Read Online The Anniversary Man by R.J. Ellory - Free Book Online

This is just the dump location. At a guess I′d say twenty-four hours, maybe less. I′ll do liver temp but I don′t think that′s gonna help us much with the weather as it is.′
    ′Out Friday night,′ Irving said. ′Never came home.′
    Melville called Irving from thirty yards away, waved him over.
    ′We got her on a Missing Persons,′ he said. ′Parents called it in last night, just after eleven. Said she went out at seven-thirty, think it might have been after a job. Lives in Tudor. No official report because it′s not been forty-eight hours, but there′s a notation in the desk log.′
    ′We need a proper ID before we talk to the parents,′ Irving said. ′I′m not going down there to question them about their daughter′s murder only to find out it′s not their daughter.′
    ′The chance it′s someone else—′
    ′Is pretty much zero,′ Irving interjected. ′I know that, but I have to be absolutely sure.′
    Turner nodded. ′We′ll need an hour here . . .′ He glanced at his watch. ′Call me at eleven, we′ll see what we have.′
     
    Eleven-fifteen, Jeff Turner reached Irving in his office. ′We got her,′ he said. ′She has her prints on the system. Her father′s a lawyer. Anthony Grant, bigshot private defense attorney . . . put his daughter on that ID database thing when she was thirteen. I′ve got them coming down here now.′
    ′I′ll meet you there.′ Irving tugged his jacket from the back of his chair and signed out to the coroner′s office.

TWO
    E velyn Grant was a wreck. Her husband, attorney-at-law, a man that Irving now vaguely recognized from some noisy murder trial a handful of years before, sat like a spartan - resolute, outwardly emotionless, but in his eyes that drawn and terrified smack of reality that would now never be forgotten.
    ′A job?′ Irving asked.
    Anthony Grant nodded. ′She was saving for a car. She wanted to have enough for a car by the time she went to college. I told her I would double anything she earned. I wanted her to understand—′
    He paused as his wife gripped his hand. A strangled sob hitched in her throat and she buried her face in her handkerchief.
    Grant shook his head. ′I wanted her to understand the importance of working for something.′
    ′And the job? ′
    ′Just domestic stuff, cleaning or something. I don′t know.′ Grant looked at his wife. His wife looked away, as if she somehow held him responsible. ′She was an independent girl,′ Grant went on. ′I let her do what she was capable of doing. She visited people she knew, she came back at the times we agreed. Sometimes she stayed over with friends. She was very adult about these things.′
    ′First thing I have to ask, of course, is about you, Mr Grant,′ Irving said. ′Unhappy clients. Obviously if you were a prosecutor it would make more sense, but even as a defense attorney you′re going to make enemies.′
    ′Of course.′ He hesitated, then shook his head. ′Jesus, I don′t know. I′ve fought hundreds of cases. I win more than I lose by a long way, but I do lose. Who the hell doesn′t? There′s a lot of people in prison who are pissed off at me.′
    ′And people who are now out who hold you responsible?′
    ′Could very well be.′
    Grant looked at his wife again. Recrimination flashed in her eyes, and Irving sensed she was a cold woman. He figured that the husband did all the work to keep their relationship together.
    ′Look, I understand all of this is necessary, but must it be now? I really don′t think this is something—′
    Irving smiled understandingly. ′I just need to know if you have any idea of where she was going.′
    Grant shook his head. ′All she said was that there was the possibility of a part-time job in Murray Hill. She was going to use the subway. I would have driven her but my wife and I had a prior engagement.′
    ′And the time Mia left the house?′
    ′Six, six-thirty maybe. We left about half an hour later, got back just