The Doll's House - [18]
She’d been round his usual haunts – the builders’ cafes, pool halls, drinking dens – and eventually found him in the Diamond Sports Bar. There he was – not thirty feet away – watching the rolling TV news intently, totally oblivious to her presence. Her hand was on the bar door, she could walk in there right now and call him out. Embarrass him in front of his mates, call him every name under the sun, let the world know what he was really like…
‘Out the way, love.’
A thirsty punter barged past her, irritated by her hovering presence at the doorway. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t going in there. She looked like death – lank hair, no make-up, bags under her eyes – and would only embarrass herself. It was all blokes in there and they’d only laugh at her pathetic display. She would be the one who’d end up looking ridiculous, not him.
Tears pricked her eyes as she walked away. Why was she such a massive waste of space? She would never be anything but a doormat, something for Nathan to pick up and toss aside whenever he wanted…
She slowed as a thought occurred to her. There was one way she could get her own back on the faithless bastard, one thing she could do to scupper him once and for all.
Summoning her courage, she pulled out her battered Nokia and after a moment’s hesitation dialled 999.
30
‘Get your hands off me, girl.’ It was said with a smile, but the aggression beneath was clear. ‘I know you want to get in my trousers, but I’m a married man, so get your fucking mitts off me.’
Sanderson didn’t dignify Nathan Price’s outburst with a reply. He’d been effing and blinding since she’d picked him up and, besides, she wouldn’t put it past him to do a runner. One hand on his cuffs, one hand on his collar – that was the best way to keep hold of him. If she was honest, this was one of the small perks of the job, cutting violent, unpleasant men down to size. She bustled him roughly through the doors, only releasing him when they reached the custody sergeant.
‘Got a nice one for you, Harry,’ Sanderson said, depositing Price at the front desk. The formalities were soon done and they were buzzed through to the custody area. As they neared the interrogation suite, DS Lloyd Fortune approached.
‘All right, fella, what did they get you for?’ Nathan asked with mock sympathy.
Ignoring Price’s racist jibe, Lloyd turned to Sanderson.
‘I’ll take this charmer off your hands.’
For a moment, Sanderson said nothing. Price was her suspect and more importantly her collar.
‘It’s all right, I’ve got it.’
Sanderson should have backed down immediately of course, but something – pride? anger? – stopped her.
‘DI Grace suggested that she and I lead on this one.’
Was this true? Was she being elbowed aside? Whatever the truth of the matter, she couldn’t argue the point with Nathan Price hanging on their every word, visibly enjoying the tension between the two officers.
‘Lovers’ tiff?’ he offered helpfully. ‘Like a bit of black, do you?’
‘Watch your mouth,’ Lloyd barked back, hauling the grinning suspect away towards the custody suite.
Sanderson watched them go. There was prejudice here all right but it wasn’t just coming from Price. Sanderson was the more experienced, better-qualified officer, with far more investigation hours and convictions under her belt, yet Lloyd Fortune had still been promoted over and above her. He’d only been at Southampton a little over a year – to her four – and already he’d shot past her. She knew the reason why – though of course she could never say it in public. It was political correctness pure and simple and it made her blood boil. Lloyd was keen to justify his promotion, to get a high-profile conviction under his belt, and Sanderson would suffer as a result. She understood this, she might even have done the same if she were in his shoes. But was Helen complicit too? She didn’t go in for that kind of thing normally, but had the landscape changed?
Walking back to her desk, Sanderson felt the ground subtly shifting under her feet and she didn’t like it one little bit.
31
‘Tell me about your relationship with Pippa Briers.’
Helen sat opposite Nathan Price, flanked by Lloyd Fortune. Now facing a Detective Inspector, Price had lost a little of his cockiness, the seriousness of the situation finally impressing itself upon him. Helen was keen to press home the advantage.
‘What do you want to know?’
Answering a question with a question. Price had never been charged with anything but Helen didn’t doubt he’d been in a custody suite before.
‘How long were you seeing her for?’
‘Nine, ten months.’
‘Did you live together?’
‘On and off. I had a wife at home, so you know…’
He was unrepentant, enjoying his status as a low-rent seducer.
‘And how did you get on?’
‘Good. She liked a drink, a dance. She was all right.’
‘Did you argue?’
‘Sometimes. When she went on about things.’
‘Like the fact that you had a wife and hadn’t told her about it.’
Nathan shrugged – he wasn’t going to deny it.
‘Am I right in thinking Pippa ended the relationship, when she found out you were two-timing her.’
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.
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.
Detective Helen Grace faces her own dark compulsions in the new thriller from the international best-selling author of Pop Goes the Weasel and Eeny Meeny.In a world where disguises and discretion are the norm, and where one admission could unravel a life, a killer has struck, and a man is dead. No one wants to come forward to say what they saw or what they know – including the woman heading the investigation: Detective Helen Grace.Helen knew the victim. And the victim knew her – better than anyone else.
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.
На горнолыжной базе «Джаловчат» в вагоне канатной дороги застряли парень с девушкой. На помощь им примчалась бригада спасателей МЧС – Борис Мостовой, Олег Чистяков и Ольга Синицкая. Вызволить горемычную парочку – дело техники. Но приключения спасателей еще только начинаются… Внезапно в горах происходит обвал, блокирующий единственную дорогу с базы. И в это же время спасатели находят под обрывом автомобиль, а в нем – водителя со смертельным ножевым ранением. Убийца не мог прорваться через завал, а значит, он где-то на базе, среди отдыхающих.
Фармацевтическая фирма «Гелиос» с размахом праздновала день рождения одной из сотрудниц. В самый разгар торжества был найден труп любимой собаки начальника. Подозрительное происшествие совпало с исчезновением хозяина фирмы Бориса Гольдмана, что привлекло внимание милиции. Следователь Тарасов хладнокровно взялся распутать клубок интриг и разоблачить преступный клан. Все его подозрения сходятся на противоречивой фигуре Марты, коммерческого директора «Гелиоса» и по совместительству жены Гольдмана…
В предпраздничный рабочий день — 30 апреля, сотрудники фирмы Эра собираются отмечать Первомай. Однако в разгар торжества в офисе происходит убийство. Классика жанра — под подозрением все!
Одержимому высокой идеей человеку невольно покоряются и чистые сердца, и погрязшие в грехах души — этой идеей Ги де Кара обязательно увлечётся читатель романа «Храм ненависти». Он интересен и любителю психологического романа, и поклоннику детектива.
В книге рассказывается история главного героя, который сталкивается с различными проблемами и препятствиями на протяжении всего своего путешествия. По пути он встречает множество второстепенных персонажей, которые играют важные роли в истории. Благодаря опыту главного героя книга исследует такие темы, как любовь, потеря, надежда и стойкость. По мере того, как главный герой преодолевает свои трудности, он усваивает ценные уроки жизни и растет как личность.
«Золотая пуля». Так называют в городе агентство, в котором работают журналисты-инвестигейторы (или, в переводе на русский — «расследователи»). Возглавляет это вымышленное агентство Андрей Обнорский — герой романов Андрея Константинова и снятого по этим романам телесериала «Бандитский Петербург». В «Золотой пуле»-3 вы встретитесь не только с Обнорским, но и с его соратниками-журналистами: Николаем Повзло, Зурабом Гвичия, Светланой Завгородней, Нонной Железняк, Георгием Зудинцевым и другими. Все они попадают порой в опасные, а порой и комичные ситуации.