Watching the Dark (Inspector Banks Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

up since just after five, and he hadn’t eaten anything yet. Maybe he’d grab a pasty or a sausage roll from Greggs after the meeting.
    AC Gervaise was as fresh and business-like as ever in her navy blue suit and crisp white linen blouse, a little red, blue and yellow needlework around the collar adding a touch of colour to its strict lines.
    ‘Is everything in hand?’ she asked, sitting opposite Banks and smoothing her skirt.
    ‘It is,’ said Banks.
    The mechanics of a murder investigation could be quite overwhelming, and it was as well to get everything set up and running, make sure everyone knew what his or her job was, before information started arriving in the form of forensics reports, witness statements, alibis and the like. Computer systems such as HOLMES and SOCRATES needed to be set up, and that job would probably fall to DC Gerry Masterson these days, with her IT background, but there was still so much reliance on actual paper in police investigations that plenty of good strong cardboard boxes and large filing cabinets would also be needed. And even though officers used their mobiles most of the time, dedicated land lines had to be set up, and the public needed to be made aware of numbers to call if they had information.
    ‘Did you know DI Quinn personally?’ Gervaise asked.
    ‘I met him once,’ said Banks. ‘Seemed like a nice enough bloke. But I can’t say I knew him. You?’
    ‘Same thing. He was awarded a medal for bravery about three years ago. I was at the presentation.’
    ‘I didn’t know that.’
    ‘Distinguished service record. I don’t get this at all, Alan. From everything I’ve heard so far, it certainly doesn’t seem like a random act of violence, or even an old enemy lashing out in anger.’
    ‘No,’ Banks agreed. ‘The choice of weapon. It all seems very deliberate, as if it were planned. And then there are the photos.’
    Gervaise’s eyes widened. ‘The what?’
    Banks explained about the photographs he’d found in Quinn’s forensic textbook. ‘They should be with Photographic Services by now, though I don’t imagine there’ll be a lot they can tell us.’
    ‘You’d be surprised. Quinn with a young woman, you say?’
    ‘Very young.’
    ‘What do you make of it? Blackmail?’
    ‘That seems most likely.’ Banks paused. ‘Winsome told me his wife died just a month ago,’ he went on, ‘which makes me think that if the photos had been used for blackmail before then, there’s a good chance they’d be quite useless after.’
    ‘What about his children?’
    ‘It’s not the same, is it? Besides, they’re grown up. At university.’
    ‘Doesn’t matter. I know that I wouldn’t want my kids to know . . . you know . . .’ Gervaise reddened. ‘If I’d done anything like that.’
    ‘I suppose you’re right.’ Banks imagined what Tracy or Brian would say if they knew about some of the things he’d done over the years. Not that infidelity had been a habit, but once was enough. There were other things he’d done, things he wasn’t proud of, down in London when he was undercover and living on the edge, or over it sometimes. ‘But the blackmail still loses a lot of its sting, doesn’t it? I mean, your kids can hardly haul you through the divorce courts and take everything you’ve got, can they?’
    Gervaise gave him a look that would freeze a volcano. ‘You mean take what they’re entitled to, surely, Alan?’
    ‘Sorry, ma’am. Yes. Of course.’
    Gervaise inclined her head regally. ‘I should think so. And less of the ma’am. It does nothing to excuse your sexist attitudes.’ She paused. ‘All I’m saying is that the threat of blackmail might have still been there, if not as strong. Kids. Parents. Even bosses, work colleagues. And it’s hardly a good thing for a police officer’s career to admit that he left himself open to blackmail. There’s been rumours lately, too. A rotten apple. Just rumours, mind, but even so . . .’
    ‘So I heard,’