Dead Man's Grip

the man who probably hired the killer in the first place. We’re going to continue with protection on Carly Chase and her family for a while, but I personally don’t think the threat is as severe now.’
    Cleo placed Roy’s hand on her swollen abdomen and said, ‘Bump’s busy today.’
    He could feel their child moving around.
    ‘Probably because you just ate a chocolate ice cream, right? You said he always becomes energetic when you eat chocolate – and that he’s probably going to become a chocaholic.’
    ‘ He? ’ she said quizzically.
    Grace grinned. ‘You’re the one who keeps going on about all these old wives’ tales, that if your baby’s high up, or sticking out a lot, it’s going to be a boy.’
    She shrugged. ‘We could easily find out.’
    ‘Do you want to?’ he asked.
    ‘No. Do you? You didn’t last time we discussed it.’
    ‘I will love our child just as much whether it is a boy or a girl. I’ll love it because it is our child.’
    ‘Are you sure, Roy? You wouldn’t want it to be a boy, so he could be an action man like my hero, Roy Grace? The claustrophobic who goes down a deep tunnel. The man who’s scared of heights who climbs power stations? The crap swimmer who dives into a harbour and saves a boy’s life?’
    Grace shrugged. ‘I’m a copper. Sometimes in my job you can’t make choices based on what you’re afraid of or not. The day you do is the day you wake up and know you’re in the wrong career.’
    ‘You love it, don’t you?’
    ‘I didn’t love climbing down that ladder into the tunnel. And I was shit scared climbing up on to the power station roof. But at least young Tyler’s going to be OK. And to see his mother’s face when we took her to him at the Sussex County, where he was being checked over – that was something else. That’s why I do this job. I can’t think of any other job in the world where you could make a difference like that.’
    ‘I can,’ Cleo said, and kissed him on the forehead. ‘It doesn’t matter what job you do, you’d always make a difference. You’re that kind of person. That’s why I love you.’
    He gave her a sideways look. ‘Do you?’
    ‘Yup.’ She shrugged and sipped her drink. ‘You know, sometimes I wonder about you and Sandy.’
    ‘In what sense?’
    ‘You told me that you tried for several years to have a child, without success, right?’
    He nodded.
    ‘If you had succeeded, what would have happened? Would you and I – you know – be together?’
    ‘I’ve no idea. But I can tell you one thing, I’m glad we are. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. You’re my rock.’
    ‘You’re mine too.’
    She squeezed his hand. ‘Let me ask you something. Did Sandy ever call you her rock ?’
    Roy Grace hugged her. After some minutes he said, ‘You know what they say about the past being another country?’
    Cleo nodded.
    ‘So let’s not go there.’
    He kissed her.
    ‘Good plan,’ she agreed.

113
    ‘The time is 8.30 a.m., Wednesday 12 May,’ Roy Grace read from his notes to his team in MIR-1. ‘This is an update on Operation Violin . To bring you up to speed on the latest regarding the unknown suspect, missing, presumed drowned, this is the start of the fifth day of the search of Shoreham Harbour by the Specialist Search Unit. One development yesterday was the recovery of a Toyota Yaris car from thirty feet of water at Aldrington Basin, close to the location where Ewan Preece was discovered in the white van. The vehicle bears the last known licence plates of the suspect. It is now undergoing intensive forensic examination.’
    Duncan Crocker raised a hand. ‘Chief, we haven’t heard anything from Ford Prison regarding the death of Warren Tulley. Has there been any progress in that enquiry that could shed any light on our suspect?’
    Grace turned to Potting. ‘Norman, do you have anything for us?’
    ‘I spoke to prison officer Lisa Setterington this afternoon, guv, and to the West Area Major Crime Branch Team, who are investigating. They are preparing to charge their original suspect, Tulley’s fellow inmate Lee Rogan.’
    Grace thanked him, then went on, ‘We are continuing to maintain protection on Carly Chase and her family for the time being. I’m waiting for intelligence from the US which may help us to decide how long this should go on and in what form.’
     
     
    This intelligence came sooner than Grace expected. As he left the briefing, his phone beeped,