Bleed Like Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

when he had been sure of least resistance. While his loved ones slept. The wounds were efficient, not excessive. Janet had seen countless murders, plenty of stabbings, all sorts of obscenities. This was measured, if such a thing can be said to be so.
    ‘We’re nearly done for now,’ she tried to reassure Lynn. ‘Can you think of anywhere Owen might go to escape notice?’
    ‘My mind’s gone blank,’ Lynn said. ‘Erm, he went through a fishing phase. When Michael first came over. It didn’t last long. I think Michael probably got on his nerves a bit.’
    ‘How come?’
    ‘Well, he was a bit shy in company, but if he knew you well he could talk the hind leg off a donkey, just drivel really, stream of consciousness. Maybe not what you want all day long on the river bank. That poor boy,’ she said suddenly. ‘He was harmless. And Penny . . . Oh, God.’ Her composure, such as it was, collapsed and she began to sob, gulping air and in between asking, ‘Why? How could he do that? Oh, God, why?’

4
    Janet joined Rachel at the church hall on the Larks estate which they were using as a meeting point for the house-to-house. She handed out plans of the estate to the team of uniformed officers who were working door to door, while Rachel briefed them. Janet could hear an aggressive edge in Rachel’s tone and knew that her friend was finding it difficult. Bark first, before they do, was Rachel’s approach to most encounters. Probably worrying that she’d mess up. She needn’t have bothered. None of these PCs would dare undermine her. They were all too keen to get stuck in, hoping to find something useful for the investigation.
    As they peeled off and left the hall, Janet said, ‘That was fine.’
    ‘Yeah?’ Rachel said guardedly.
    ‘Well, you could have relaxed a little bit more, perhaps made eye contact now and then.’
    ‘I did make eye contact,’ Rachel objected.
    ‘With the distant horizon, maybe.’
    ‘So what’re you saying? I was crap?’ Rachel set off for the door, clutching the file.
    ‘No, Rachel. I’m saying you are good at your job and you need to believe that so you have confidence, andthat confidence shows. You were just a bit . . . prickly.’
    ‘Prickly?’
    Oh, she should never have said anything. ‘We’re all on the same side,’ Janet said, ‘but sometimes it feels like you’re not sure about that. Rachel Bailey against the world.’
    ‘Don’t you start,’ Rachel said. ‘I get enough shit from Godzilla about being a team player.’
    ‘It matters,’ Janet said, ‘especially if you get your sergeant’s exam – you’ll be managing people. It’s not just bossing them about.’
    ‘Shall we get on with this?’ Rachel, frowning in irritation, shook the plans in her hand.
    ‘Wait.’
    ‘Now what?’ Rachel’s scowl deepened. But even scowling she was attractive, large brown eyes, high cheekbones.
    ‘Feather.’ Janet reached out and pulled a curled white feather from the back of Rachel’s hair. ‘Two.’ She picked out the other one. ‘You been pillow fighting? No wonder you look knackered. Anyone I know?’
    ‘Shut up,’ Rachel said, pushing through the double doors.
    ‘Seeing him again, whoever he is?’ Janet said.
    ‘Nah,’ Rachel said.
    They turned left on the crescent which led up to the top of the estate. Their remit the twenty-five properties closest to Journeys Inn.
    Janet wasn’t sure what was going on in Rachel’s personal life. Since the whole sordid, sickening business with Nick Savage, Rachel had barely mentioned men. Barely mentioned anything outside work. Couldn’t blame her really. Betrayal didn’t come any bigger. Celibacy probably an attractive option, sensible. But Janet knew Rachel didn’t do sensible. Never for very long, anyway. There was a chaotic, self-destructiveside that seemed to be her default position when under stress. And she seemed drawn to danger. Janet worried about her. It was like watching a toddler trot towards an open fire,