Read Online Beautiful Death by Fiona McIntosh - Free Book Online Page B

could be. She felt suddenly nervous in the taxi they had managed to hail relatively easily outside the Met. And when Kate was nervous she talked.
    ‘Have you been to RLH morgue before?’
    Jack was sitting in the seat opposite, travelling backwards. She hated going backwards; she also hated that he’d chosen not to sit next to her.
    ‘Yes, a few times. Are you a virgin?’ Now he sounded a bit more like himself.
    She nodded. ‘Well, not really . . . I’ve done a couple, but be gentle all the same.’
    ‘You’ll be okay. Deep breaths, and look over the head of the pathologist. And if it’s Rob Kent, definitely don’t show him you’re squeamish or admit to being a first-timer at RLH. He loves to make police officers suffer.’
    ‘Right,’ she said, feeling more unnerved, then frowned at him. Through the glass partition the cabbie cursed at another driver’s stupidity. ‘Jack, you seem distracted. I thought you’d be all pumped and rearing to go on day one of a major new case.’
    ‘I was. But I’ve just received some news.’ He shrugged.
    ‘News?’
    ‘It’s personal. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.’
    She looked doubtful. ‘Well, I’m here if you needto talk. We’re near enough strangers these days so it will feel like therapy and my rates are cheap.’
    He smiled sincerely at her and that simple action fired the familiar spark of desire. She looked at the traffic.
    ‘Tell me about the case,’ she said, steering away from further intimacy. ‘I’m assuming it’s this one about the three corpses that have been found with similar wounds.’
    ‘Correct.’
    ‘And that we’re on our way to view a fourth victim,’ she stated.
    ‘And that’s why you’re one helluva talented police officer, Kate Carter,’ he said.
    She scowled at his sardonic tone. ‘Well, it didn’t take much to work that out. I should admit Brodie rang last night and we worked it out together.’
    ‘I’d be disappointed if you hadn’t,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll keep it short.’ He checked that the cabbie’s glass was completely pulled across and they could not be overheard. Nevertheless he spoke quietly, leaning forward, none of which Kate minded. She, too, leant in to get close.
    ‘Three bodies, presumably now four, have been found dumped with such alarmingly similar injuries that we believe we’re dealing with the same killer. MO is nearly identical in the first three — give or take a kidney — and I doubt we’ll find much difference with this next one. He . . .’ he paused, recalling their previous case together, ‘or she, is removing their faces.’
    ‘Their what?’ Kate gasped, snapping to full attention. ‘Faces?’ she repeated, a look of horror spreading across her features.
    He nodded. ‘The file notes suggest this is a person who’s pretty adept with the scalpel. The work is neat,precise. And pathology reckons it can place the first three in order of death by the professionalism with which the cutting was done.’
    ‘It keeps getting better, you mean?’
    ‘That’s exactly what I mean.’
    ‘Who are the victims?’
    ‘So far two of Asian origin, probably in their earlyish thirties, and a European man in his forties — his was the first body found and we think he may have been a gypsy . . . and now this woman that we’re on the way to learn more about. So far we are guessing that the bodies are those of illegal immigrants. There are no dental records, no fingerprint records, no one seems to have missed them, there are no references to their build, age, etc, on the missing persons list. Until someone comes forward to report someone fitting the descriptions missing, we’re working on the assumption of illegals. Not having faces makes it very tricky, of course.’
    She wasn’t sure if Jack was being black-humoured with his final comment, but as she sat back and studied him, there was no amusement at all in his expression.
    ‘Why?’
    He shrugged. ‘A new perversion we’ve stumbled across. I