Ungrateful Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

cases.”
    “Missing person,” I corrected. We both stared at the dead girl. She stared back with glassy green eyes.
    “Has she got a name?”
    ‘”If she’s got a butterfly tattoo on her back, her name’s Rhian Ellis.”
    Anna already had a pair of latex gloves on. She carefully pulled the body forward to reveal the pink and green butterfly inked on the right shoulder.
    “There we go then. Rhian Ellis. Hooker, stripper, corpse.” I tipped Rhian a salute. Anna rolled her eyes.
    “Who had you looking for a missing hooker?” she asked. One of her boys poked his head in the room before I could answer.
    “Forensics are here, boss,” he reported. “They want to start photographing.”
    Anna nodded. “Let’s talk in the kitchen,” she suggested to me, turning sharply on her heel, never doubting I would follow. I glanced once more at Rhian, taking in the small details. Dark roots showed amongst the auburn waves of her hair. Traces of glitter twinkled on her eyelids. Something twanged inside me, nausea and something else, a buzz of excitement. Shit, I’d been afraid of this.
    “Banning!” Anna barked from the doorway. “Kitchen!”
    I tucked my hands in my pockets and slunk out of the bathroom. I’ve seen some weird shit the past year – everything from vampires to ghosts to demons. A dead hooker should be a welcome break after that, a nice, normal corpse that wasn’t walking around trying to kill me, or kiss me, or anything else, but the girl in the bath tub pricked at me. I wondered ghoulishly if she was missing a kidney, like in an urban legend.
    “Hey, Ethan,” one of the policemen greeted me as I passed through the living room. I nodded, not registering who it was. Too many people milled around, dusting, snapping pictures. The small flat felt hot and cramped. I’d lived in similar places over the years, mostly without the corpses though.
    Unwashed pots and pans cluttered the kitchen. A faint smell of bad meat wafted from the bin in the corner. Empty vodka bottles lined up neatly on the windowsill. Anna looked like a diamond in a dog turd, a gleaming piece of perfection amongst the filth. She stood with her arms folded, scanning the room.
    “Who was looking for her, Banning?” she asked me.
    I closed the kitchen door, shutting off some of the noise in the living room and pushing down that nasty sense of enjoyment I got from the scene. “Clients get the whole confidentiality whack from me, Anna.”
    “This is a murder investigation. Any information you have, I want.” She levelled her accusing gaze on me. “I sincerely hope you’re going to co-operate with my inquiry.”
    I shrugged, like I hadn’t really decided. “How’d you get here so fast?” I asked. I’d only been in the building a few minutes myself, just long enough to find Rhian.
    “Anonymous tip,” Anna explained. She moved around the kitchen in a slow circle, wrinkling her nose as she passed the bin.
    She waited for me to volunteer some information. We played this game from time to time, when our paths crossed. We both knew I’d spill something, because I was pretty hot for Anna. I think sometimes that she’s pretty hot for me too, in a Lady Chatterly-Mellors kind of way. It’d be a pity fuck though, because…Well, look at her. She’s all legs and curves, more like a swimwear model than a cop. Her blonde curls were pulled back in a tight, professional ponytail that gave you a perfect view of her killer cheekbones and pouty lips. Goes without saying, she could do better than me .
    “This isn’t her place,” I offered as Anna came back to her original position. “Been looking for her for a few days and one of the girls at the club she strips at mentioned this place.”
    “Stripped at,” Anna corrected with a flash of compassion in her eyes as she said it. “What club is this?”
    “Hush, on Knight Street.”
    “So whose place is this? Boyfriend? Pimp?”
    I shrugged again. “It’s rented out to one Tamsin Searle, but