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better up close.”
    “He looks well dodgy, Vicks.” Karen shook her head. “Wouldn’t trust him an inch.”
    “You know I like a bad boy.”
    “I seriously don’t get that. Besides, what sort of person gives themselves a nickname?”

Chapter Ten
    D I Forrester stood by the window running the full width of their office space, the early afternoon sun almost silhouetting him from behind. “Apologies for not having a briefing this morning but we’ve got a new officer joining the team. DS Euan MacDonald. Mac, go on, introduce yourself.”
    “Afternoon. Very pleased to be joining MIT North.” Standing next to Forrester, MacDonald beamed at Vicky then at the six DCs spread around the whiteboard. “Been working in the Glasgow North Major Investigation Team for the last year since the changeover. Before that, I was in Strathclyde CID. Actually started my career in Tayside Police. Four years on the beat in Dundee and Arbroath before moving south.” He peered at each of the officers. “Don’t think I know any of you lot, though.”
    Forrester patted him on the back. “Mac brings in a wealth of experience we simply don’t have in either this team or DI Greig’s. You’ll know we’ve been seriously shorthanded of late, relying on DS Dodds’ solid work covering two roles while DS Ennis has been off ill. It’s doubtful he’ll be back any time soon and DCI Raven gave me the go-ahead to increase my headcount. We’ll obviously review the situation in six months but for now it feels good to be back up to two sergeants.”
    MacDonald grinned. “Feels good to be here.”
    “That’s your fun over, Mac. You understand that, right?”
    MacDonald laughed, maybe a little too hard.
    Forrester tapped the whiteboard. “Now, on with the proper briefing. First, there’s still nothing on the Airwave scanner believed to be in Dundee.”
    “What’s that, sir?” MacDonald was frowning.
    “Our Airwaves may have been compromised. We’ve received intelligence pointing to some criminals potentially having access to a scanner that can hack into the Tetra network.”
    “But it’s nothing without the access codes?”
    “Who says they don’t have them?” Forrester’s grin faded as he looked around the room. “Be very careful what information you put out there, okay? Mobile phones are our primary mode of communication now.” He stared at the floor. “We’re trying to bring the old team back in. Looks like we’ll need to reconfigure our entire network from the handsets up.”
    Vicky raised a hand. “And meanwhile someone’s listening in to our radios?”
    “We don’t know that.” Forrester held out his hands. “We’ve got suspicions but nothing concrete.”
    “The Tetra system was supposed to be totally secure but we found out pretty quickly that it’s not necessarily the case. Ways and means, usually backhanders.” MacDonald cleared his throat, hands flicking up briefly. “Worked on the team installing the Airwaves in Strathclyde back in the day. Specialist subject, so apologies if I bore you.”
    “Let’s keep that to ourselves, Sergeant. Don’t want to lose you to that team already.”
    MacDonald zipped his lips shut.
    “Right, moving on.” Forrester looked at the whiteboard next to him. “The caseload from last night. Had a rape in Tannadice, near Forfar, an assault in Menzieshill and one on Dens Road. There were three muggings in the town centre and a burglary in Broughty Ferry. I’ve allocated the burglary to DS MacDonald but everything else has been bounced back to Local Policing’s CID team or uniform.” Forrester shifted his gaze to Vicky. “Do you want to give us an update on your cases?”
    Vicky put on her deep voice, trying to add gravitas. “Well, it’s actually two cases but they might be connected. Rachel Hay and Paul Joyce were both abducted yesterday evening. Brother and sister . Rachel was walking her dogs in Invergowrie and didn’t return home. Her dogs are all fine. Paul,