‘You never know.’
‘Well, if you see an empty chair at my desk tomorrow morning I’ve either overslept or my posting’s come through.’
‘I hope it’s the former. Better the devil you know,’ Cantelli said with a tired smile.
Horton hoped so too. Bidding good night to Cantelli, he headed for his office where he flicked open the blinds in time to see Tony Dennings’ broad figure stride across the yard and disappear from view. A taxi pulled in and Uckfield climbed into it. Then Marsden climbed on to his racing bike. Horton watched his tail light flicker out of sight before turning away.
He was tired beyond belief, his head was pounding, and every muscle in his body ached. Where would he end up? In Uckfield’s major crime team, if Dennings transferred himself out of it? But why should he? He looked set for the duration. In a CID unit in another division? Possibly.
There was a knock on his door and he looked up to find Trueman on the threshold. ‘I’m just off home, Andy, and I suggest you do the same.’
Horton stared at his paper-strewn desk. ‘I guess you’re right.’ He could tackle this tomorrow, if he was still here. And if he wasn’t, then one of DCI Bliss’s razor-sharp detectives would clear it up.
‘You asked me to find out if PC Adrian Stanley was still around.’
Horton had forgotten all about the PC who had filed the missing persons report on his mother.
‘He’s living in a retirement flat at Lee-on-the-Solent.’
Only eleven miles west along the coast.
‘I’ve jotted down the address for you.’ Trueman handed across a piece of paper.
‘Thanks.’ Horton stuffed it in his pocket without looking at it. He didn’t see that it would get him far with his investigations into his mother’s disappearance, whereas comparing his DNA against the database to find out if his mother was in cold storage might.
He shrugged on his leather jacket. Somewhere buried among the paper on his desk, or lurking on his computer, could be a memo or email from Chief Superintendent Reine or DCI Bliss telling him about his new posting. He thought it far more likely to be a paper-pushing job or a training role at the college than something like CID or special investigations and he didn’t relish that. Perhaps working with Detective Chief Superintendent Sawyer of the Intelligence Directorate to track down Zeus and get to the truth of his mother’s disappearance wasn’t such a bad idea after all, especially if Emma was safely away at school.
Closing his office door behind him he headed towards his Harley, considering the future. Whatever it held for him, though, and wherever he ended up, there was one thing he knew, and that was he’d survive. Which, he thought, breathing in the still night air, was more than Luke Felton and poor Eliso Gelashvili had ever been destined to do.