Vigilante Read Online Free PDF Page B

The Crown were relying on her to give evidence but she was spending each day going to check on the guy who beat her up. It’s ridiculous.’
    Jessica couldn’t disagree but knew from experience it often happened in instances of domestic violence. So many cases fell apart before they reached trial. Given his violent record, Mills would have been denied bail due to the likelihood of interfering with the one witness but that witness was happily visiting him each day in jail. The system was farcical.
    ‘Does he actually cause you any direct problems?’
    ‘Of course not. He wouldn’t dare put himself on the line like that. If he really wanted to get at me, he’d have someone unconnected do it.’
    ‘That’s how cowards operate.’
    Carrie had said nothing at first. There was no specific reason why Mills would target her, other than his hatred of the police. He wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t risk his empire crumbling just for a cheap laugh at the expense of a detective who lived nearby.
    ‘He still stares…’ DC Jones said quietly. ‘Every time I walk past or anything like that. You can see him in the window or if he’s outside. He stares and watches until I’ve shut my front door.’ She didn’t sound scared but there was something in her voice. Mills obviously intimidated her.
    Jessica had seen the man herself. He was perma-tanned with cropped hair, big muscles and an imposing physique two or three times the size of hers. There was no law against watching someone but the intimidation of her friend was hard to accept. They just had to hope the Serious Crime Division, a department Jessica had had issues with in the past, would pull their fingers out and nail him for something.
    ‘Are you coming out on Friday night then?’ Carrie asked, changing the subject.
    ‘I don’t know, maybe. You always get the idiots out at the weekend. What do you reckon about that midweek pub quiz Dave’s always going on about?’
    ‘Yeah, we should go sometime. It sounds like a laugh. We’ll find out how ubiquitous his knowledge is.’ Jessica met her eye and both women laughed.
    ‘The problem is he reckons there’s karaoke afterwards,’ Jessica said.
    ‘So?’
    ‘Do you know “karaoke” is the Japanese word for “arsehole”?’
    ‘Is it?’
    ‘No but it should be.’ Jessica smiled but, from the look on Carrie’s face, he wasn’t convinced her friend had got the joke. ‘Right, back to work,’ she added, scraping her chair backwards and standing up. ‘Have you got much on?’
    ‘No, I might go give Dave a hand before he has a proper strop or tries to rope in one of the blondes from uniform to help him out.’
    Jessica smiled, knowing full well that was almost certainly the type of thing Dave would be doing at that exact minute.
    ‘I’ve got some paperwork and bits to go over,’ Jessica said. ‘I want to try to get it out of the way before Craig Millar’s test results come back. I’m hoping it’ll be simple but I’m not going to hold my breath.’
    The constable looked at Jessica, squinting slightly with her head held at a sympathetic tilt. ‘Are you going to be all right?’
    Jessica hadn’t dealt with a murder case since Randall. She knew what her friend was really asking. ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘You don’t have to do it all on your own.’
    Jessica had missed an opportunity to get help with that case and had almost paid for it with her life.
    ‘I know.’
    There were a few moments of silence before DC Jones lifted the mood by standing up and bounding past Jessica towards the exit. ‘Good. Let me know about Friday, yeah?’
    * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    After an uneventful two days, Jessica wasn’t in a great mood and still regretting her choice of accommodation. Caroline had moved out of the apartment she shared with Jessica in the Hulme area of Manchester a few weeks after Randall had been arrested and now had her own place at Salford Quays. Jessica had visited a few times and it was very nice but the