Dead of Winter Read Online Free PDF

became clearer.
    ‘That’s it. That’s Hill Street,’ said Karl. ‘I’d recognise those filthy bins anywhere.’
    ‘Well, let’s see what we can come up with…’ with his cursor, Richard clicked on a button on the screen.
    ‘There! That’s me!’ exclaimed Karl, like a kid seeing an early-morning Santa.
    ‘Zooming in,’ said Richard, enlarging the picture. ‘Nice robe you’re wearing.’
    Karl began watching himself bending for the newspaper and milk. A few seconds later, he saw himself stand, before going back on one knee.
    ‘What’s that you’re staring at?’ asked Richard, taking a deep suck from the joint.
    ‘A hand.’
    Richard laughed. ‘No, really?’
    ‘Really? A really real severed hand. Even you must have heard about the nut running about chopping off hands, all over Belfast.’
    ‘No. Can’t say I have.’ Richard looked dazed, as if trying desperately to remember. ‘That’s so fucking cool! A severed hand, and you found it?’
    ‘Yes. I’m a lucky sort of bastard when it comes to finding hands other than my own, so stop wetting yourself with admiration.’
    ‘Zombies. Could be something to do with zombies,’ said Richard matter-of-factly, blowing smoke down his nostrils like an ageing dragon.
    ‘Stop blowing that shit in my direction, otherwise I’ll go out of here higher than the debt those banker bastards have us in.’
    Richard turned his attention back to the screen. ‘Hey, are you kicking at that wee cat? That’s cruel, man. There’s no need for such aggression towards a defenceless creature.’
    ‘It was a spur of the moment thing. Couldn’t be helped, and I regret doing it. Feel better now?’
    ‘A bit.’
    ‘Besides, it’ll live. It’s got nine bloody lives and an extra finger.’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘Nothing. Let’s just stay focused.’
    Next came the scene of Karl slipping and falling on his arse, and the two passing schoolgirls giggling.
    ‘
Whoa!
That’s got to hurt, man!’ exclaimed Richard gleefully. ‘Right on the old tailbone. And then exposing all your hardwareto two little kids. Bit pervy, if you ask me.’ Richard played the scene again, freezing the frame exactly when Karl crash-landed. ‘Man, that’s a pisser.’ He replayed it two more times.
    ‘Give it a rest, for fuck sake. Can you backtrack? I need to see if we can catch the culprit, or culprits, leaving the hand.’
    ‘Shit, man, that’s cool. I never thought of that.’
    ‘That’s why
I’m
the private investigator and you believe in UFOs.’
    Richard hit the keyboard again. The snowy scene went retro and slow mo. Nothing. Just falling snow.
    ‘Can’t it go any faster? This computer is slower than one of my client’s cheques in the mail,’ grumbled Karl.
    ‘There’s a reason for it going
slowwwwwwwww
. It’s called
slowwwwwwwww
motionnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
.’
    Then it happened.
    ‘Stop!’ shouted Karl, making Richard jump. ‘I think I saw a blur of a car.’
    Richard quickly hit a key. It was a patrol car, stationed at the top of Hill Street. Then, at the other end of the street, another car began entering before slowing to a halt a few feet away from Karl’s office. Ten seconds it lurked there, before a door opened, then quickly shut.
    Karl’s heart moved up a beat.
    ‘Freeze that, and zoom in,’ commanded Karl. ‘I thought I saw someone throwing something out of the car.’
    Richard zoomed in. The picture was blurred by snow. ‘Hard to say, man. Looks like something. Could be that hand. Perhaps not.’
    ‘Can’t you get it any clearer?’
    ‘No. That’s it to the hilt.’
    ‘What about the car? Plate number or make?’
    Richard tried a few more buttons on the screen, but the picture only became more blurred.
    ‘The car looks like a Mercedes, but can’t be sure. Forget the plate number. Too blurred. Sorry, man. If this were next week, it would be clearer pictures. I’m getting some great HD shit sent from the States.’
    ‘HD?’
    ‘High Definition. Top of the