Kill My Darling Read Online Free PDF

worried about the mobile.’
    â€˜Hah!’
    â€˜Only a bit,’ he equivocated. ‘If she was just popping down the offy for a packet of fags she might not grab it along with her keys.’
    â€˜But then she’d have taken her purse.’
    â€˜Not if she took a tenner out of it.’
    â€˜But then she’d have come back.’
    He shrugged. ‘I just think, on balance, given her age and sex, she’d have been more likely to have taken her mobile, and that that constitutes an anomaly. Unfortunately, the only one. If we’d found signs of a struggle or clean-up we could have got a forensic team in, but as it stands there’s no evidence to justify it. But we’d better take the handbag back with us. Might be all sorts of goodies in it, besides the phone. Run and get an evidence bag, will you?’
    On her way back from the car, when she got to the foot of the steps, Fitton appeared suddenly round the side of the house, where his own front door was, and stood looking at her.
    â€˜You came back, then,’ he said. ‘Decided there was something in it after all.’
    â€˜Well,’ she said, wondering what it was right to say to him.
    He examined her expression in a way that made her shiver. He was too noticing. ‘You know about me,’ he said flatly, his mouth making a downturn that was more sad than sour.
    â€˜How—?’
    â€˜I can tell from the way you’re looking at me. Like I’m a mad dog that might bite.’
    â€˜No,’ she protested. ‘It’s not like—’
    â€˜Didn’t take long,’ he said. ‘Knew it wouldn’t.’ He poked his forehead with a finger and thumb. ‘Branded for life.’
    â€˜It’s just standard procedure,’ she said helplessly, not understanding why she wanted to protect his feelings. ‘Our Super recognized your name. But it doesn’t mean—’
    â€˜Just remember I called it in,’ he said. ‘Benefit of the doubt. All right?’
    â€˜It’s all in writing,’ she said. The dog, Marty, padded round from the side of the house – Fitton must have left the door open – and came up behind him, shoving its head up peremptorily under his hand. He caressed it automatically, and the tail swung.
    â€˜You’ve still got her dog, so,’ Connolly said, and cursed herself for the stupid remark.
    He jerked his head towards the upstairs flat. ‘ He never asked about him. Dipstick probably doesn’t even remember he exists. I’ll keep him till somebody takes him away.’ He started to turn away, the dog sticking close to his side, then looked back to say, ‘Benefit of the doubt. Remember.’
    â€˜I’ll remember the dog likes you,’ she said to his retreating back. What an eejitty thing to say. God, she was a thick! She scurried up the steps before she did anything else to embarrass herself.
    Swilley was going to see the parents. She had often drawn the short straw in these cases because (a) she was a woman and (b) she was regarded as unflappable. It was better for bad news to be delivered by someone with an air of calm. But since having a child of her own she had liked this task less and less.
    Joining the Job at a time when women had to prove themselves not just as good as men, but the same as men, she had early grown a shell against taunts, insults, slights, come-ons and filthy jokes. She had been helped by being tall, blonde, athletic, and beautiful in a sort of wide-mouthed, small-nosed, Baywatch way, which rendered most of her tormentors tongue-tied if she actually faced them one-to-one. She was also blessed with an iron head and concrete stomach, which meant she could match them pint for pint and curry for curry; and she was deceptively strong, was a blue-belt in judo, had twenty-twenty vision, and was a crack shot.
    Joining Slider’s firm had been wonderful for her, because he thought she was a good