Lifeless - 5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

though the place was at last starting to look worn, it had become no more welcoming.
    The person responsible for most of the stains grunted, at home now and ready to talk about death.
    'So... ?' Thorne was trying not to sound impatient.
    'So... interesting.'
    The phone rang. Thorne sighed, pul ed himself out of the chair and marched across to where the cordless phone stood, near the front door.
    'Thorne...'
    'Sir, it's Hol and...'
    'Nothing so far then?' He could hear the confusion in the silence from the other end. 'Don't worry, Hol and, I can always tel if you're excited. Your voice goes up an octave.'
    'Sir . . .'
    'So, nothing at al ? Maybe we need to widen things geographical y as wel ...'
    'There were a couple that looked likely, but there were arrests on both of them and the only other ones, two assaults.., and two women stabbed on the same day in July, didn't pan out timing-wise.'
    'Sure?'
    'Positive. McEvoy double-checked. Couldn't have been the same kil er who did both. Even if... you know, the times of death were a bit off.., he'd have needed a helicopter to have done both of them.'
    'OK, knock it on the head ... like you weren't about to anyway. Tomorrow you might have more luck. I'm sure this wasn't his first time. You'l get something. Besides, you won't have any distractions.'
    'Sorry?'
    'I'm taking DS McEvoy with me to Birmingham.'
    It took Hol and a few seconds to work out why Thorne might be going to Birmingham, and why he would want Sarah McEvoy to go with him. Once he had, he was grateful that he would be the one stuck in front of a computer al day.
    Then, after he'd hung up, Hol and started to wonder what Thorne had meant by 'distractions'.
    'Tel me about interesting.' Hendricks looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Thorne went on. 'Ruth Murray. "Interesting", you said.'
    Ruth Murray. 32. Married with, thankful y, no children. Hers actual y the first body to be found, wedged in behind a large metal rubbish bin in a road behind King's Cross station.
    Hendricks had helped himself to the meagre contents of Thorne's fridge while he'd been on the phone to Hol and, and his reply was broken up as he attempted to swal ow an enormous bite of a cheese
    sandwich. 'I'm writing it up... first thing tomorrow...'
    'I won't be here first thing tomorrow.'

    'I'l have it on your desk by midday, al right... ?'
    'Just give me the highlights, Plail.'
    Hendricks wiped his mouth, swung his legs off the sofa and turned to face Thorne. There were important things to be said. 'OK, wel first off, don't get too excited about the skin under her fingernails.' 'Because . . . ?'
    'Because most of it's probably hers.' He explained before Thorne had a chance to ask him to. 'It's quite common with strangulations. The victim often scratches their own neck in an attempt to remove the ligature.., or in this case the kil er's hands.' As Hendricks explained, his hands automatical y went to his neck and Thorne watched them scrabbling at the flesh.
    'She had good nails.., made a right mess of her neck. She might have scratched him as wel though, so it's worth looking at.'
    'Carol Garner didn't have good nails?'
    Hendricks shook his head. 'Badly bitten ...' Thorne wondered if
    she'd begun biting her nails after her husband had been kil ed. Looking at her baby son and seeing his father. Never dreaming that the boy would be an orphan before his fourth birthday.
    'But...'
    'What?' Thorne leant forward, on the edge of his chair. Hendricks had been saving something up. Always the need to show off just a little.
    'We might ... might, have another DNA source. Duggan missed something.'
    'But you said...'
    'She was good. Yeah, she is. Just not as good as me.'
    Thorne could not keep the irritation out of his voice. 'For fuck's sake, Phil, can we cut the Quincy crap?'
    'Al right ... look, once it had been established that there hadn't been a sexual assault, Duggan didn't see any point in looking for bodily fluids. It was a fair enough presumption real y, the