Little Boy Blue - [22]

Шрифт
Интервал

Her session had been punishing, but still she couldn’t settle. Usually she would have walked away feeling lighter, happier, more optimistic. Tonight though, she felt a weight on her conscience. Not simply because of what she had endured today, but because there was one task she had still to perform.

She had known it the moment she’d seen Jake’s lifeless face, but her conversation with Charlie had brought it home to her. Callous as it was, she had to sever her connection with Jake for good. She told herself that by so doing she was just freeing herself to pursue his killer, but it still made her feel disloyal and unworthy, as if she was somehow embarrassed of her relationship with him.

Unzipping her jacket pocket, she pulled the battered Samsung phone from inside. She had bought it from a market stall in Portsmouth. It had clearly been stolen, but Helen didn’t quibble, handing over the cash, before heading off in search of another stall that sold knock-off SIM cards. Putting them together, she had an unregistered phone from which she could send messages that would never be traced back to her. She had her own phone of course for everyday stuff, but this phone was purely used to arrange her appointments. First with Jake Elder, later with another dominator, Max Paine, and then finally with Angelique. A discreet way to organize a side of her life that Helen wanted to remain hidden.

Helen knew this number would come up at some point in the investigation, as the team investigated Jake’s past communications. She had messaged Jake regularly in the old days, setting up their meetings, confirming times and occasionally cancelling their sessions when duty called. Recently their communications had been much more sporadic, but he had messaged her a few months back. It was innocuous enough – a request to resume their professional relationship – and Helen had been kindness personified in knocking him back. Still, it would be on the list of numbers to check out. Her team obviously couldn’t place her at the club and there would be precious little to flag her number as one of particular interest, given how irregularly she’d used it. But it was just possible that they might try to trace its location and that could lead to some uncomfortable questions, as she often had the phone on her at work.

This was why this part of her life had to end tonight. Once more she had cleaved close to someone only for them to meet a horrifying end. On nights like these Helen genuinely wondered if she was cursed. Everyone she had feelings for, everyone she formed any sort of relationship with, ended up suffering for it. Her sister, Marianne, and her nephew, Robert, had suffered, as had her former lover, Mark Fuller, and now Jake. Was she the connecting factor here? Was it somehow her fault that these people should endure the horrors they did?

Helen suddenly realized she had come to a halt, lost in her own thoughts. Cursing herself for her self-indulgence, she scoured the surface of the road. She soon found what she was looking for and marching across to the gutter, pulled both the battery and the SIM card from the body of the phone. She checked the street was clear once more, then dropped all three parts down the drain.

And that was it. Brutal, short and definitive. The last rites on her relationship with Jake Elder.

34

Whose bright idea was it to put mirrors in the lifts?

Charlie was already late for work – she’d forgotten it was Jessica’s ‘Show and Tell’ this morning – and her mood was not improved by the sight of herself in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Her clothes were ok, if a little tight – it was her face that depressed her. The lighting wasn’t great in the lift but, even so, she looked washed out, with deep, dark rings under the eyes. She wasn’t the greatest advert for being a working mum.

The doors pinged open and, turning her back on the accusing mirrors, Charlie strode down the corridor to the incident room. She paused by the door to smooth her hair down, then pushed through it with an energy she didn’t feel. Her late-night stakeout had yielded nothing – Jackson had stayed put all night – and she was paying the price for it this morning. The only consolation – if you could call it that – was that Sanderson had lucked out too.

Charlie headed straight to her desk. As she approached it, however, she slowed her pace, surprised by the sight of two Media Liaison Officers talking to Helen in her office. They only turned up when something important had happened, and looking around the office Charlie noticed that there was something different in everyone’s expression today. They looked optimistic and energized.

Waving Edwards over, she cut to the chase.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Got the DNA samples back this morning.’

‘And?’

‘We got a match. Paul Jackson. He’s the manager at -’

‘Santander in Shirley. I know, I spoke to him yesterday.’

‘There you go then.’

Edwards turned away, but Charlie stopped him.

‘Someone should have called me.’

‘I did, but it rang out. Then I thought I’d tell you when you came in – we were expecting you in a bit earlier.’


Еще от автора Мэтью Арлидж
The Doll's House

Detective Helen Grace is on the trail of a twisted serial killer in this riveting thriller in the gripping * international bestselling series."Ruby wakes up in a strange room. Her captor calmly explains that no one is looking for her. No one wants her. Except him."When the body of a woman is found buried on a secluded beach, Detective Helen Grace is called to the scene. She knows right away that the killer is no amateur. The woman has been dead for years, and no one has even reported her missing. But why would they? She s still sending text messages to her family.Helen is convinced that a criminal mastermind is at work: someone very smart, very careful, and worst of all, very patient.


Liar Liar

THE FOURTH DI HELEN GRACE THRILLER BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR M J ARLIDGE 'Helen Grace is one of the greatest heroes to come along in years' JEFFERY DEAVER In the dead of night, three raging fires light up the city skies. It's more than a tragic coincidence. For DI Helen Grace the flames announce the arrival of an evil she has never encountered before. Because this is no firestarter seeking sick thrills, but something more chilling: a series of careful, calculating acts of murder. But why were the victims chosen? What's driving the killer? And who will be next? A powder keg of fear, suspicion and dread has been laid.


Eeny Meeny

The international bestseller that "grabs the reader by the throat" (Crime Time).First in the new series featuring Detective Inspector Helen Grace.Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.It's a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn't spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn't believe them.Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case-with its seemingly random victims-has her baffled.


Вышел месяц из тумана…

Детектив-инспектор Хелен Грейс расследует серию преступлений, в каждом из которых похищены два человека. Похититель ставит свои жертвы перед страшным выбором – убить другого или умереть самому. Как долго продолжится эта смертельная игра, зависит только от Хелен. Ведь этими похищениями маньяк шлет послание лично ей.


Pop Goes the Weasel

From the international bestselling author of Eeny Meeny comes the second thriller in the truly excellent series * featuring Detective Helen Grace."A man s body is found in an empty house.A gruesome memento of his murder is sent to his wife and children."He is the first victim, and Detective Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night?The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: a serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives.Helen can sense the fury behind the murders.


Рекомендуем почитать
«Гость» из Америки

А с вами случалось такое? Когда чья-то незримая жизнь играет внутри вас будто забродившее вино, она преследует вас с самого детства и не даёт покоя ни днём, ни ночью. С ней невозможно договориться, у неё нет ни ног, ни тела, ни голоса. У неё нет ничего. И, тем не менее, она пытается по-своему общаться и даже что-то рассказывает. Что это: раздвоение сознания или тихое сумасшествие? А может, это чья-то неуспокоенная душа отчаянно взывает о помощи? Тогда кто она? Откуда взялась? И что ей нужно?


Нарко. Коготь ягуара

Первый официальный роман по мотивам культового сериала «Нарко» от Netflix. Удивительно подробное и правдивое изображение колумбийской наркоторговли изнутри. Хосе Агилар Гонсалес – sicario, наемный убийца медельинского картеля. Он готов обрушиться на любого врага Пабло Эскобара – и сделать с ним все, что прикажет Патрон. Он досконально изучил весь механизм работы кокаиновой империи, снизу доверху. Он глубоко проник в мысли и чувства Эскобара. Он знает, как подойти к нему даже с такой просьбой, которая другим показалась бы самоубийством, – и получить желаемое.


Занятие не для дилетантов

Без аннотации Вашему вниманию предлагается сборник зарубежных детективов.


Эдмон Белл и инспектор Тригсс

В новом томе собрания сочинений классика бельгийской литературы Реймона Жана Мари де Кремера, более известного под литературными именами Жан Рэй, Джон Фландерс и Гарри Диксон, вошли девять повестей из его почти неизвестного за пределами Бельгии цикла. Цикл посвящен приключениям потомка одного из эпизодических героев Артура Конан Дойля, упомянутого в рассказах о Шерлоке Холмсе — профессора Джо Белла. Перед нами новый герой, шестнадцатилетний Эдмонд Белл, столь же юный, как Рультабий из «Тайны желтой комнаты» Гастона Леру, столь же проницательный и столь же блистательный.


Несчастный случай. Старые грехи

В причудливый узор сплетаются судьбы героев романа: адвоката-красавицы Тамары, безнадежно влюбленного в нее аналитика Боба, оперативника Вохи и бизнесмена Виктора Новака. Любовь, ненависть, соперничество, случайные встречи и взаимные обиды связывают этих людей, а объединяет единая цель: поиск серийного убийцы. «Несчастный случай» — так называется новый роман, раскрывающий обстоятельства пятого дела из серии «Тройная защита». Прошло несколько лет после смерти мужа Тамары Макса, друга и коллеги Боба и Вохи.


Плод чужого воображения

Летними вечерами в дачном поселке собиралась дружная компания хороших знакомых – пока к ним не присоединились новые соседи. Это неприятные, грубые люди – сильно пьющий художник Денис, его вульгарная супруга Иричка и ее тихая, незаметная сестра Зина. Как-то вечером, когда компания сидела во дворе, нарядная Иричка прошла мимо, небрежно помахав присутствующим, а вскоре ее труп нашли в ближайшем овраге…Полиция начала расследование, но соседи решили не оставаться в стороне и попросили Олега Монахова, называющего себя ясновидящим и волхвом, присоединиться к поискам убийцы в частном порядке…