Killing for Keeps Read Online Free PDF Page A

allow you to concentrate on the case rather than the pain of it, if that makes sense.’
    ‘You do that?’
    ‘Every time.’
    ‘Does it help?’
    ‘We’re humans too, Hank.’
    ‘Nice sidestep. I notice you didn’t answer the question.’
    ‘Complete detachment would mean we were robots.’ Kate kept her eyes on the road. ‘It may surprise you to learn that we are allowed to feel. In fact, it’s obligatory.
Number one on my list of coping strategies. It makes me try all the harder to catch the bad guys.’
    There was another way she handled the nasty stuff and she’d already made up her mind to make the call as soon as the briefing was over, the murder enquiry underway. She’d talk it
through with her friend and confidante, criminal profiler Jo Soulsby. Their discussion would take the form of a professional debrief almost. It wouldn’t change a thing, but afterwards
she’d feel a little less like she was dying inside.
    Hank was still in a bad place. ‘It’s beyond me how Stanton manages. At least we don’t have to look at it twenty-four seven.’
    ‘Did I ever tell you Jo believes in meditation?’ Kate said. ‘You should try it sometime.’
    ‘No offence, but that’s bollocks.’ It wasn’t like him to be so dismissive. He liked Jo a lot, respected what she did for a living, valued the contribution she’d
made since her secondment to the Murder Investigation Team.
    ‘I was a sceptic too once,’ Kate said.
    Another wave of sorrow washed over her.
    Who was she trying to kid?
    B y the time they reached the station, Naylor had set the wheels in motion. The incident suite was full of detectives and civilian personnel awaiting instructions from the DCI,
all leave over the coming bank holiday weekend cancelled at short notice. No one minded. That was just the way it was. In fact, some welcomed the opportunity for overtime, an occurrence far less
frequent than it used to be.
    Taking her own advice, Kate forced herself to concentrate on procedure rather than dwelling on images she wished she’d never seen. Sharing the name of the deceased with DC Lisa Carmichael,
advising her that crime-scene photographs were available for upload, she set her to work immediately, excusing her from the briefing, before turning to face the squad.
    ‘Right, ladies and gents, can we have some quiet please?’ She waited for the hum of voices to die down. ‘We’ve got a distressing torture case on our hands. Nominal One is
John Allen. That is
the
John Allen, for those of you in the know.’
    There were a few raised eyebrows in the room.
    Kate moved on. ‘For the benefit of those new to the squad, he’s a villain from a criminal family going back generations. He’s also well known to the Serious Organized Crime
Agency. Along with his brother and equally obnoxious mates, John Allen has dabbled in anything and everything, specializing in stealing high-end cars to order, selling them on, shipping them
abroad. A very lucrative line of business it was too. Enough to buy them a pretty fancy lifestyle—’
    ‘Not any more,’ Hank said drily.
    Kate glanced at the murder wall. On one side of a state-of-the-art digital screen, John Allen’s name had appeared in large capital letters, alongside his age (twenty-nine), date of birth,
address when last arrested, significant others and known associates. Underneath was a police mugshot Carmichael had lifted from the PNC. On the other side of the screen, horrific images were
uploading; a macabre illustration of what Kate had seen at dawn on a deserted street a few miles east of the station.
    The state of the body was such that several officers dropped their heads on one side, trying to work out which way was up: DS Paul Robson, DCs Neil Maxwell and Andy Brown among them. Andy, the
quiet one of the three, grimaced as if he’d eaten a lemon whole. Silence spread throughout the room, except for the tap-tapping of Carmichael’s fingers as they flew over her computer
keys. The