The Death Messenger (Matthew Ryan Book 2)(35)

Still counting his blessings that it was Grace and not Roz who’d walked through the door, he said to no one in particular, ‘How come I wasn’t consulted?’

Grace snapped her head round to face him. ‘You saying I’m not good enough?’

‘Take no notice, Grace. Staffing is my baby,’ O’Neil said. ‘Come in and make yourself comfortable. We have much to do.’ She led the way into the apartment proper.

‘Blimey!’ Grace was staring at a bank of computers on the far wall. ‘You want for nothing, do you?’ She scanned the room. ‘Except maybe a Christmas tree. We’ll have to sort that out. I’m not working without one.’

O’Neil rolled her eyes. ‘Priorities, Grace.’

‘No one is more important than Baby Jesus.’

Ryan laughed.

O’Neil didn’t. ‘Our jobs are uploaded onto HOLMES: how they came in, how they were reported, where we’re up to. Statements in the system have all been checked off. House-to-house needs updating. You must review it all, every scrap of information. In other words, you are now a one-woman incident room – the way you like it.’

‘She’s nailed you already,’ Ryan said.

‘You still need a tree!’ Grace spoke over her shoulder as she walked away, unconcerned with O’Neil’s agenda. She turned. ‘And my other half? You need him too. He’s a real star, if you ever fancy giving him a whirl. You might have to stand in line. He doesn’t suffer fools, if you know what I mean—’

‘Don’t make me regret taking you on,’ O’Neil said in return.

At the risk of annoying O’Neil, he jumped in: ‘Guv, when we were searching for Jack, Newman was brilliant.’

‘You don’t say.’

‘No, hear me out. Without him, there’s a lot we would’ve missed. Frank has contacts we don’t and he’s prepared to use them. Fingers in pies is exactly what we need.’

‘Don’t you think I know that?’ O’Neil said.

‘So what’s the problem?’

‘Ryan, we’re serving police officers. We need to do things by THE book, not HIS book. The two things are very different—’

‘You’re reading the wrong book,’ Grace said loudly, forcing Ryan to stifle a grin. She was already at work, organizing a workstation behind them, moving bits of equipment out of her way, replacing them with her own stuff. He loved having her around.

‘I’ve made my decision,’ O’Neil said.

‘The wrong one.’ Grace turned, leaned against her new desk, arms crossed. ‘If you don’t use Frank, it might be a while before you crack this case. It wouldn’t do to fail on your first outing.’

‘Ryan, a word.’ O’Neil was losing patience. They moved into the hallway. ‘I hope she isn’t going to keep on about him.’

‘I can think of one way to stop her.’

‘I know you have a lot of time for him—’

‘That’s a gross understatement,’ Ryan interrupted. ‘What would it take for me to convince you that he’s a good idea?’ O’Neil seemed to waver, so he pushed on. ‘Meet with him. Talk to the guy. He doesn’t say much and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know a lot about him. He’s . . . How can I put this? An acquired taste. I didn’t take to him straight off. He grew on me. He’ll grow on you too.’ He nodded back into the room they had just vacated. ‘Grace trusts him implicitly.’

‘They’re married!’

‘Agreed, but I trust him and you trust me. It’s like a daisy chain of trust.’ Ryan made a funny face. O’Neil didn’t laugh. ‘Listen, Newman was a spy when spies went out and did instead of sitting around on their arses staring at computer screens. Utilize him to your advantage – to ours, I mean. Believe me, you won’t regret it.’

‘He’s dangerous—’

‘But effective.’

‘No, I can’t risk it. The last thing I need is a maverick on my team.’

‘You’ve met him?’

‘Yesterday. And I didn’t take to him.’

‘Guv, Newman was the one who went out and made the connections when Grace and I were searching for Jack’s killers. Say what you like about him, he has my vote.’

Just as he appeared to be getting his message across, O’Neil’s phone rang. She checked the display and asked for some privacy, waiting until he walked away. Ryan swore under his breath. The opportunity was gone. After a minute or two, she was back in the room. Whatever the call was about, it was serious. She was pissed off and making no attempt at hiding it.

‘We’re getting a visitor,’ she said.

Ryan was immediately on the defensive. ‘I thought no one knew we were here.’

‘Well, they do now.’ O’Neil’s eyes shot towards the door. ‘Do the honours and meet our guest. Actually, don’t bother, I’ll do it myself.’

‘If it’s Ford you better keep him away from her.’ Ryan threw a glance in Grace’s direction. ‘Somehow, I don’t think they’ll get along.’

‘I heard that.’ As O’Neil made a move, Grace pulled a scary face at Ryan.

‘How old are you?’ he said crossly.