The Mermaids Singing Page 0,63

do the business. So maybe it is Stevie McConnell."

Carol opened the door to the squad room, expecting to find Brandon and Tony still sitting there, fuelled by coffee and canteen sandwiches. The room was empty.

"Where's the ACC got to now?" Carol said, tiredness lending her voice a note of exasperation.

"Maybe he's left a message at the front desk," Merrick suggested.

"And maybe he's done the sensible thing and buggered off home to bed.

Well, that's us for tonight, Don. McConnell can stew for a bit. See what the bosses have to say in the morning. Maybe we can try for a search warrant now we know McConnell was in the Queen of Hearts. Now, get out of my sight and go home to bed before your Jean accuses me of leading you off the straight and narrow. Get some sleep. I don't want to see you before noon, and if your head's hurting, stay in bed. That's an order. Detective Sergeant. "

Merrick grinned.

"Yes, ma'am. See you." Carol watched Merrick walk back down the corridor, worried at the slow deliberation of his movements.

"Don?" she called. Merrick turned enquiringly back to her.

"Get a taxi. My authorization. I don't want you wrapped round a lamppost on my conscience. And that's an order, too." Merrick grinned, nodded and disappeared down the stairs.

With a sigh, Carol walked down the squad room to her temporary office. There was no message on her desk. Bloody Brandon, she thought. And bloody Tony Hill. Bran- don at least should have waited till she'd finished her interrogation of McConnell. And Tony might have left some indication of when he expected them to meet to discuss his profile. Muttering under her breath, Carol followed Merrick out of the building. As she reached the foyer, the officer minding the front desk called,

"Inspector Jordan?"

Carol turned back.

"I'm what's left of her."

"The ACC left a message for you, ma'am." Carol approached the desk and took the envelope the constable handed her. She ripped it open and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

"Carol," she read.

"I have taken Tony off on a little mission. I'll drop him at home afterwards. Please be in my office for ten this morning. Thanks for your hard work. John Brandon."

"Great," Carol said bitterly. She gave the constable a tired smile.

"I don't suppose you know where Mr Brandon and Dr Hill were headed?"

He shook his head.

"Sorry, ma'am. They didn't say."

"Wonderful," she muttered sarcastically. Turn your back for a minute and they were off playing their boys' games. Little mission, indeed. Bollocks to that, Carol thought as she marched back to her car. Three can play at that game," she said as she turned the ignition key.

Tony flicked through the last of the magazines and returned it to the box file in the bedside storage cube.

"S&M always leaves me feeling faintly queasy," he remarked.

"And this lot's particularly nasty."

Brandon agreed. McConnell's collection of hardcore pornography consisted mostly of magazines crammed with glossy colour pictures of well-muscled young men torturing each other and masturbating. A few were even more disturbing, with their graphic shots of male couples indulging in full sex with an array of sadomasochistic trappings.

Brandon couldn't remember seeing nastier examples, even when he'd done a six-month attachment with Vice.

They were sitting on the bed in Stevie McConnell's room. As soon as Carol and Merrick had left for their interrogation, Brandon had said, "Would it be helpful to you to see where McConnell lives?"

Tony picked up his pen again and started to doodle on the sheet of paper.

"It might give me some insight into the man. And if he is the killer, there could be evidence that ties him into the crimes. I don't mean murder weapons, or anything like that. I'm thinking more of the souvenirs. Photographs, newspaper clippings, as well as the stuff I was talking about before. But it's academic, isn't it? You said there was no chance of getting a search warrant."

Brandon's melancholy face lit up in a strange smile, almost a leer.

"When you've got a suspect in custody, there are things you can do to circumvent the rules. You game?"

Tony grinned.

"I'm fascinated." He followed Brandon downstairs to the cells. The custody sergeant hastily dropped the Stephen King novel he'd been reading and jumped to his feet.

"It's all right. Sergeant," Brandon said.

"If I only had a couple of prisoners to think about, I'd be enjoying a good read, too. I'd like to have a look at McConnell's property."
Chapter 13
The sergeant unlocked the property cupboard and handed the transparent plastic bag to