Read Online Lifeless - 5 by Mark Billingham - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mark Billingham
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Mystery Fiction, Police, Police Procedural, Police - England - London, Thorne; Tom (Fictitious character), Homeless men - Crimes against, Homeless men
Ads: Link
tearing pages as he turns them too quickly, speed-reading, his breath getting shorter by the second as Hendricks turns their murder case into something altogether more disturbing.
'OK... external y, both bodies were much the same, Murray and Garner, but internal y it's a different story. Ruth Murray died from a slower, more sustained pressure on the artery. Cal it a slow, hard squeezing. Carol Garner was nothing like that. She had bruises on the back of her skul where he smacked her head on the floor as he was throttling her. That was.., frenzied.
With Ruth Murray it was different. Maybe he'd got the anger out of his system. Maybe that's his pattern. You tel me mate...'
Then, Thorne knew. No, not his pattern...
The tears. A big man's tears on a body, outdoors. A body less damaged, wept upon. Elsewhere, a child in a house, nuzzling what was once the sweet-smel ing neck of his mother, now bruised, and bloody,
and broken inside. The wrapper from a chocolate bar, discarded... Was he tal er than your Grandad?
And Charlie Garner slowly, defiantly, shaking his head.
'Phil, can I cal you back... ?'
Tired as he was, Hol and had stil not left. Thorne's expression, as he burst into the office next door, was enough to wake him up in a second.
'The stabbings.., tel me about the stabbings.' Thorne's voice low, measured, but with a scream of something - excitement maybe, or horror - lurking just beneath the surface.
'Sir... ?'
Moving across the cramped office, talking quickly. 'Two women, both stabbed on the same day. July, i think you said.' Thorne nodded towards the computer, trying to stay calm. 'Cal them up.'
Hol and spun the chair round and began to type, trying to recal the details. 'One in Finchley, I think. The other one ... much further south if I remember ...' The relevant documents appeared on his screen and Hol and studied them for a second or two. 'Forest Hil , that's right...' He scrol ed slowly through the document, shaking his head. 'No ... no ... it's not possible. He couldn't have done them both.'
Thorne nodded and glanced out of the window. His eye was taken by the sparks flying up from beneath a tube train passing below on its way south from Colindale; lol ing heads in the brightly lit carriages,
snaking away from him as the track curved round and out of sight. 'He didn't.'
Hol and stared at him, waiting. Thorne stood stock stil and spoke slowly, but Hol and could see his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. 'The knives used might have been similar, might not, I don't know.., not sure it matters. The pattern and depth of the wounds though.., in al probability the number of wounds, on each of the victims, wil be at odds with each other. The ... character of the two attacks wil be completely different.'
Hol and turned back to his screen and typed again, cal ing up SOC and pathology reports as Thorne continued. 'One of the women wil have died from multiple stab wounds. Vicious...
indiscriminate... savage. The other, probably one single wound, to the heart, I would guess, or...
Hol and spun round again. The look on his face told Thorne al he needed to know...
Brigstocke answered his mobile on the first ring.
'Russel Brigstocke...' The voice low, betraying annoyance.
'It's Tom...'
'DI Thorne...' Spoken for somebody else's benefit.
The meeting with Detective Superintendent Jesmond had probably turned into dinner. So much the easier.
'We're onto something. Tel Jesmond. Cal it a breakthrough, he'l like that.' He turned to share the moment with Hol and but the DC
was studying the documents on his screen intently. Trying to make sense of it al . 'Tel him it's one hel of a good news-bad news routine...'
'I'm listening,' Brigstocke said. 'I don't think we're looking for one man.'
Thorne expected a pause, and he got one. Then: 'Are you saying that these murders might not actual y be connected?'
'No I'm not. They are connected, I'm certain of that.' Thorne knew the look that Brigstocke would be
'OK... external y, both bodies were much the same, Murray and Garner, but internal y it's a different story. Ruth Murray died from a slower, more sustained pressure on the artery. Cal it a slow, hard squeezing. Carol Garner was nothing like that. She had bruises on the back of her skul where he smacked her head on the floor as he was throttling her. That was.., frenzied.
With Ruth Murray it was different. Maybe he'd got the anger out of his system. Maybe that's his pattern. You tel me mate...'
Then, Thorne knew. No, not his pattern...
The tears. A big man's tears on a body, outdoors. A body less damaged, wept upon. Elsewhere, a child in a house, nuzzling what was once the sweet-smel ing neck of his mother, now bruised, and bloody,
and broken inside. The wrapper from a chocolate bar, discarded... Was he tal er than your Grandad?
And Charlie Garner slowly, defiantly, shaking his head.
'Phil, can I cal you back... ?'
Tired as he was, Hol and had stil not left. Thorne's expression, as he burst into the office next door, was enough to wake him up in a second.
'The stabbings.., tel me about the stabbings.' Thorne's voice low, measured, but with a scream of something - excitement maybe, or horror - lurking just beneath the surface.
'Sir... ?'
Moving across the cramped office, talking quickly. 'Two women, both stabbed on the same day. July, i think you said.' Thorne nodded towards the computer, trying to stay calm. 'Cal them up.'
Hol and spun the chair round and began to type, trying to recal the details. 'One in Finchley, I think. The other one ... much further south if I remember ...' The relevant documents appeared on his screen and Hol and studied them for a second or two. 'Forest Hil , that's right...' He scrol ed slowly through the document, shaking his head. 'No ... no ... it's not possible. He couldn't have done them both.'
Thorne nodded and glanced out of the window. His eye was taken by the sparks flying up from beneath a tube train passing below on its way south from Colindale; lol ing heads in the brightly lit carriages,
snaking away from him as the track curved round and out of sight. 'He didn't.'
Hol and stared at him, waiting. Thorne stood stock stil and spoke slowly, but Hol and could see his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. 'The knives used might have been similar, might not, I don't know.., not sure it matters. The pattern and depth of the wounds though.., in al probability the number of wounds, on each of the victims, wil be at odds with each other. The ... character of the two attacks wil be completely different.'
Hol and turned back to his screen and typed again, cal ing up SOC and pathology reports as Thorne continued. 'One of the women wil have died from multiple stab wounds. Vicious...
indiscriminate... savage. The other, probably one single wound, to the heart, I would guess, or...
Hol and spun round again. The look on his face told Thorne al he needed to know...
Brigstocke answered his mobile on the first ring.
'Russel Brigstocke...' The voice low, betraying annoyance.
'It's Tom...'
'DI Thorne...' Spoken for somebody else's benefit.
The meeting with Detective Superintendent Jesmond had probably turned into dinner. So much the easier.
'We're onto something. Tel Jesmond. Cal it a breakthrough, he'l like that.' He turned to share the moment with Hol and but the DC
was studying the documents on his screen intently. Trying to make sense of it al . 'Tel him it's one hel of a good news-bad news routine...'
'I'm listening,' Brigstocke said. 'I don't think we're looking for one man.'
Thorne expected a pause, and he got one. Then: 'Are you saying that these murders might not actual y be connected?'
'No I'm not. They are connected, I'm certain of that.' Thorne knew the look that Brigstocke would be
Similar Books
The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World
Jacqueline Novogratz
