The Edge of Sanity Read Online Free PDF

chewed hard on his gum. Dope was all they’d managed to find him in possession of last time, which was for Charlie’s own personal use, of course, according to his bird-brained brief. Yes, of course it was.
    The scumbag had managed to ditch the hard stuff between pub and patrol car; DI Short would bet his pension on it. These smart-arse solicitors should try telling the parents that the kid they gave birth to, nursed and nurtured to the age of seventeen, or younger, just popped an E and dropped dead on the dance floor. Or tried to peel themselves—on a drug-induced trip to hell—because they thought they were an orange.
    That was one of the perks of the job, and it gutted DI Short since he had kids of his own. Neither of them saints, he conceded, recalling how he had caught his daughter hanging out of her window, puffing away on a joint last week. He was pretty sure she didn’t do anything harder, but peer pressure was hard to walk away from. And with people like Charlie Roberts out on the streets …
    He looked over Rachel Meadows again, who looked as fragile as a porcelain doll tucked under those sheets, and vowed that someday, someday soon, God give him strength, Charlie Roberts would get what was coming to him.
    ****
    She had left enough time, thank God. No way was running for the bus an option in skyscraper shoes. If Hannah hadn’t got her fags, she would flipping well thump her. Kayla didn’t know why she bothered giving them to Hannah to keep anymore anyway. Her mum and dad wouldn’t notice if she were on fire, let alone smoking.
    God, it was so-o hot. She lounged against the bus shelter—dead cool in Ray Bans—keeping one eye out for the bus, the other for Hannah, who would no doubt belt up the road last minute, soggy slice of toast in hand.
    Bang on cue, the bus rounded the corner with Hannah in hot pursuit. Uh, oh, she wasn’t going to make it. Kayla played for time, dawdling up the step, hovering between the doors and then, in desperation, accidentally spilling the contents of her school bag on the platform, much to the annoyance of the bus driver.
    ‘C’mon, sweetheart,’ he grumbled. ‘I haven’t got all day.’
    Sweetheart? Kayla raised an eyebrow. ‘In your dreams, mate.’
    She scraped her books together as a grinning Hannah cleared the doors. ‘ Yessss! ’ they said together, flashing their bus passes and clumping upstairs.
    Kayla threw herself down on the back seat, propping wedged feet up on the seat in front of her.
    Hannah parked herself at the opposite end and did likewise. ‘Shit, that was close,’ she gasped, fumbling her sunshades out of her blazer pocket and plonking them on top of her head, hairband style.
    Kayla rolled her eyes. ‘One of these days, you’re gonna miss it, y’know? I draw the line at throwing myself bodily in front of the bus, Hannah.’
    ‘Well, that’d stop traffic.’ Hannah smirked, inclining her head toward Kayla’s rapidly increasing bra size.
    ‘Shut it.’ Kayla folded her arms defensively. She hated it when people drew attention to her boobs. She didn’t mind drawing attention to them herself, if the occasion called for it, such as getting into the nightclub, and getting the attention of Charlie, but as for the ogles she got in school, accompanied by sniggers from spotty little limpdicks … Uh-uh . Frankly, she felt fat. And she’d much rather not have attention drawn to that.
    ‘Sorry.’ Hannah batted her eyelids apologetically. ‘And I’m really sorry I was late. It’s just Mum. She bangs on and on, like I haven’t heard it all before. But I needed to get my pocket money, assuming it’s still on for tonight?’
    ‘You bet it’s still on. I got shoes, see?’ Kayla confidently waggled a manquasher wedge. She was a teeny bit nervous in reality, not that she’d let that on to Hannah. ‘You gonna be meeting dickhead there?’
    ‘His name is Steve,’ Hannah replied curtly. She ferreted about in her bag for Marlboro Lights and tossed