Stone and Burke had not long finished taking the official statements of David Leigh and the other witnesses to the robbery, when DCI Collins strode into their office.
"Sir," Stone acknowledged his superior without taking his eyes off the keyboard in front of him – he couldn't touch-type, and not looking at what he was doing would only slow him down significantly, and leave typos in the statement he was putting on the system. Fixing the typos would make an already time-consuming job take a lot longer, and leave him very irritable.
"How's the investigation going?" Collins asked. "Any breaks?"
Only sixteen hours had passed since the robbery, Stone wasn't surprised that the DCI was chasing a result though; quick results looked good for the department, and for the DCI, and Collins liked things that made him looked good. "It looks like the Ice-cream Boys, Ben and Jerry Logan, are our boys, sir, but it could take time to prove it."
"Why's that?" Collins was pleased to hear that they had suspects, but not so pleased by the lack of an arrest.
"We've got a witness who spotted a tattoo on the neck of one of the blaggers, it matches a piece of ink Jerry Logan got recently, and both brothers match the physical descriptions we have, such as they are; not only that but Rose Leigh heard a faint accent when the blaggers spoke, which the Ice-Cream Boys have. They were both wearing masks during the actual robbery, though, so we don't have positive I.D.s on them yet." Stone took a sip of his coffee and grimaced when he discovered it was cold. "We're trying to track down the car they used, and forensics are looking for anything that might link them to the robbery, that's likely to take some time."
Collins considered for a few moments and then nodded. "Keep me up to date," he told Stone. "I want to know the moment you've got a result."
"Yes, sir." Stone looked over at his partner in time to see him roll his eyes, he had to fight the urge to copy him.
"Hello, Nathan."
Stone recognised the voice even before he turned to face the speaker.
"Louisa." His voice was neutral as he greeted the reporter. It didn't surprise him to find Louisa Orchard waiting by his car as he left the station for the evening; she had been trying, without success, to get hold of him all day.
"You've been avoiding me," Louisa said in a voice that suggested she was used to people avoiding her, and used to finding ways to get them to talk to her when they didn't want to. "I hear you're in charge of the investigation into the robbery at the Rock Radio festival – have you any suspects yet?"
"You know I can't comment on that while the investigation's ongoing, but we're doing everything possible to find the people responsible. We have leads we're pursuing, and we're confident they will result in arrests soon."
Louisa looked dubious at that, she had heard such statements many times before, and seen how often they were proved accurate. "That's the standard crap you're supposed to give me, Nate, now how about you give me something I can actually use. Is it true the thieves got away with more than fifty grand? And that they used sawn-off shotguns?"
Stone considered the questions for a few moments before he nodded. "We don't know exactly how much was stolen, it was being counted when the robbery happened, but we do know they stole more than forty thousand pounds; and yes, they did use sawn-off shotguns. No-one was hurt beyond a few headaches, though."
"Is there anything else you can tell me?" Louisa asked once she had scribbled that down. "Come on, Nate, there's got to be something else you can give me - I know about the blue Astra you guys are interested in. How about the elderly dog-walker that got knocked down? Anything you can give me there? Is there a connection between the two, the robbery and the hit-and-run?"
"Why would you think that?" Stone asked. He wasn't aware that there was a link between the two incidents, but it didn't surprise him that Louisa was trying to combine the two stories into something bigger. "The hit-and-run happened five miles from the festival; we've got no reason for thinking there's a connection between it and the robbery."
Louisa gave a knowing smile. "Is that the truth, or just the official answer?"
"The truth," Stone told her. "If you find any reason to think differently, let me know."