Necessary as Blood

speciality because the patients couldn‘t talk back?‘
    ‘Oh, aren‘t you the wit. I‘m sorry, but I‘m afraid I don‘t remember your name.‘ Alexander seemed unperturbed. ‘Nor do I have to speak to you, although you do seem to be conscious.‘
    ‘I can‘t question you, no. But I can say whatever I like.‘ She moved a step closer and wondered if she were imagining the metallic, slightly chemical smell of him. ‘You see, I know you murdered Sandra Gilles and her husband. And I don‘t intend to let you get away with playing God.‘
    ‘Then I‘d say you have a rather elevated self-image, and a very active imagination.‘ Alexander smiled again, but she had seen the glint in his eyes, like the flash of a snake moving in the grass.
    It was only then that she realized she‘d been harbouring the tiniest shred of hope that Sandra Gilles was still alive. She turned and left the room.
    A few moments later she was leaning against the corridor wall, her eyes closed, when she heard footsteps. She opened her eyes and saw Kincaid, alone.
    ‘Where‘s Alexander‘s lawyer?‘ asked Gemma.
    ‘Rethinking his strategy, I suspect. He said he needed to make a phone call.‘
    ‘Why? What‘s happened?‘
    ‘Good news for us,‘ Kincaid answered, but his expression was grim. ‘Doug and Melody came up trumps. Mr Alexander‘s next-door neighbour came home after an evening out. She‘s a single mum, apparently, and was only too happy to talk about the odd goings-on next door. She didn‘t recall seeing Naz or Sandra. But‘ — he forestalled her disappointment — ‘she did tell them that she‘d been worried about the young girl she‘d seen in the house, sometimes looking out of a window, a few times peeking through the open door when Alexander was coming or going.
    ‘Once, she stopped Alexander and asked if his little girl might like to play with her own daughter. He told her the girl was his housekeeper‘s child, and more or less to mind her own business. But the mum says she never saw a housekeeper. And not long after that, she stopped seeing the girl, too.‘
    ‘When?‘ asked Gemma. ‘When did she last see the girl?‘
    ‘She said she was sure it was in May. Her wisteria had just finished blooming.‘
    Gemma stared at him in dismay. ‘And she said child? Not a teenager? Not the girl who came into the clinic?‘
    ‘A little girl not more than ten or twelve, she told Doug. Asian, wearing traditional dress. I‘ve rung the magistrate. We should have a search warrant by daybreak.‘

Chapter Thirty

The shadow of Christ Church falls across Spitalfields Gardens and in the shadow of Christ Church I see a sight I never wish to see again.

Jack London, People of the Abyss, 1903

    Miles Alexander had, on the advice of his solicitor, refused to answer any of their questions. After a whispered conference with his lawyer, he had not reacted when told that they intended to search his house. The solicitor, however, had looked distinctly uneasy.
    Gemma thought Kincaid might provoke a response when he suggested that Alexander might find a night enjoying the hospitality of the Metropolitan Police a novel experience — one more comfortable than a night spent in a National Health Service hospital ward. But Alexander had remained bland as butter, with no further displays of the veiled viciousness that had marked his off-the-record conversation with Gemma.
    Kincaid had left Doug Cullen preparing the request for a warrant, and Gemma and Duncan had gone home and fallen into bed.
    ‘We‘ve made a real balls-up of this if we don‘t find anything,‘ Kincaid said as Gemma turned out the light.
    ‘We will. He‘s an arrogant bastard who thinks the rules don‘t apply to him — any rules. But he‘s not quite as clever as he thinks.‘
    Duncan rolled over against her back. His voice already slurred with sleep, he threw an arm over her and murmured, ‘Wifey.‘
    Gemma roused herself enough to poke him with her elbow and say, ‘Don‘t you dare call me that,‘ but she smiled and pulled him closer.
    ‘How are you going to stop me?‘
    ‘Oh, I can think of ways,‘ said Gemma. She could feel the warmth of his hand on her belly, and snuggled against him. But his hand relaxed, and his breathing settled into a slow, regular rhythm.
    She smiled, and fell asleep.
    As the sky began to grey, his phone rang. The sound was shockingly loud in the quiet room. ‘Oh, God, turn it off,‘ Gemma mumbled groggily.
    But when she heard his