shift its shape to suit itself.
“Was anything other than the coal and the screwdriver taken?”
“Nothing,” he answered. “Darn’dest thing as well, considering the till was right there. I’d not bothered emptying it that day because there wasn’t much money in there, other than the float and a few odds and ends, but they didn’t even try to open it.” He shrugged and took a sip.
I mulled that over. “Were there any traces of anything else? Anything at all?”
He took his time answering. “Only the slime.”
“The slime?” My life would have been a lot easier if Nick had mentioned slime when I’d talked to him before.
“Aye, smelly dark stuff. It was smeared along the shelf where the coals had been. There were a few drops of it on the floor too.”
“I don’t suppose you kept any of it?” I asked hopefully.
He looked at me like I was crazy. I supposed I probably was. “No,” he answered slowly. “That police bloke, Nick whatsisface Jones, took some. Said he’d send it away for testing or something. I don’t expect he really will, though.”
Perkins’ faith in the ineptitude of the police force was clearly unshakeable.
“He took the CCTV video as well.”
I sat up. CCTV? That was interesting. And helpful. Although it did mean I’d now have to go and see Nick after all. I gulped down the rest of my coffee. “Mr Perkins, thank you so much for your time.” I stuck out my hand and he took it.
“You’re welcome. You culty people might be odd but at least you’re polite.”
I smiled at him slightly. “If I find out anything, I’ll let you know.”
“It’s hardly even worth me filing the insurance claim, girl, so I don’t really know why you’re bothering.”
“It’s the principle of the matter, Mr Perkins. We cannot allow incidents of this nature to take root in Trevathorn. It’s a slippery slope, this kind of thing you know.” God help me, now I was starting to sound like Julia. It worked though, because he grinned warmly at me before showing me out the front door and locking it firmly behind me again.
It was barely a hop, skip and a jump to the police station so I wandered over without any further delay. I could handle one horny copper. Once, inside I asked the duty sergeant to let me through to speak to Nick. He wasn’t overly thrilled about it but called him up on the intercom to check first and then buzzed me through.
“Mack!” Nick stretched out his arms to greet me. “To what do I owe this wonderful pleasure?”
“I need a favour, Nick.”
He shot me a sly smile. “For you, anything.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’d like to see the CCTV you took from Perkins, and any report you managed to get from the lab about the slime.”
His smile disappeared. “What do you want that for?”
“Trying to keep the streets of Trevathorn safe, Nick.” I commented lightly.
He looked me for a long time, trying to judge how serious I was being. Eventually he spoke up. “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone, you know.”
I nodded, serious, but hopeful.
“The slime is still with the lab. How did you know about that anyway?”
I just shrugged and smiled demurely.
“Fine, whatever, don’t tell me. And if the sarge finds out I showed you the CCTV, I could lose my job.”
“Nick, I…”
He interrupted me. “Now, hold on. I didn’t say no yet, did I? I’ll show you it if you do something for me first.”
“What do you want?”
“Have dinner with me. Tonight.” There was a gleam in his eyes that slightly unnerved me.
“Nick, I’m sorry, but I’m just so busy at the moment…” I tried batting my eyelashes as Betsy had done at Corrigan at lunch although I had the distinct feeling that I looked like a fly had just flown into my eyeball instead.
“That’s my price,” he answered, and looked at me hopefully.
Fuck it. “Fine. I’ll have dinner with you. But not tonight – can we make it next week, instead?”
“Okay, dinner next week but a drink in the Bull tonight after we’re done,” he countered.
I knew I wasn’t going to win this one. “Okay. You’re on.”
“Come with me, then.”
I followed him down the corridor into a small room that was already set up with an ancient TV monitor and DVD player. He gestured to a chair and I sat down. He sat next to me, stretching an arm behind the back of my chair, and clicked on the remote. The screen flickered to life and