A Deadly Thaw Read Online Free PDF

handed him a large pink folder. Bill cast his eyes over the results. ‘At least we’ve got the right bugger this time.’

9
    Superintendent Dai Llewellyn shut the office door behind him, feeling old. The meeting had been short and to the point. Orders had been given, and he was long enough in the tooth to know when it was pointless arguing. Some things were negotiable; others weren’t. The problem was that some things were forgivable and some things not, too. He had a horrible feeling that a line had been drawn and that he was on the wrong side of it.
    He wanted a drink and thought briefly of the glass of Bushmills that he would have before bed. He desperately wanted to bring that drink forward but old habits are hard to break, and he had come to rely on habit. His eyes fell to the files on his desk. Now he had something else to deal with: the misidentification of a body from 2004. Another old case.
    A knock, and his secretary, Margaret, put her head around the door. ‘Fancy a coffee?’
    He thought again of the Bushmills. ‘That’d be great.’
    ‘Are you okay?’ She’d been working with him for ten years. It hadn’t started off well – his inexperience in the superintendent role, her brisk efficiency, which, he later discovered, was hiding the trauma of a messy divorce – but they’d settled into a routine that suited them both. Routine , he thought again. Why is it that I can draw so much comfort from it these days?
    There were limits to their relationship. He smiled up at her. ‘Everything’s fine.’
    Her eyes dropped to the files on his desk. ‘DI Sadler’s called three times this morning. He wants to see you. He’s gone out to reinterview Lena Gray but he’d like to see you as soon as he gets back.’
    Llewellyn picked up the file and opened it. ‘Right.’

10
    The loud knock echoed around the house, waking Kat from her reverie. She looked down, aware that her frayed dressing gown had a large coffee stain down one side. She rebelted the garment to hide the spatter and walked to the front door. Behind the coloured glass she could see the shadow of a figure leaning against the stone arch. She frowned and opened the door, taking in with a glance the tall man with pale hair and blue eyes.
    He showed her his warrant card. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Sadler. It’s Kat, isn’t it? I’m not sure if you remember me from 2004. I wonder if I could have a word with your sister?’
    Kat stifled the impulse to shut the door on this man. She felt shabby and dowdy and, although his eyes hadn’t left her face, was sure that he had taken in the state of her undress. ‘She’s not here. Come in while I get changed.’ She took him through to the living room and left him examining the books in the shelves covering the side wall.
    Back in her bedroom, she leant against the door and closed her eyes to gather strength. She could hear nothing downstairs, but the silence felt different. A presence within the walls of this too-solid house. She opened a drawer and took out her underwear, surprised to see her hands shaking. She lifted the jeans that she had slung over a chair yesterday and then scrabbled through her wardrobe for a clean jumper. The heap of clothes in the wicker washing basket told her what she needed to do when she had got rid of the policeman.
    When she got back to the sitting room, the detective had settled on the sofa. She crossed the room and sat next to him, noting his surprise. ‘Sorry. Sitting opposite you would seem too much like a therapy session.’
    He shifted his body towards her. ‘You’re still working as a counsellor then?’
    ‘It’s an ideal job, really, given everything that happened with Lena. Counselling allowed me to work to my own timetable, which gave me the chance to visit her in prison when I could.’
    ‘You went often? To the prison, I mean.’
    ‘Twice a month. I would have gone more but that was the allowance we were given. An hour every two weeks.’
    ‘Did anyone