Watkins reacted with an expletive when Evan called him on his mobile at D.C.I. Hughes’s instruction. “Was there evidence they’d been torn from the wall? Vandals, do you think?” “There was no sign that they had ever been there,” Evan replied. “If I hadn’t seen them myself, I wouldn’t have believed they existed.” “So someone took the trouble to take them down carefully,” Watkins said. “Either it was a thrill-seeker, or our man is one cool customer.” “He’s one cool customer,” Evan agreed. Hughes made impatient fluttering gestures that Evan should hand over the phone to him. “Hughes here, Watkins. They were there when you brought the profiler yesterday?” “Of course they were. I pointed them out to him.” “And nobody’s been there since?” “None of our blokes,” Watkins said. “Forensics had already finished their sweep of the place, so we didn’t leave a guard posted on the site, just taped off the whole area. So theoretically anyone could have found it.
