Backlash Read Online Free PDF Page A

mobile, leaving messages and texts, but all to no avail, so after about three weeks they contacted the Dublin Garda who then informed the Kilburn missing persons unit.
    Barbara said that she had spoken personally with the officers assigned the Flynn ‘Misper’ investigation and that they had made extensive enquiries, even travelling to Dublin to interview the family. Her two flatmates had said that she just upped and left and wanted to know if her parents would pay her outstanding rent. City University said she suddenly stopped turning up for lectures, and her boss at the garage, aware she was looking for somewhere else to live, thought she had just ‘moved on’. Julia had no credit card, but her bank account was overdrawn to the limit, with no transactions just prior to or since the time she had gone missing. Her mobile phone had been ‘pinged’ by sending a signal to it to try and determine its location, but it was clear it was no longer in use and that the battery was long since flat. Calls and texts had been checked but nothing out of the ordinary turned up. Fidelis Julia Flynn, like Rebekka Jordan, had simply disappeared with no evidence of foul play, but the fact that it was eighteen months since she had gone missing matched the interview admission of Henry Oates.
    Mike Lewis then told them he was going to call DCSLangton and he didn’t want to be interrupted. As he retired to his office the admiration and respect for Langton was immediately obvious as members of the team shouted out ‘Give him my regards!’ and ‘Tell the old bastard to get well soon, but don’t hurry back!’
    Mike was on the phone for nearly an hour, but no sooner had he put the receiver down than the impatient Paul Barolli was knocking at the door, ever eager to find out what Langton had to say.
    ‘Come in, Paul. Before you ask, yes I have spoken with him and—’
    ‘So you talked to Langton?’
    Mike tapped his right ear. ‘Is it still red? He hammered away at me for an hour, firing off questions like a machine gun.’
    ‘From hospital?’
    ‘Nope, he discharged himself yesterday, but he’s supposed to be resting up and doing physiotherapy as he can’t walk without the aid of a Zimmer frame.’
    Barolli smiled. The image of the energetic Langton using such a thing amused him.
    ‘It’s not funny, Paul. He went off the deep end about the Rebekka Jordan case; I knew he would. I suspected he loathed having no closure on it and I was right. He’s something else, he is – it was as if it had happened last week instead of five years ago. I’ve always known he was obsessive, but he was barking at me like a Gatling gun, and I couldn’t answer half his questions because I’ve not even read his entire case file yet.’
    ‘Better get on with it then. I’ll also brief the team about familiarizing themselves with it. Do we focus on Rebekka rather than the Irish girl?’
    ‘No. Langton wants them both opened up, said we need to put the pressure on, so we’ll have to go back to Henry Oates and see if we can get any more details. I can’t organize a big search party until I can be sure he’s not stringing us along.’
    ‘That what he said?’
    ‘No. You know Langton, he’d have the fucking Army out. Good news is he’s going above DCS Hedges to the Commander to get clearance to beef up our team and get a bigger budget. Reopening these investigations is going to cost.’
    ‘Joan said that her social enquiries showed that Oates had done some building work. If he killed them he had to get rid of them, maybe buried them somewhere on site.’
    ‘Good point, Paul, ask Joan to find out where he worked but especially the dates, then we can prioritize any searches that fit the Jordan or Flynn timescale.’
    ‘Big career move for you though,’ Barolli said with a smile.
    ‘Yeah, or a desk job for eternity if I mess up. Whether that bastard Oates is lying or not I can guarantee it won’t be Langton that takes the backlash, it’ll be