Pain of Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

like lint. And she screamed for me. It was the most beautiful thing.’ Josie turns towards him and Staffe wraps her up in a tight embrace. ‘Sir, it was the most beautiful thing.’
    He thinks, he must smell of drink and the club and maybe scent. ‘Thank God you went out when you did.’
    ‘Jombaugh got a call, sir. About two minutes after I found the baby. It sounded like a woman, but he couldn’t be sure. They were talking through some kind of device. We’re having the tape analysed.’
    ‘Where was the call made from?’
    ‘A prepaid mobile. No chance of a trace.’
    ‘They told Jom about the baby?’
    ‘Described the exact place. Said to call an ambulance, that the baby wasn’t taking its food properly and she was ill.’
    ‘Why wouldn’t they take it to a hospital?’
    ‘A police station’s the next best thing? You know how quiet the City is at night. They must have passed her through the railings. Might even have been on their way here and lost their nerve, or got spooked by something.’
    ‘And Sean Degg was here. He couldn’t have brought her. Not personally.’
    ‘I thought she was dead but she screamed. Another few minutes … They say she may die, still. Who would leave her like that?’ Josie pushes Staffe away and turns to the plastic bubble, staring intently at the baby, naked save a nappy that swamps her. Her eyes are shut, tight; her tummy swollen and her ribs push against her blue-white skin. She has a swirl of matted black hair that winds around the crown of her head. ‘She has nails. Have you seen, sir? She has nails and she can kick her legs and she held onto my finger. She made a fist.’
    The nurse says, ‘Her brain is growing. Even in sleep, babies learn about their world.’ She smiles, beaming. ‘It’s proven.’
    *
    In the corridor, the ward sister tells Staffe that the baby’s depositor had ensured the baby was fed and wore a disposable nappy of the Mamapapa range. The doctors reckon she is a couple of days old and is very weak, quite probably premature. The baby has a chest infection and her heart is weak.
    ‘Consistent with being born in a cold, damp environment?’ Staffe says.
    The sister nods. ‘I’ve heard about the woman Degg. If she’s the mother you will find the bastards that did it, won’t you?’
    We might already have them, he thinks. Staffe can’t get his head round what might possess Sean Degg to be involved in treating his only child in such a way. He decides he needs Pulford, that his party will have to be interrupted. He makes the call, tells his sergeant to pour some coffee down and to get a taxi to Flower and Dean, meet him there in an hour. And he makes his way to Leadengate, to get the key off Sean Degg.
    In the corridor, a commotion erupts outside Baby Grace’s private room. A doctor runs past them and when they look back, Josie is being led from the room in the clutches of a nurse. In the clean and brittle hospital air, a silence descends, into which the high-pitched squeal of a cotside monitor begins to soar.
    *
    Sean Degg is beginning to look as if he hasn’t slept in a long time. The skin under his eyes sags. His face is grey and he stares into his clasped hands. Stan Buchanan comes in and sits alongside him. He chews on gum, but the stain of the night is still thick in his air.
    Sean Degg says, ‘They told me a baby was found. A girl.’
    ‘We’ll be needing your key, Sean.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I don’t need to give you a reason. We have the warrant.’
    ‘Something has happened,’ says Sean.
    ‘The baby might not survive. She has an infection.’
    Sean puts his head in his hands, says, ‘What do you know about the baby?’
    ‘We’ll check her out. Someone will be in for your DNA.’
    ‘Is she mine? Mine and Kerry’s?’
    ‘All I know is we won’t rest until we find who left Kerry down in that tunnel and who dumped that baby. So you’d better tell us now, everyone she knows. Anyone who hated her.’
    ‘Nobody hated