Fragile Lives Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘Well, no use standing here and speculating.’ They backed off again, leaving the crime-scene team to do their work and the helicopter crew to do theirs. ‘So,’ Mac wondered out loud. ‘If it isn’t our friend Parker, who the devil is it?’
    Kendal shook his head. ‘This was such a quiet place before you got here,’ he said.

Three
    â€˜I t isn’t Parker,’ Mac announced. ‘Not unless someone shot him in the back of the head after the fact.’
    DCI Eden raised an eyebrow and directed Mac to sit down. A shout brought the rest of their little team through from the front office.
    â€˜We’ve got ourselves a different body,’ Eden announced. ‘The sea has yet to deliver our friend Parker for inspection. Andy, some coffee while we discuss matters, I think. The kettle should already be full.’
    Eden’s kettle, Mac reflected, always was. Andy set it to re-boil.
    Mac described the cove where the body had been found. ‘It wasn’t until we moved him that we realized there was a bullet wound. The face is a mess, forehead caved in and the soft tissue all but gone, but the entry wound looked just too regular to be anything else. We’ll know more after the post-mortem.’
    â€˜Do you know when that will be?’
    Mac shook his head and accepted his coffee, grateful that Andy had made it and not his boss. Eden’s brew was always super strength; enough to keep you flying for hours. ‘Miriam said she’d give me a call this afternoon once he was added to the list.’
    â€˜Miriam?’
    â€˜Um, Miriam Hastings. One of the CSI, she was acting scene manager this morning.’
    Eden gazed up at the ceiling as though trying to recollect something. ‘Long dark hair,’ he said. ‘Big blue violet eyes. I don’t remember ever getting to call her anything but Miss Hastings.’
    Mac could feel himself getting warm. ‘We just got talking,’ he said. ‘She seems like … well, like a very nice person.’
    Sergeant Baker guffawed. ‘Oh, I think she’s that,’ he said. ‘Very nice.’
    â€˜Anyway.’ Mac tried to regain his composure and some measure of control. ‘Seeing as this isn’t Parker …’
    â€˜Not much more we can do until Forensics have had their shot,’ DS Baker observed. ‘If he’s been knocking around in the currents for a while, it’ll be down to a dental record for identification. The doc might be able to give an approximate age and height and so on and we can look through our missing person reports, see if we get any possibles, but until we’ve got something more to work on …’
    Eden nodded. ‘So. On hold with that one. How’s young George settling in?’
    â€˜I’ll give him a call later.’ Mac said. ‘He was going back to school today.’
    â€˜Good, get back to normal, whatever that is. Still no news on the sister but she’s not daft, she’ll have put plenty of distance between herself and us. Dowling’s parents are still calling twice a day to see if we’ve made progress. Seems like in death all sins are forgiven and their precious son is no longer the murdering bastard he was.’
    â€˜He’s still dead,’ Mac observed. ‘He was still killed.’
    â€˜By a scrap of a girl trying to protect her own,’ Frank Baker intoned. ‘Oh, I know the girl is still a murderer but you can’t help but hope she keeps on running, can you?’
    The counter bell rang in the outer office and Baker eased himself reluctantly from his seat, called Andy, the probationer, to heel and returned to his domain.
    â€˜Do you hope that too?’ Mac asked his boss, more curious than judgemental.
    â€˜Me, I hope I’m safely retired before I have to deal with it. If I get my wish you won’t catch up with her until I’m well and gone and that day is getting