Hurt (DS Lucy Black) Read Online Free PDF

them,’ Lucy said.
    ‘That’s what it looks like. She also stopped using this one for internet access. But I was still able to trace her history from before she changed. I also managed to access her Facebook account. She has about a hundred friends,’ Cooper said. ‘I managed to trace a lot of them back to the contacts listed on the SIM card of the phone.’
    ‘You’ve only had this since Friday afternoon,’ Lucy commented, impressed.
    ‘The case has changed from missing person to murder. I assumed that took priority over checking bankers’ accounts for fraud.’
    ‘I’m not complaining, trust me,’ Lucy said.
    Cooper smiled as he turned to the screen again. In the wake of the movement, Lucy could still smell the citrus scent of his aftershave.
    ‘She has a number of friends who she’s not really in contact with – pop groups and that. And a few fellas who obviously know friends of hers in real life, based on their messages to her on Facebook.’
    He scrolled through the friends list and stopped at someone called Paul Bradley. ‘Then we have him.’
    ‘Paul Bradley?’
    ‘They became friends three months ago. I’ve printed out the status comments between them. Here.’
    He handed her a list of messages which she read through quickly. The first was dated 18 September. Karen and Bradley had become friends and he had thanked her for adding him, which suggested he had made the first approach. The same day, Karen had posted a comment about a band she was listening to, and Bradley had liked her comment. This continued until Karen had, according to her news feed, updated her profile picture two months previous. In the picture, her eyes were not quite meeting the lens, her smile embarrassed. Her hands were clasped in front of her as though crossing one arm over the other.
    The message from Paul Bradley simply said, ‘
Cute pic
.’
    Karen’s reply had been simply ‘
LOL
’.
    ‘Laugh out loud,’ Cooper said. ‘It’s one of those—’
    ‘I am younger than you,’ Lucy said.
    ‘Do you think?’ Cooper laughed gently.
    Lucy smiled as she read Bradley’s reply. ‘
Seriously. Cute pic. U R gorgeous
.’
    ‘
HaHaHa
,’ was Karen’s response.
    ‘That’s a standard expression of amusement, both for the younger generation and indeed for my own,’ Cooper said.
    ‘That’s useful to know, Officer Cooper.’
    ‘David,’ he said.
    Lucy scrolled on through the wall posts, but no more came from Bradley.
    ‘Is that his only contact with her?’
    ‘Oh no,’ Cooper said. ‘From then on in, he contacted her through her messages rather than her wall. More privacy.’
    He opened her message account and opened the first message. It was posted the same day as the comments about her picture.
    Hey Karen, Don’t put yourself down. Too many people will do that to you. U look lovely. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Friends, family, whoever. WTF do they know anyway? Don’t take any shit from anybody. Paul x
    ‘He knows how to impress a fifteen-year-old girl,’ Lucy said. She read through the rest of his messages. Many of them commented on music or books he had read, with Karen replying that she loved the same song, or the same author. ‘They’re remarkably well matched, too,’ she added.
    ‘Everything he mentioned there, she had listed as her Likes. It’s like he’s tailor-made for her.’
    About eight weeks earlier, Paul had suggested they should meet. They agreed to do so in the Foyleside Shopping Centre, at his suggestion, at 3.30 on the following Saturday afternoon.
    ‘He chose a public place to meet,’ Lucy commented. ‘To make her feel safe.’
    ‘Every update she made thereafter to her page is made via iPhone,’ Cooper said. ‘That seems to have been when she got her new phone. And her messages to him stop completely. So, either they fell out on their first date ...’
    ‘Or they found an alternative method of communication.’
    ‘I assume her iPhone hasn’t been found, or I’d have