The Missing Read Online Free PDF Page A

me. It was getting dark under the trees and cold. I wrapped my arms around my knees, holding them close, trying to hug myself warm. I checked my watch every minute or so, for no real reason. The operator hadn’t been very specific about how long it would take the police to get there. It didn’t matter, really. It wasn’t as if I had somewhere better to go.
    I didn’t really believe that Jenny’s killer would come back to that quiet spot in the woods, but my heart still pounded at every sudden noise and half-seen movement. Tiny sounds all around me suggested invisible animals going about their business, unmoved by my presence, but every rustle in the dry leaves had me twitching with nerves. I could only see a few yards in any direction as the trees grew so close together in that part of the woods, and it was hard to shake the tingle at the back of my neck that said you’re being watched …
    All in all, it was a great relief to hear voices in the distance, along with the rattle and cough of police radios. I stood up, wincing as I straightened stiffening limbs, and shouted, ‘Over here!’ I waved my arms over my head, lighting up the screen on my mobile phone to try to attract their attention. I could see them now, two of them, moving through the trees with purpose, high-visibility jackets gleaming in the fading light. Both were male, one stocky and middle-aged, the other younger, leaner. The stocky one was in the lead and, it quickly became apparent, in charge.
    ‘Are you Sarah Finch?’ he asked, stumbling a little as he approached me. I nodded. He stopped, bracing his hands on his knees, and coughed alarmingly. ‘Long way in from the road,’ he explained at last in a strangulated voice, then hawked up something unspeakable and spat it to his left. ‘Not used to all this exercise.’
    He had taken out a handkerchief and was wiping sweat from his quivering cheeks, which were latticed with broken veins. ‘I’m PC Anson and this is PC McAvoy,’ he said, indicating his colleague. PC McAvoy smiled at me tentatively. He was really very young, on closer inspection. They were oddly mismatched, and I wondered, irrelevantly, what they found to talk about.
    Anson had got his breath back. ‘Right, so where’s this body you’ve found, then? We’ve got to check before the rest of the crew turns up. Not that we think you’re a nutter with nothing better to do than call 999 for kicks.’ He paused for a moment. ‘You’d be surprised how many of them there are, though.’
    I stared at him, unimpressed, then pointed down into the hollow. ‘She’s down there.’
    ‘Down that slope? Bugger it. Hop down and check it out, Mattie, would you?’
    Clearly Anson resented having to do anything that involved physical exertion. McAvoy hurried to the edge of the gully and peered over.
    ‘What am I looking for?’ His voice was taut with suppressed excitement.
    I stepped forward to join him. ‘The body is behind the tree. The easiest way to get down is probably to your left.’ I pointed to the rudimentary path I had made in my flight up the hill.
    But he had already gone over the edge. Branches cracked under his feet as he ran down the slope, gathering speed as he went. I winced, anticipating a crash at the bottom. Anson rolled his eyes in a long-suffering manner. ‘Enthusiasm of youth,’ he said. ‘He’ll learn. Faster isn’t always better, is it?’
    The crudeness in his tone made my skin crawl.
    McAvoy had made it down the hill and was peering nervously over the fallen tree. ‘There’s something here all right,’ he shouted, his voice cracking a little on the ‘something’.
    ‘Get a closer look, Mattie, and then get back up here,’ Anson boomed. He had one hand on his radio, ready to report back. I watched McAvoy sidestep the tree’s tangled roots, and bend to look at what lay behind it. Even at that distance I could see the blood draining from his face. He turned away sharply, his shoulders heaving.
    ‘For