Little Boy Blue - [6]
‘Could you give us a couple of minutes, guys?’ Helen said quietly, but firmly.
Meredith and her team withdrew, leaving Charlie and Helen alone with the deceased. It was time now to reveal the victim and begin the process of trying to identify him – a task that didn’t require an audience.
Gripping a pair of sterile scissors, Helen snipped through the wet sheets that bound the legs and torso. She was unlikely to be able to ID him from the sight of his feet, but she wanted to release his arms and legs from their constraints. This would allow her a better line of attack on the duct tape that bound him from the chest up. She knew she could ill afford to inflict any post-mortem injuries on him by hacking blindly at the tape, so though every instinct urged her to remove the tape from his eyes, nose and mouth, she resisted for now.
Patiently, Helen cut through the stiff sheets, releasing his body from its purgatory. The sheets fell away, revealing the ribbon that secured his ankles to the chair legs. Helen untied this, bagging it along with the sheets, but the body didn’t respond at all. Rigor mortis was setting in – their victim looked like a man frozen in time.
Pressing on with her unpleasant task, Helen stripped off the upper sheets, passing them to a rather pale-looking Charlie. Now she slipped one scissor blade underneath the tape on his chest, sliding it over the soft leather of his suit without marking the surface. She slowed her progress as she cut upwards towards his neck – every mark, every bruise on his body, might provide them with vital clues and Helen was determined not to stymie their investigation through human error.
The tape covering his throat came away easily – only his head remained covered now. Downing the scissors, Helen decided to finish the last, most delicate stage by hand. Teasing her fingers along the top of his head, she soon found what she was looking for. The end of the tape had been stuck down firmly, but with a bit of coaxing, it came free.
This was the moment of truth then. Grasping the loose end, Helen began to unwind the tape. Slowly at first, then faster and with more confidence, until finally it fell away altogether.
The sight that greeted her took her breath away. Not because she was disgusted by the victim’s waxy, lifeless face, but because she recognized him. This poor wretch was her friend. Her dominator.
It was Jake.
10
Helen stumbled up the stairs, her hand clamped over her mouth. She could feel the vomit rising in her throat and she needed to be away from this underground hell. The green exit light could be glimpsed up ahead and she took the final steps at speed, barrelling through the exit and out into the night.
Ignoring the startled looks of the uniformed officers on guard, Helen hurried over to the chain link fence that bordered the club and clung on to it. Her breath was short, her heart was racing and the waves of nausea just kept coming. She gulped in huge lungfuls of air, desperate to avoid drawing attention to herself, but to no avail. She vomited now, hard and loud, her stomach cramping over and over again until there was nothing left inside.
Nobody made a move to help her, so Helen remained staring at the ground, empty and drained. It couldn’t be Jake. A small part of her was tempted to return to the crime scene, to prove to herself that she’d made a stupid mistake. But in her heart she knew it was him. His face was distinctive and familiar and, besides, the tattoo on his neck sealed it. The man whose company she’d paid for on numerous occasions over the years, who’d beaten her dark introspection from her many times during their S &M sessions, was dead. Jake was the only person who knew the real Helen, and his sudden death left her feeling disoriented and confused.
The last time she’d seen him he was happy and settled. He was dating a new boyfriend, had relinquished his crush on Helen and seemed to be making a decent fist of his life. What had gone so terribly wrong that he had ended up here, in an after-hours club, falling into the clutches of a brutal and pitiless killer? Helen would have given anything to be able to turn back time, to step into that small room as Jake was being attacked and drag his assailant away.
‘Are you ok?’
Helen looked up to find Charlie standing nearby, framed by the darkness. No one else would have spoken to her so informally or with such affection and it knocked the stuffing out of her now. Normally she would have blustered a response and sent them away, but she and Charlie had been through too much together for her to be dismissed like that. A large part of Helen wanted to blurt out that she knew the victim, that he was a friend. But as she opened her mouth to speak, her tongue refused to obey.
‘What is it, Helen? What’s wrong?’ Charlie persisted.
Still Helen said nothing. To admit that she knew the victim would mean confessing how they met. Instantly she recoiled from this – she didn’t want to offer Jake up to them like this – and, besides, how could she look any of her colleagues in the eye once the details of her private life were laid bare? She’d be a laughing stock, the butt of endless ribald jokes, but more than that they would
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Думала ли я, отправляясь в языковую школу в Лондон, что эта поездка раз и на всегда изменит мою жизнь? Но назад дороги нет, и что будет дальше — смогу решить только я сама.
Раскрытие преступления через много лет. Через множество сомнений и подозрений пришлось пройти героям, прежде чем они нашли истину.
Влекомов, сотрудник оборонного НИИ, посещает бывшую супругу с намерением вкусно поесть и немного выпить. Выясняется, что бывшая увлеклась идеей быстрого обогащения путем призовой торговли. Пытаясь её образумить, Влекомов сам впутывается в сомнительное дело, собирая компромат на организаторов.
Эта история начинается с ограбления с трагическим финалом: немолодой хозяин загородного дома погибает от рук неизвестных преступников. Однако в этой истории оказывается не так все просто, и сам погибший несет ответственность за то, что с ним произошло. Рассказ «Вода из колодца» седьмой в ряду цикла «Дыхание мегаполиса». Главным героем этого цикла является следователь Дмитрий Владимиров, который на этот раз должен разобраться в хитросплетениях одной запутанной семейной драмы.
Многие наши современники мечтают о богатой жизни, проводимой в комфорте и в удовольствиях. Но как достичь желаемого? Находятся люди, готовые в погоне за высоким достатком совершить преступление. Но принесет ли им это долгожданное обогащение? Смогут ли они избежать наказания? Рассказ «Собиратели слонов» третий в ряду цикла «Дыхание мегаполиса». Главным героем его является следователь Дмитрий Владимиров, которому в этот раз предстоит найти человека, совершившего дерзкое ограбление инкассаторов.
