Dead and Buried Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rose said sharply.
    ‘Rose!’ Anna said.
    ‘No, Rose is quite right to ask. When I saw the story in the newspapers I rang an old colleague of mine. He knows some officers from Bethnal Green and he was able to give me the details of what they’d found. I knew, well, I felt sure, you would be concerned as soon as you saw it in the press. What with it being Kathy’s old house. So I thought I’d call in.’
    ‘That’s really kind of you.’
    ‘And Rose is here too,’ he said, standing up. ‘That’s double the pleasure.’
    He plucked a jacket off the back of a chair and walked towards her.
    ‘But you don’t have to go so soon? Surely not?’ Anna said.
    ‘I’m afraid so, Mrs Christie. I’m visiting some friends in the area, which is why I was able to drop by and see you.’
    Rose kept her eye on him.
    ‘Goodness, Rose, don’t look so unfriendly ,’ Anna said, looking embarrassed.
    ‘Not to worry, Mrs Christie. I’m sure Rose is just surprised to see me. Perhaps she’ll walk me out to my car? We can have a chat along the way.’
    ‘Sure,’ Rose said, giving a wooden smile.
    She walked ahead of Munroe out of the door, on to the garden path. She waited while her grandmother said goodbye to him and then turned towards the street. Munroe came alongside her.
    ‘I had to park up a bit.’
    ‘Why are you really here?’ Rose said.
    James Munroe was walking swiftly. He put his jacket on as he went along.
    ‘You’ve got no right to come here, to my home.’
    She was half running to keep up with him. He stopped at a parked car, fiddled in his pockets and pulled out a key.
    ‘I came to reassure your grandmother about the unpleasant events in Brewster Road.’
    ‘I don’t believe you.’
    He pointed his keys and the lights of the car flashed on and off.
    ‘Of course I’m pleased to see you and it does give me an opportunity to reiterate some of the things I said after the disagreeable business in Newcastle. I wanted to make sure that you’d understood me clearly then.’
    He was staring straight at her and she felt herself falter.
    ‘How was your holiday?’ she said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Was it a winter break? The Canary Islands? North Africa?’
    ‘It was Florida actually,’ he said, leaning on the car, looking around the street, his eyes darting here and there. ‘And it was very pleasant.’
    He was so relaxed, so smooth.
    ‘You’re just a killer,’ Rose said.
    ‘No more so than your mother and her partner.’
    ‘You’re worse. You took our friend’s life and Josh and I will never forget that.’
    ‘No, no, no,’ he said, grabbing Rose’s hand and holding it tightly. ‘That’s exactly why I passed by today. Just to remind you of what I said in Newcastle. If you go to the police then I will make sure that certain parties know where your mother and Brendan Johnson are. They will not last long and I can assure you their death will be particularly ugly.’
    Rose tried to pull her hand away but Munroe had it clamped, her fingers bent back from her palm.
    ‘On the other hand you could just leave this. Get on with your own lives. Then one day, in the not too far away future, they will contact you. Believe me, Rose, this was always the plan.’
    He let her hand go and she backed away from him.
    ‘Goodbye, Rose,’ he said and got into the car.
    She turned to walk back to the house, hearing the car accelerating away from the kerb. She didn’t look round. All the time she was gripping her hand where Munroe had hurt her.
    When she got back inside Anna was watching the television. She sat on the arm of a chair. The report of the body found in East London was on the local news. It showed a photograph of Daisy Lincoln whose identity had been confirmed by dental records. No cause of death had as yet been found. The reporter, a woman whose hair kept blowing across her face, spoke to camera about the background of the case.
    ‘ What I can tell you,’ she said, ‘is that in 2007 this property was occupied