The Christmas Killer Read Online Free PDF Page B

temples as if he could erase the tumbling thoughts from his brain.
    He took another long swig from the bottle, almost emptying it. Motive and explanation were irrelevant. All they had to do was build the case and secure the conviction. The lab work should help there. A messy killing like that always left plenty of forensics. As long as the killer wasn’t a pro. And Sonny, despite his record, was no pro. He would have made mistakes.
    But Jake wasn’t happy.
    There was the purse. It had been flung casually across the kitchen, suggesting that the killer had let himself in with Marcia’s key. Did the killer hold on to it? Sonny had his own key.
    Jake cursed himself.
    Why can’t I just accept the obvious? Sonny is the killer. Mills is right: I overcomplicate.
    A noise – someone coming down the stairs. The light came on in the hall. Leigh.
    He looked up with a grin as the door opened, but it wasn’t his wife who came into the kitchen. It was his mother. She was wearing a nightdress and fluffy pinkslippers. But she had her woollen overcoat on over the top.
    ‘Hi, Mom,’ he said in a resigned but gentle voice.
    ‘Hi, Bruce,’ she replied with a bright smile. ‘You’re home early.’
    Bruce? That’s a new one
. His mother’s lucid moments were fewer and further between these days. She was beginning not to recognize family members. Her connection with the world was eroding.
    ‘What are you doing up?’ Jake asked.
    ‘It’s such a sunny day I thought I would take a walk.’
    Jake’s eyes flicked to the kitchen window – seeing his vivid reflection in the sheet of black cast by the night. ‘I see.’
    ‘The air will do me good. I might take the dog.’
    They didn’t have a dog.
    ‘That’s a great idea, Mom.’ He stood up and went towards her. ‘But have you taken your nap? I think you should take your nap first, and then go for the walk.’
    Jeanette frowned deeply like he’d just asked her to solve a particularly complex puzzle. ‘Yes, I think I will have a nap.’
    Jake took her by the hand and led her back to the hall, where he took off her coat. He hung it on the rack beside his own and Faith’s bright red coat. Then he led his mother up the stairs and into her bedroom. He stayed in the room until she had climbed back into bed, then he bent down and kissed her softly on the forehead.
    ‘Good night, Mom,’ he said.
    ‘Good night, Bruce,’ she replied.
    Jake tiptoed out of the room, shutting the door behind him and wondering how he could keep her safe.
    Time to call it a night. Outside his bedroom he shuffled off his shoes without undoing the laces. He crept into the bedroom and quickly stripped down to his boxers, dropping trousers, shirt, vest and coat on the floor at the end of the bed. Leigh would give him hell for it in the morning, but he was too tired to care.
    He took a moment in the moonlight to look down at his sleeping wife. Her slim shoulders and golden hair still stole his breath. Then he took a quick glance at Baby Jakey, sleeping peacefully in his crib by the wall. They had converted the box room for him, but Leigh said he wasn’t ready to sleep on his own yet. Jake suspected it was she who wasn’t ready.
    He pulled back the sheets and slipped into bed. Leigh stirred and rolled over.
    ‘Hi, babe. Good to see you,’ she murmured. She didn’t open her eyes.
    ‘You too,’ said Jake, stroking her hair.
    ‘Rough day?’ she asked, nestling into his chest.
    ‘The roughest. It’s too awful to think about.’ Jake changed the subject. ‘How’s my mother been?’
    Now Leigh looked up at him. She considered her answer – maybe several possibilities – before settling on ‘The usual.’
    ‘When I came home she was all dressed to go out for a walk in the sunshine. Has she been like that all day?’
    ‘Pretty much.’
    ‘Soon we’ll have to put a lock on her door. We won’t have to baby-proof the house; we’ll have to grandma-proof it!’
    Leigh giggled into his chest, which