Page 25 of The Killer’s Mark

Chapter 18

The train was on time. There were no delays, no broken-down freight, no jumpers. Poe and Bradshaw arrived at Euston just after 1 p.m. They hopped in a cab and asked to be taken to Citadel House, the National Crime Agency’s headquarters building. They’d arranged to meet their old boss, DCI Stephanie Flynn, in a nearby pub for lunch. Poe didn’t know the porn industry, as he’d never worked vice, but the NCA had their fingers in all sorts of pies. If Flynn didn’t know who to point them towards, she would know someone who did.

The cabbie dropped them off right outside the pub and they found a table near the back. They were early. Bradshaw opened her laptop and logged on to the staff Wi-Fi network. ‘I still have work to do for Alastor Locke,’ she said. And with that short and simple statement, she disappeared into Bradshaw-land.

Poe removed his notebook from his battered old travel satchel and reviewed what he knew about Esmerée’s case so far, using bullet points. The problem with writing everything down as a narrative was that it became linear. You fell into the post hoc ergo propter hoc trap – ‘after this, therefore because of this’. There was a chronological timeline, but it didn’t mean everything was linked. So Poe used bullet points. Always had.

Esmerée’s mother, Océane Blue, was living with Vincent du Buk, a private equity firm manager. Their relationship is unclear, but it might have been a sugar daddy/sugar baby arrangement.

Vincent du Buk is dead. FACT. Esmerée claims he was murdered by Océane Blue.

Vincent du Buk might have been involved with unsavoury characters. MAYBE HE WAS MANAGING THEIR MONEY? CHECK WITH FBI CONTACT?

Océane abandons Esmerée in New York and flees.

Esmerée grabs some loose cash and flees too. She makes her way to England and ends up on the outskirts of Carlisle.

Esmerée believed her mother was dead. Killed by du Buk’s associates.

Adam Malloy forces Esmerée to watch a pornographic film. She sees her mother in the film. She is masked, but Esmerée recognises her by the tattoo on the sole of her foot.

Océane might have a new tattoo on her shoulder.

Poe tapped his pen against his teeth. He added another bullet point.

Esmerée has alien hand syndrome.

He was wondering if the last point was relevant when Flynn arrived. She wasn’t alone. Poe stood up to greet his old boss. He then shook hands with her colleague. She introduced herself as Susan Hawksworth. She was National Crime Agency as well.

Poe nudged Bradshaw. ‘Say hello to the boss, Tilly.’

She looked up from her laptop and blinked in surprise. ‘Oh, hello, DCI Stephanie Flynn.’

‘Come here, you geeky idiot,’ Flynn said, grabbing and hugging her. ‘You still watching what Poe eats?’

‘If by that you mean watching him consume his own weight in black pudding, yes, I am watching what he eats.’

Flynn poked him in the stomach. ‘I don’t know how you’re not the fattest man on earth, Poe. Scientists should study your metabolism.’

‘Anger burns calories,’ he said.

‘A salad won’t kill you, though, mate.’

‘I’d rather eat wasps.’

Bradshaw cleared her throat. ‘According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world’s population will have reached nine billion people by 2050, so insects will form part of everyone’s diet.’

Poe considered this. ‘Well, let’s hope we’re both dead by then.’

Bradshaw nodded in agreement. ‘Insects are gross.’

Flynn put her arms around them both. ‘I’ve missed you guys,’ she said.

‘What’s it like being a private enquiry agent, Poe?’ she asked after they’d ordered food. Pie and mash for Poe, garden salads for everyone else.

‘Slow,’ he said. ‘But I’m enjoying the change of pace.’

‘Poe refused twenty-two cases before he accepted this one, DCI Flynn,’ Bradshaw said. ‘And it wasn’t even him who accepted it, it was me. Poe was downstairs having a fist fight.’