Out of Bounds Read Online Free PDF

challenging gins. Karen had a decided preference for Miller’s Westbourne Strength with its notes of cucumber, while Jimmy’s current favourite was Caorunn from the Highlands with its distinctive tang of rowan berries.
    Tonight they were going to broach Jimmy’s latest discovery – Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s Bathtub Gin. And much as she loved her job, on a Monday night there was no competition. Besides, she’d already made a first pass at the Tina McDonald case. They hadn’t gone through the hundreds of statements yet, but just by looking at the way the paperwork was organised, she could sense that the initial inquiry hadn’t been a fuck-up. It looked at first glance as though the i’s had been dotted and the t’s crossed. What they’d lacked was an even break.
    Which was where Ross Garvie’s familial DNA came in.
    Karen was looking forward to telling Jimmy all about it. But as it turned out, he jumped in first with one of his own. Partly because he wanted it to be a cautionary tale for Karen. He knew about the walking and it made him uneasy. He knew what late-night streets in a big city could be like and he didn’t want Karen to come to harm. After Phil, that would be unbearable.
    ‘I can take care of myself,’ Karen had protested the first time he’d raised the subject.
    ‘Aye, and so could Phil. It’s not you that’s the issue, it’s the bampots and bawbags out there.’
    It was a topic he’d come back to more than once, sometimes directly, sometimes circling round it. Tonight was one of the more oblique ones. ‘Did you hear they had a murderlast night up by Kinross?’ Jimmy swirled the ice cubes in his drink, clinking them against the sides of the tumbler. He sniffed at the glass, his nose wrinkling as he savoured the gin’s complex blend of botanicals.
    ‘What? One of yours?’
    He shook his head. ‘No, thank goodness. I only know as much about it as I do because we’re working with the victim’s social worker on another case altogether. She was telling me about it when I stopped by this afternoon.’
    Back at the breakfast bar, Karen filled a bowl with crisps and headed back to the far end of the living room where two sofas were angled together in a V-shape to maximise access to the view. ‘A domestic?’ She sat down and plonked the bowl on the triangular glass coffee table.
    ‘No.’ Jimmy helped himself to a handful of crisps. ‘Quite the opposite, really.’
    Intrigued, Karen raised her eyebrows in a question. ‘What’s that, then? The opposite of a domestic?’
    ‘Well, for a start, the victim wasn’t in any kind of relationship. As far as Giorsal knows, he’d never—’
    ‘Did you say, “Giorsal”?’ Karen interrupted.
    Jimmy’s eyebrows twitched upwards. ‘Aye. Giorsal Kennedy. She’s the senior social worker in the case.’
    ‘We were at school together.’
    ‘Aye, she mentioned she used to know you.’
    ‘We used to be pals but she went off to study social work in Manchester. Amazing. Giorsal Kennedy, as I live and breathe. Last I heard, she got hitched to some guy from Liverpool. When did she come back to Fife?’
    Jimmy shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. We’ve been working with her a wee bit more than a year now. You should give her a ring, I bet she’d be pleased to hear from you.’
    Karen snorted. ‘Now who’s the social worker? I’ve not seen the woman for more than fifteen years, we’d likely havenothing in common. Still, Giorsal Kennedy …’ She pulled herself back to attention. ‘So, tell me about this non-domestic murder.’
    ‘The victim was a guy called Gabriel Abbott. A bit of a loner, by all accounts. He lived in a wee cottage near the Orwell standing stones.’
    ‘What? The ones that look like a pair of massive dildos in the middle of a field?’
    Jimmy laughed. ‘One-track mind.’
    ‘Hey, come on, what else do they make you think of? There’s nothing symbolic about them, Jimmy. They’re two giant willies. End of.’
    He shook his