No Mercy Read Online Free PDF

composure. ‘Well, I’ll leave it to you, Rick. Let me know if you think we should call the police.’ She gave Maddie a thin smile. ‘Nice to see you again. Thanks for the tip-off.’
    Maddie, having been dismissed, followed Rick out of the office. She was simultaneously bemused and intrigued by Delia’s reaction, wishing she’d had the nous to ask a few more questions when she’d had the opportunity. It was too late now. ‘That was odd,’ she murmured.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘How does she know about the Lucy Rivers grave? It’s been abandoned for years. I had to clear away the weeds just to find the name.’
    Rick Mallory placed his hands on his hips. He was a tall, good-looking man in his early thirties, his skin tanned brown by the summer sun. ‘Are you kidding me? Delia Shields knows everything about everything. Well, about this cemetery at least. She’s worked here for years.’
    ‘But there are thousands of graves. And she seemed sort of… I don’t know, kind of surprised that it was being tended.’
    Rick’s shoulders lifted and fell in a casual shrug. ‘Did she?’
    ‘Yes, she did.’ Maddie studied his face for a moment, wondering how he could have failed to notice. But then again, men failed to notice all kinds of things. ‘I thought so, anyway.’
    ‘Do you want to come with me, point out exactly where this bloke was?’
    ‘Why? Are you too scared to go on your own?’
    Rick’s mouth slid into a grin again. ‘What if he’s a flasher and gets his bits out? It could scar me for life.’
    ‘I’m sure you’ll cope. You’re a big boy now.’
    ‘Well, I’ve never been one to brag, but…’
    Maddie raised her eyes to the heavens. ‘Spare me the details! I’d like to keep my breakfast in my stomach if that’s all right with you.’
    Rick laughed. ‘Come on, then. Let’s get over there before he does a runner.’
    She was pretty sure that her own hundred-metre sprint would have been enough to make the bloke take off in the opposite direction, but she was still curious to find out if he had left any evidence of his presence. Although she wouldn’t have dared to go back on her own – not this morning, at least – now that she had company, it didn’t feel so daunting. She glanced at her watch again. ‘Okay, let’s do it, but we’ll have to be quick. I’ve got to be at work by ten.’
    They set off at a smart pace towards the older section of the cemetery, Maddie having to trot to keep up with his longer stride. ‘So where’s Eli today?’ she asked. ‘I thought you two were joined at the hip.’
    ‘He’s around someplace. Up top, I think, measuring out. We’ve got a couple of burials tomorrow.’
    Suddenly, Maddie found herself wondering if Eli Glass had been the man in the bushes.
    He was a small, strange, furtive sort of bloke and had been working at the cemetery for even longer than Delia. She didn’t think he’d spoken more than ten words to her since she’d first started tending the graves, and all of those had been a muttered ‘Morning’, his mouth turned down at the corners and his gaze quickly sliding away as if her very presence in some way offended him. ‘He doesn’t say much, does he?’
    ‘He’s the quiet type.’
    ‘He’s that all right.’ But didn’t they say that it was the quiet ones you had to watch? Maybe Eli got his kicks out of lurking in the undergrowth and spying on women. ‘What do you two talk about all day?’
    ‘Oh, you know: world peace, the state of the economy, the usual chit-chat.’
    ‘That must make the time pass. What about beer, women and football?’
    ‘Ah, now you’re just being sexist. There’s a law against that, you know.’
    Maddie smiled back at him. ‘You’re right. Please accept my heartfelt apologies.’
    ‘Apology accepted,’ he said, as they turned on to the side path. ‘And you’d be surprised what Eli talks about. Sometimes he even tells me what the voices are saying.’
    She raised her eyebrows. ‘Huh?