Next Of Kin (Unnatural Selection #3) Read Online Free PDF

trouble staying
asleep, and spent too much of the night staring at the ceiling,
waiting for either of the phones to beep or ring, or my incoming
mail tone to sound. By the time daylight came through the curtains,
I knew I wouldn’t be able to do as Mum had suggested. I couldn’t
leave our home until Nick came back to it.
    Chris
Stevens called at nine o’clock to let me know that so far there had
been no luck tracing Nick’s mobile phone, and that his credit card
appeared not to have been used. Just as I hung up, a panda car
turned up outside, and my heart leapt a little.
    Unfortunately,
it was just the promised search team.
    I showed
them our bedroom and Nick’s pitifully small collection of
belongings. “Does he not live here all the time?” the female officer
asked.
    “Yes. He just
doesn’t own much. He was the same when we weren’t married.”
    A sneer
from her companion at the word ‘married’ told me that I wasn’t
dealing with one of the more enlightened members of the Met, but I
didn’t react. He was looking through Nick’s file of personal
documents. “No passport?”
    “Yes, he has
one. He keeps it in there.” I went through the file, and then
through the others. “It’s missing. I know it was there a month back
because I used it to book our flights.”
    “Would he have
taken it to work?”
    “I can’t
imagine why. He’d need it in a couple of weeks as we’re travelling
to Sweden.”
    The male
officer grunted in acknowledgement. “Any break-in recently? Any
visitors?”
    “No and no. I
suppose he might have taken it to work for some reason.”
    “Perhaps he
needed it for travel,” the officer said. “Let’s see the rest of his
belongings.”
    I showed them
what was there, and the booking for our trip. They wanted to see
his credit card statements, and took down details of his bank
accounts. “Joint accounts only?”
    “We have both
kinds,” I said. “Here are the recent statements for them if you
want them.”
    “Have there
been any letters which aroused your suspicion?” the woman asked. “I
mean from banks you didn’t recognise?”
    “No.
Nothing.”
    “What about
friends he could use as a mailbox?”
    “No one.
Oh. Well, there’s Charlotte Madsen. Dr Madsen. She lives around the
corner, more or less. He used to share a flat with her. But he
wouldn’t use her for that.”
    “We’ll need
her details,” the man said, writing in his notebook. I sensed that
he felt an important connection had been made.
    “Look,
Charlotte’s a good friend. She wouldn't participate in anything
sordid. She’s a respectable medical specialist.”
    “We need to
follow up all lines of enquiries, Mr Marber,” he said.
    “Dr
Marber,” I snapped. The man’s condescension had got to
me.
    “Sorry. Dr Marber.” The
sneer was back. In my frayed mood, I felt like punching the man. I
could imagine how much that wouldn’t help the situation. “Is there
anything else you want to tell us?”
    “No. I want to
find him. If I had any ideas, I’d have told you. What are you
implying, constable?”
    “Nothing, Dr Marber. We’re
done here. Senior Constable Stevens will be in touch.”
    The woman
officer gave me a sympathetic look as they left. I felt dirty for
having them in the house. Did they really imagine I had done
something to Nick?
    They probably
did. After all, to their minds, my doing away with Nick and
covering it up with fake concern was just as likely as any other
scenario. They’d probably heard every variation of protestations of
innocence too. I was wasting my time trying to tell them I had
nothing to do with Nick’s disappearance.
    A knock
on the door had me flying to open it. I’m afraid I didn’t hide my
disappointment as much as politeness demanded. “Oh, Charlotte.
Hi.”
    “Hello,
Anton.” She held up a Marks & Spencer bag. “I can’t cook but I can buy cake
like nobody’s business. I thought you might like a bit of company
and carbohydrate.”
    “Uh...thank you.