london.

Thorne knew that it was smoke and mirrors.

The press conference was there as much as anything to project an image of confidence and efficiency, but Thorne knew that the investigation was in trouble. He knew it was easy enough to marshal resources, to gather significant numbers of officers and be gung ho about catching a killer when it was only for forty-five minutes in front of the media.

Thorne wondered how anybody was ever fooled.

He hung around in the car park, waiting for Jesmond. Trying to work out the best way of making the approach.

At the sound of the door, Thorne looked up to see two men coming out of the station. Recognizing one of them, he tried immediately to turn away without being seen, but he was a fraction too late. He had little choice but to smile and give a small nod. The man he'd been trying to avoid nodded back and Thorne was horrified to see him start to walk over, bringing with him the other man, whose face was vaguely familiar.

Steve Norman was a senior force press officer, a civilian. He was small and wiry, with a helmet of dark hair and an overinflated sense of his own importance. He and Thorne had crossed swords on a case a couple of years earlier.

"Tom . . ." Still six feet away from him, Norman extended a hand.

Thorne took it, remembering an ill-tempered meeting when Norman had jabbed a finger into his chest. Remembering that he'd threatened to break it . . .

"I hadn't expected to see you," Norman continued.

So, the "gardening" leave had become common knowledge. Thorne nodded back toward the main building. "Conference went well, I thought." Norman had been heavily involved, of course. Thorne had seen him, lurking at the side of the stage looking pleased with himself. He'd stepped up at one point and whispered something to Russell Brigstocke.

Norman put a hand on his friend's arm and looked toward Thorne. "Do you two . . . ?"

Thorne leaned across. "Sorry, Tom Thorne."

The man stepped smartly forward and they shook hands. He was midfortyish, taller than Thorne and Norman by six inches or more, and thickset.

"This is Alan Ward, from Sky," Norman said. Thorne could see how much he relished making the introduction.

"Good to meet you," Ward said. He had large, wire-framed gla.s.ses beneath a tangle of dark, curly hair that was three-quarters gray. He put his hand back into the pocket of what Thorne would have described as a denim blazer.

"You, too . . ."

Several typically English moments of social awkwardness followed. Thorne would have left, but for the fact that he didn't want to seem rude and had nowhere to go. Norman and Ward, who had clearly been in midconversation, were also too polite to excuse themselves immediately. They stood and carried on talking while Thorne hovered and listened, as though the three of them were old friends.

"I can't remember you at one of these before, Alan," Norman said.

"It's news, so we're covering it."

"Bit below your weight, though, isn't it?"

Ward stared over Norman's head as he spoke, looking around as if he were taking in a breathtaking view. "We aren't bombing the s.h.i.t out of anybody at the moment, thank G.o.d, so I'm just here giving the lads on the crew a bit of moral support. Keeping an eye on one or two of the newer guys."

There was a bit of chuckling, then a pause. Thorne felt like he should say something to justify his presence. "What is it you do, then, Alan?"

Norman took great pride in answering for Ward. "Alan's a TV reporter. He's normally working in places a little more dangerous than Colindale."

"Tottenham?" Thorne asked.

Ward laughed and started to speak, but again Norman was in there first. "Bosnia, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland." Norman listed the names with great pride, and Thorne realized that he was showing off, like a kid with a new bike. That, however close a friend Ward actually was, Norman got off on knowing him.

Thorne looked at Ward and could see that he was embarra.s.sed, that he and Norman were not really close friends at all. The glance Thorne got back, the discreet roll of the eyes, told him Ward thought Norman was every bit as much of a t.i.t as he did. Thorne took an enormous liking to Alan Ward immediately.

Suddenly it was Thorne's turn to feel embarra.s.sed. "I thought you looked familiar," he said. "I've just realized. I've seen you on the box, haven't I?"

Norman looked like he would wet himself with excitement.

"Have you got Sky, then?" Ward said.

"I tend to use it for the football mostly, I'm ashamed to say."

"Who are you, a.r.s.enal?"

"G.o.d, no!"

At that moment, over Norman's shoulder, Thorne saw Trevor Jesmond emerge. Jesmond looked across, froze, then quickly tried-as Thorne himself had done a few minutes earlier-to spin away without being spotted. Thorne raised a hand, horrified that he and Jesmond shared anything at all in common.

"Well then . . ." Norman said.

To the press officer's obvious delight, Thorne said hasty good-byes. Ward shook his hand again, and gave him a business card. As Thorne walked away, the reporter said something he didn't altogether catch about getting free tickets for matches.

He caught up with Jesmond just as the detective superintendent reached his car.

"Shouldn't you be at Scotland Yard?"

"I was wondering if DCI Brigstocke had said anything to you, sir."

Jesmond pressed a b.u.t.ton on his key to unlock the car. He opened the Rover's door and tossed his cap and briefcase onto the pa.s.senger seat.

"My sympathies for recent events are a matter of record . . ."

"Sir . . ."

"But if they have left you in an emotionally charged state, where you are not presently fit to work as a member of my team, what on earth makes you think you'd be able to function efficiently as an undercover officer?"

"I don't think what I'm suggesting is . . . complicated," Thorne said. "I think I'm perfectly able-"

Jesmond cut him off. "Or perhaps that's it." He blinked slowly. His lashes were sandy, all but lost against his dry skin. He might have been trying to appear knowing and thoughtful, but Thorne watched the thin lips set themselves into what looked to him like a smirk. "Perhaps your emotional state is precisely why you think you should be doing this. Perhaps it's why you consider yourself suitable; why you consider this job suitable for you. Have I hit it on the head, Tom? Are you going to be dossing down in a hairshirt?"