‘To treat the matter as a simple homicide while Security tries to sweet-talk Interpol into leaning on certain governments to get their organised crime divisions on board. Meanwhile, and I didn’t hear this from my old friend Robert so you didn’t hear it from me- the Foreign Office will be applying political pressure behind closed doors.’

Lorne winced. ‘For all the good it’ll do them.’

‘Exactly. So, for the time being, we are to treat this as a simple homicide, the work of a serial killer or killers. Tabloid stuff with that daft woman’s story about ghoulies. Maybe even a best-seller or two. By the by, anything on the deceased? The original one, I mean. Archie Skinner.’

‘Lab’s going through his photographic equipment right now. We’re hoping he was into child pornography, for obvious reasons. Seems likely enough as he made a decent living and didn’t advertise or pay tax.’

‘What about Ms. Algood? It’s obvious she knows something. Please don’t tell me she’s certifiable.’

‘First thing we checked on. No history of mental illness but she stuck to her story even when I threatened her with a polygraph test. Could be she is certifiable but was never diagnosed.’




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