The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

big hug. When she stepped back, Mac could see that although tears were still falling she had a huge smile on her face as well.
    ‘I’ve seen her, she’s alive just as you said. Only just perhaps, but even if she goes now, I’ll be with her. Thank you Mr. Maguire, thank you.’
    ‘Er, Mrs. Lewinton?’ Tommy asked hesitantly. He showed her his warrant card. ‘Can I ask a few questions?’
    ‘Of course,’ she replied, sitting down. ‘Just a few minutes though, if that’s alright, I want to get back to her as soon as I can.’
    ‘Do you have any idea how your daughter might have ended up in the boot of a car?’
    She was still smiling as she shook her head.
    ‘None at all. I haven’t seen my daughter for quite some time, I’m afraid I’ve no idea what she’s been getting up to.’
    ‘But you know she’s been working as a prostitute?’
    ‘Yes, that much I know, but I haven’t seen her since she started her last year at university.’
    ‘Do you know if she’s been taking part in any medical trials?’ Mac asked, remembering what the professor had said.
    Mrs. Lewinton shook her head again.
    ‘Sorry, no idea but I wouldn’t put anything past her.’
    Tommy gave her his card.
    ‘Please call me if you remember anything. I take it you’ll be staying here for a while?’
    ‘I’m going to be by her side for every second of the day that I can,’ she said with determination. ‘When she wakes up she’s going to need her mother.’
    ‘Please let us know if there’s any change. An offence has obviously been committed but until we get some evidence we can’t be sure exactly what that offence might be.’
    ‘I understand. I’ll be in touch if anything changes,’ she said as she jumped up and made for the door.
    She turned just before she went out and said excitedly, ’She’s alive Mr. Maguire, she’s alive’, as though she still couldn’t quite believe it herself.
    Mac followed Tommy out of the room. The ‘matron’ gave them a stern look. Mac went over and spoke to her. He motioned Tommy to follow him.
    ‘She’s not as bad as she looks. She said we could have a minute, I just want to see what she looks like.’
    Hetty Lewinton lay motionless. Her long blonde hair had a wide streak of brown down the centre as her hair hadn’t been coloured for some time. She looked beautiful, almost transparent, fragile and ethereal. Mac had a real problem picturing this girl selling herself on street corners.
    ‘Okay let’s go. Now where’s that taxi driver?’ Mac asked as he seated himself comfortably in the wheelchair.
    As Tommy drove them back to the police station he asked, ‘Any idea what we should do next?’
    ‘There’s only the car isn’t there? Have forensics checked it out yet? Do we know who owns it?’
    ‘I’ll find out as soon as we get back.’
    At the police station they learned that the car had been stolen sometime on Sunday night from outside a house in St. Neots. The owner hadn’t noticed that the car had gone until Monday morning when he reported it stolen.
    ‘St. Neots, that’s in Cambridgeshire isn’t it?’ Mac asked.
    ‘Well, technically in Huntingdonshire, but yes. We found who the owner was from the VIN number. The car had fake plates fitted.’
    ‘Were the fake plates for a car of the same make and colour?’
    ‘Yes and it’s been confirmed that the car with the real number plates never left Yorkshire. The owner was selling it and had put an ad in one of the auto trader magazines which is presumably where our driver got the car registration.’
    ‘So our man is careful, he spots the car he wants then makes up a set of fake plates before he steals it. I was wondering if this might have been some act of the moment. That perhaps our man had given her something, thought he’d killed her, and he was just trying to get rid of the body. The planning beforehand makes that scenario unlikely though. Anything from forensics yet?’
    ‘There’s an initial report on the car. They