Coming, Ready or Not (D.S. Hunter Kerr Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

them come in.
     
    - ooOoo -
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER THREE
    Day Two : 19th March.
     
    Hunter’s bedside alarm woke him with a jolt. For a couple of seconds his mind was in a state of confusion and then he heard a soft moan beside him and everything came back. He turned over and snuggled into Beth. She had her back towards him and he looped an arm over her, dragging her closer and he nestled his head into the nape of her neck. Her skin and hair smelt of fresh strawberries. He breathed in the perfumed aroma and then pressed his lips into her soft skin and kissed her.
    ‘ Sorry about last night.’
    ‘ Busy day?’ she mumbled back.
    ‘ Hmmm. Tell you about it tonight.’ He kissed her again, rolled away, flicked aside the duvet and sat up on the edge of the bed. He checked the bedside clock. It was just after 6.30 a.m. He launched himself out onto the carpet and stretched. As his fingers clawed their way up towards the ceiling a jolt of fresh energy surged through him like high-voltage electricity re-energising last night’s drained body. Stepping into the shower his head was switching into work mode, thinking about the tasks which lay ahead.
     
     
    ‘ Can I have everyone’s attention?’ Detective Superintendent Leggate’s voice boomed across the MIT office.
    Hunter snapped up his head. He had been so absorbed in sorting out the paperwork littering his desk from the previous day’s activities that he hadn’t noticed his SIO come into the room. She was standing in front of the incident board, hands clasped before her, almost prayer-like. This morning, her ginger, auburn tinted hair had been swept into a chignon updo, the fringe sweeping across her forehead, partially covering her right eye.
    ‘ We have a lot to get through today,’ she said. ‘Last night more addresses were turned over for Adam Fields, but unfortunately we got no joy. We have now exhausted those enquiries and he has been widely circulated. An intelligence package has been put together for his arrest, and I want you, Mark’ – she unclasped her hands and pointed towards DS Mark Gamble – ‘and your team to focus on capturing him.’ She withdrew her finger and swept the room with her gaze. ‘But I want you all to make yourself familiar with the contents of that package before you leave the office today. The arrest of Adam Fields is our key priority.’ Dawn Leggate laboured over her last sentence and stared into the room for a few seconds. Then she continued. ‘Now to our victim, Gemma Cooke. We know that her address was tagged because of domestic violence and we also know that her boyfriend – Mr Fields – was arrested for assaulting her five days ago and released on bail. The full circumstances of all those incidents are in a file with the Public Protection Unit. I spoke with the DI who runs that last night and he’s going to arrange for that to be made available for us this morning.’ She fixed Hunter with her hazel eyes. ‘I want you, Hunter, and Grace, to pick that file up and have a chat with the officer who dealt with Fields. See if you can glean anything different to what we have on our system, especially as to where he might be holed up.’
    Hunter acknowledged with a nod.
    ‘ And now I want to bring in Mike who spent all day at the scene yesterday with forensics. He’s going to run through what they’ve turned up.’
    DC Mike Sampson scraped back his chair, used his desk to lever himself up and made his way to the front of the MIT room.
    Hunter eyed him carefully. The ghost-like vision of Mike lying unconscious, on life-support, flashed inside Hunter’s head generating a sudden feeling of anxiety. It could have just as easily been me. Taking a sharp breath he held it. Then he chased away his thoughts and followed Mike’s progress to the front of the room. He couldn’t help but admire how quickly Mike had recovered from the life-threatening attack three months earlier; Mike had been stabbed during a stake-out to