do it here, my brother works in computers. I'm sure he could do it for us."
Cross stared at her, his expression unreadable for once. When he spoke, he was all affability.
"Fine. Go ahead. Mr Brandon gave you carte blanche, after all."
So that's what a passing buck sounds like, Carol thought as she headed downstairs to the HOLMES room. A five- minute conversation with a harassed Inspector Dave Woolcott confirmed what she'd already suspected. The HOLMES team had neither the software nor the expertise to carry out the analysis Tony wanted. As Carol walked down to the canteen in search of Kevin Matthews, she hoped Michael could deliver in complete confidence. Keeping quiet about technological developments was very different from resisting the urge to gossip about a high-profile murder enquiry. If he let her down, she could kiss goodbye to a future outside Personnel.
Kevin was hunched alone over a cup of coffee, a plate with the remains of a fry-up next to him. Carol pulled out the chair opposite him.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Be my guest," Kevin said. He looked up and gave her the ghost of a grin, pushing his unruly ginger curls back from his forehead.
"How's it going?"
"Probably a lot easier than it is for you and Bob."
"What's this Home Office boffin like, then?"
Carol considered for a moment.
"He's cautious. He's quick, he's sharp, but he's not a know-all, and he doesn't seem to want to tell us how to do our job. It's really interesting watching him work. He looks at things from a different perspective."
"How do you mean?" Kevin asked, looking genuinely interested.
"When we look at a crime, we look for physical clues, leads, things that point us to who we might want to talk to or where we might want to look. When he looks at a crime, he's not interested in all that stuff. He wants to know why the physical clues happened the way they did so he can work out who did it. It's as if we use information to move us forward and he uses it to move him backwards. Does that make sense?"
Kevin frowned.
"I think so. You think he's got what it takes?"
Carol shrugged.
"It's early days yet. But yeah, on first impressions, I'd say he's got something to offer."
Kevin grinned.
"Something to offer the investigation or something to offer you?"
"Piss off, Kevin," Carol said, tired of the innuendo that followed her round the job.
"Unlike some, I never shit on my own doorstep."
Kevin looked momentarily uneasy.
"Only joking, Carol, honest."
"Jokes are supposed to be funny."
"OK, OK, sorry. What's he like to work with, though? Nice bloke, or what?"
Carol spoke slowly, measuring her words.
"Considering he spends his working life getting inside the minds of psychopaths, he seems pretty normal. There's something quite ... closed off about him. He keeps his distance. Doesn't give much away. But he treats me like an equal, not like some thick plod. He's on our side, Kevin, and that's the main thing. I'd guess he's one of those workaholics who's more interested in getting the job done than anything else. And speaking of getting the job done, Popeye says you've turned something up on PC Connolly?"
Kevin sighed.
"For what it's worth. One of the neighbours came home from work at ten to six. She knows the time because the shipping forecast had just started on the car radio. Connolly was on his drive, closing the bonnet of his car. He had overalls on. The neighbour says he must have been working on the car, he was always at it. By the time the neighbour got out of her car and into the house, Damien was reversing his car into the garage. The same neighbour came out about an hour later on her way to a game of squash, and she noticed Connolly's car parked on the street. She was a bit surprised, because he never left the car sitting out, especially after dark. She also noticed that the light was on in Connolly's garage. And that's about the size of it."
"Is it an integral garage?" Carol asked.
"No, but it's attached to the house, and there's a door from the garage leads into the kitchen."
"So it looks like he was snatched from the house?"
Kevin shrugged.
"Who knows? There's no sign of a struggle. I spoke to one of the SO COs who turned the place over, and he said not to hold our breath."
"Sounds just like the first two."
"That's what Bob says." Kevin pushed his chair back.