Ready or Not Read Online Free PDF Page B

something else. He just had one of those faces. There was something about the greased hair, the easy, unmerited confidence and the lopsided sneer that she didn’t trust. The man smelled suspicious and he was too thick to know he was thick. If it turned out he had nothing to do with Stacey’s disappearance, Kate was sure there were plenty of other things she’d be able to nail him for.
    Nathan was wearing stained grey tracksuit bottoms and a misshapen T-shirt that had the words ‘Too sexy for this shirt’ printed on it. Kate noted the irony, but doubted he did. He looked Kate up and down silently. The sneer stretched across his face like an opening zip. He leaned a hand on the doorframe, a little too relaxed for Kate’s liking.
                  ‘Mr Williams?’ she said, putting out a reluctant hand. ‘DI Kate Kelly. We met a few weeks ago.’
                  Nathan nodded what Kate assumed to be an acknowledgement, not bothering to take the hand she’d offered him. She pulled it back quickly, remembering that men like Nathan Williams had little concept of traditional manners. It was all he could do to grunt an acknowledgement.
    In the first few weeks following Stacey’s disappearance, although he’d been questioned by a few officers, Nathan Williams had kept a low profile. He had appeared with Stacey’s mother at the police conference and at filming for the local television appeal, but beyond that he’d kept his head down. He had rarely been present at the station or when officers had visited Stacey’s home. It had quickly transpired that Stacey’s mother, Dawn Reed, had been committing benefit fraud by claiming the two didn’t live together and this was the excuse the pair used for Nathan’s regular absence whenever there was a police presence.
                  Kate wasn’t interested in the fraud; not for the time being, at least. She was sure it would be relevant once Stacey was found and Kate had time to chase up Nathan’s string of misdemeanours, but for now her priority was finding Stacey and finding her as quickly as possible. The girl had already been missing far too long.
    As for the benefits fraud excuse, Kate just wasn’t buying it. Yes, they were probably guilty of it, both of them. But it was unlikely that Nathan’s reluctance to indulge in recent police presence was down to purely that.
                  ‘Who is it, babe?’ Dawn’s voice came from the living room.
                  ‘Can I come in?’ Kate asked, not waiting for a response before stepping past Williams and into the hallway.
                  The house smelled of chips and vinegar, a smell that would usually make Kate’s stomach rumble but on this occasion only managed to instil a sense of nausea. Stacey’s Wellington boots – calf length and pink, decorated with yellow flowers and blue striping - stood by the front door; still caked in mud from the last time she had stepped outside in them. An array of coats and jackets hung from the pegs in the hall. The bottom four steps of the staircase were a mess of unopened letters, leaflets for local take-away houses and charity donation bags for clothing and books. Stepping further into the hallway, Kate could see that many of the unopened letters looked like final reminders: all addressed to Dawn and presumably left unopened in the hope that by remaining unread they would somehow cease to be a reality.
                  Kate walked into the living room. Dawn Reed was curled up on the sofa in a spotted dressing gown that looked as though it could do with washing. So could she, for that matter. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail which pulled her face taut and made her features strangely feline. Yesterday’s make-up was smeared around her eyes, blending with the dark bags that sat upon her high cheek bones.
    Coronation Street blared from the TV. On screen, Deirdre puffed on a cigarette and Ken