A Deviant Breed Read Online Free PDF

never felt a strong enough attraction to another woman to take the next step.’ She glanced sideways and smirked .  ‘Yet!’   She saw one of his eyebrows twitch and the slightest suggestion of a smile, he was a hard one to read.  Intrigued? Turned off? – Turned on?  She couldn’t tell.
    ‘Okay – but Geary and Holmquist are –’
    ‘An item, I know,’ she cut in, ‘or at least they were – it was a while ago and we met all but briefly – the Professor must have a photographic memory.’
    ‘Once seen,’ Dunbar offered with a grin, Tyler smiled back and rather surprisingly he felt a stirring such was the effect of her smile.  Little wonder she made such a memorable impression on the professor. ‘So why did you pretend you hadn’t met before?’
    ‘It might have triggered deeper discussion. Shelagh Geary’s a quite passionate advocate of openness in the workplace – which would have led to speculation and we need the team focussed on the job at hand, not my sexuality.’
    Dunbar nodded his agreement, the girl showed promise. ‘I’m afraid, looking like you do that’s easier said than done, lass,’ he added with a wry smile.
    ***
    The deeply rutted track to Braur Glen could be done at a stroll even by a moderately fit person but proved quite testing to a man recovering from multiple injuries.  Having been assured his leg would repair relatively quickly if he stuck to the regime the physiotherapist recommended – which he had, if not quite as religiously as she would have liked, Dunbar was disappointed by how weak his right leg still was.  The steady climb from where they had abandoned the car had taken its toll and Dunbar’s limp became more pronounced with each step as they neared the crime scene.  For him though, the embarrassment of struggling to keep up with Tyler outweighed the pain.  He made a mental note to load up with painkillers for any future hikes up to the glen. 
    Fortunately he had had the presence of mind to pop his walking stick in the car and was glad of it when faced by the winding path.  Not for him one of those carbon fibre extending jobs ramblers these days seem unable to function without. No. In keeping with his individual sense of style he’d employed a family heirloom after shedding his crutches some months ago.  A sturdy length of willow with a palm-sized knobbed head passed down from father to son who in turn had inherited it from his father.
    ‘Braw enough for walkin’ oot’ an’ strang enough te fell a mon’ wi’ yan clout,’ as his grandpa used to say of his trusty ‘kebbie’.  And he probably had felled a few poachers with it during his lifetime in service as a gillie on the Duke of Roxburghe’s estate.
    ***
    Professor Geary had watched his laboured approach and winced with pity as he hobbled over to her, which only served to deepen his sense of inadequacy.
    ‘Dear me, Chief Inspector, should you be –’
    ‘No he shouldn’t,’ an equally worried looking DI Tyler cut in.
    ‘Don’t fuss, I’m fine,’ he retorted testily as he scanned the area, aware that the two women had exchanged knowing looks and instantly regretted being so short with Tyler. ‘Always beats me how you people make sense of a few holes in the ground,’ he continued.
    ‘Like you at a crime scene – it comes with practice, you develop an eye for it and this place proved a little easier than some.  Skeletons without heads, bodies unceremoniously dumped into pits and no grave goods.  A fallow-field now – a killing field back then.’  Dunbar hobbled over to a strange looking wheeled device. ‘Please don’t touch that, Chief Inspector – very sensitive and extremely expensive.’
    He eyed her curiously. ‘One of those thingy-me-bobs for finding stuff that’s buried?’
    ‘Ground penetrating radar.’ His eyes drifted across the site as unconsciously he shifted his weight using his stick and swung his aching right leg back and forth. ‘What happened?  A fall was