Crossing the Line (Kerry Wilkinson) Read Online Free PDF Page A

involved. I’m just a normal person. I’ve hardly got any friends and the
    ones I do know work in bakeries, hospitals. I go out for coffee once or twice a week with the woman
    who lives next door and we moan about the people downstairs. She lost her dad recently, so it’s been
    hard for her.’
    ‘Do you know anyone who might have it in for Luke?’
    ‘You name it. He wasn’t exactly popular with the main rival candidate when he got elected. The
    guy Luke beat had been in the same seat for twenty-odd years but these leaflets went out to a bunch of
    houses in the area, saying he was a paedo. Luke denied all knowledge and the election board said it
    wasn’t provable. I don’t know for sure and Luke never said anything about them but it wouldn’t
    surprise me – it’s the kind of thing he’d do. He ended up winning by a couple of hundred votes. Then
    there’s Michael, of course.’
    ‘Who’s that?’
    ‘Michael Cowell. We all knew each other at college. He and Luke used to be business partners but
    it all fell apart. I don’t know the ins and outs but Luke used to rage about him all the time up until a year or so back.’
    ‘Do you have any details?’
    ‘Nothing that would have been recent – plus I left almost everything at the house. I only took what I
    could carry when I moved out.’ She indicated around the room. ‘Most of this stuff comes from charity
    shops.’
    Jessica turned down a second cup of tea and checked a few more things, before leaving Debbie her
    card. She told her which hospital Luke had been taken to but wasn’t entirely surprised by the reply:
    ‘At least I’ll be able to sleep tonight without worrying about him coming round here with a knife.’
    At that, Jessica was gone; past the swastika, down the pissy stairs and back across the obstacle
    course of a garden to her car.
    ‘Bloody . . . bastard . . . bloody . . . thing. Can you hear me?’
    Detective Constable Izzy Diamond’s reply echoed clearly through the speakers in Jessica’s car. ‘I
    can hear a lot of swearing, so if that’s you, then yes.’
    ‘It’s this Bluetooth thing, I never know if it’s working. It used to be quite the skill to hold a phone
    between your ear and shoulder, steer with one hand, change gear with the other, overtake a string of
    cars and talk someone through an interview all at the same time. Then they went and banned it and
    now we’re at the mercy of technology. Philistines.’
    ‘I think there’s a few officers around here still suffering from post-traumatic stress after being in a
    car with you, so perhaps they were onto something?’
    Smart-arse.
    Jessica waited behind a row of parked cars as a dustbin lorry sat in the middle of the road leading
    off Debbie’s estate. The early morning sun had given way to the usual grey skies and a biting wind
    and the bin men – or hygiene technicians as they were probably known nowadays – were draped in an
    array of hats, gloves and scarves, their breaths spiralling into the air. They pulled a succession of
    wheelie bins into the road, blocking both directions of traffic, as Jessica checked the car’s clock,
    knowing it was going to be one of those days.
    ‘I didn’t quite catch that,’ Jessica said. ‘The line is all crackly. Anyway, I’ve got some names for
    you.’
    ‘From the wife?’
    ‘Yes, she’s Debbie Callaghan; married Luke not long after leaving school. He sounds like quite the
    shite. She says he used to beat her, mental abuse, made her stay indoors, probably cheated at Cluedo
    too. A right nasty bastard.’
    ‘Do you believe her?’
    Jessica leant on her horn as the bin men stood having a chat in the middle of the road. ‘Probably –
    she’s got the marks, plus there was a lot of detail she would have had to make up on the spot. She’s
    got an alibi for this morning too – she was at an AA meeting run by some Shane Donovan bloke. I’ve
    given him a call and will go have a word.’
    Jessica heard the sound of a keyboard