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JIM
Fraser and I were huddled in the meeting room we used for briefings. Lists and interview notes
littered the table between us. We were planning.
Woodley put his head around the door. ‘Rachel Jenner’s just phoned, she says she’s seen Ben
playing an online game.’
‘What game?’ Fraser asked.
‘Furry Football. She says he’s logged on as one of his avatars.’
‘What in God’s name does that mean?’
‘You have characters that you become when you play the game. Ben has two. She logged on as one
of them and met the other in the game. She thinks that means that Ben was logged on.’
‘And does it? You’re the IT expert.’
‘It could do, obviously, if he has access to the internet, which would seem unlikely. Equally,
anybody who had access to his login details could have done it.’
‘How likely do you think that is?’
‘It’s impossible to say, but people often know their friends’ passwords etc., it could be one of his
mates or anybody who knew him.’
‘Does Rachel Jenner have a view on that?’
‘She doesn’t know. It’s hard to get sense out of her to be honest, boss. She’s pretty hysterical.’
‘We need to find out who might have known. Can you contact that man who was in the woods, the
father of Ben’s best friend? Ask him if he knows about this stuff, and ask him if we can interview his
boy in the morning. He might know.’
‘Will do.’
Once he’d gone, Fraser turned back to me. ‘What’s your feeling, Jim?’
‘Could be something, could be nothing. Just like the schoolbooks.’
‘I’ll get the IT folks onto it. Now, Lucas Grantham versus Nicola Forbes. I want a plan of action
tonight, so that we don’t waste a minute tomorrow morning. Not one second. What’s your feeling
about resource allocation?’
I took my time before answering. We had a very strong suspect in custody, and I knew he looked
good for it, but there was something about Nicky Forbes that I just couldn’t let go.
‘In my view, Nicky Forbes is very intelligent and potentially very manipulative,’ I said to Fraser.
‘Chris was certainly very clear that the sort of trauma Nicky’s suffered could cause all kinds of
psychosis or delusions. If her own husband is coming in to warn us about her, I think we need to take
it very seriously.’
‘You favour her for it?’
‘If I have to stick my neck out, I do.’
And, as I said it out loud, I felt my conviction build. I said, ‘I think there’s a danger that Lucas
Grantham might be another Edward Fount. Looks good for it because he’s a lying little git who lives
with his mother, but he could be telling the truth about why he went to the woods.’
‘Telling the truth about his lie?’
‘Yes.’
‘If that’s the case I’m going to have him on wasting police time.’
‘Agreed.’
Fraser sighed, massaged her forehead. She looked old suddenly. ‘But I’m not sure it is, and part of