‘Wait!’ Mullett waved him back to his chair. ‘I need an update on the cases you are working on.’ He listened distastefully as Frost spared him none of the gory details of the stabbing and the post-mortem. ‘One victim’s still alive – so it’s only two murders.’
‘She’s eighty-one,’ said Frost, ‘and her skull’s fractured. The hospital don’t reckon she’ll pull through. I’m anticipating on this one.’
Mullett clenched his fist angrily. ‘Catching this swine must be our number one priority, even to the exclusion of other cases.’ He pulled his notepad towards him. ‘I’m holding a press conference at two on the Paula Bartlett case. No joy with your plumber?’
‘Not unless we can pick holes in his story, and I don’t think we will.’
‘A pity,’ said Mullett pointedly, as if it was Frost’s fault. ‘Have you told the parents yet that she was raped? I don’t want them to find out from the media.’
Damn! thought Frost. He’d completely forgotten this aspect. ‘No, sir. I don’t want to sod up your nice new roster, so as I’m off duty I’ll leave that for you.’
The Parker pen doodled in the air and dotted an imaginary ‘i’. ‘I’d do it willingly, Inspector. But you’ve got their confidence. They don’t want a stranger breaking such bad news. I’ll leave that in your capable hands.’
Frost smiled his ‘you bastard!’ smile. ‘Of course, sir.’
Mullett studied his list. ‘Only one case demands urgent attention. This maniac with the knife. He’s got to be caught before he kills again. That’s the case we deploy our manpower on. The rest can go on the back burner until we’re back to full strength.’
‘But what about Paula Bartlett?’ protested Frost. ‘She’s been murdered and raped – do we stick her on the back burner?’
Mullett nodded emphatically. ‘She’s been dead for over two months. The trail’s gone cold. Waiting a week until Mr Allen returns is sensible and won’t make the slightest bit of difference.’ At Frost’s continued hesitation, he added, ‘It’s a question of priorities, Inspector. Face facts! We haven’t the manpower to handle more than one major investigation. By concentrating our resources, I’m looking forward to an early arrest.’
Frost pulled a cigarette stub from behind his ear and poked it in his mouth. ‘I’ll give it a whirl,’ he muttered doubtfully. He wasn’t happy at back-pedalling on the school kid. His every instinct screamed for him to go all out to find the bastard responsible. But Hornrim Harry was right for once. They didn’t have the resources for more than one big case and they weren’t going to get any help from County.
‘Good man!’ Mullett smoothed his moustache with his two forefingers. ‘But we must keep a high profile with the public. We mustn’t let them know we are marking time on the Bartlett case.’ His eyes gleamed and he snapped his fingers triumphantly. ‘I’ve got it! There’s a video somewhere that Mr Allen had made when the girl first went missing. I’m sure we could get the TV companies to run it again.’ The video showed a Paula Bartlett look-alike, wearing similar clothes and riding the identical bike along the route of Paula’s newspaper round. It was hoped it would jog someone’s memory, but it hadn’t been successful. As Paula did her round every day, same route, same time, there was much confusion in the minds of people who had come forward as to the actual day they had seen her. The usual reports of strange men in slow-moving dark cars, but none of the leads had led anywhere.
‘If it didn’t work when memories were fresh, I can’t see it working two months later,’ said Frost, ‘but I’ll arrange it if you like. I could do an appeal to the public.’
‘Leave it all to me,’ cut in Mullett hastily. ‘You’ve got far too much to do.’ There was no way he was going to let Frost appear on TV, slouching in front of the cameras in that terrible suit, retrieving half-smoked cigarettes from behind his ear. He beamed at Frost. ‘See the parents, then go and get some sleep. And remember, we concentrate only on vital things. Nothing else matters.’
Frost had almost reached the door when Mullett called him back, waving the complicated inventory return from his in-tray. ‘You might fit this in when you have an odd moment, Inspector.’
Frost’s gave the return a dubious stare. ‘It doesn’t look vital to me.’
Mullett’s smile didn’t waver. ‘Shouldn’t take you long, now that I’ve lightened your work load.