Read Online TRACE - CSI Reilly Steel #5 (Forensic novel Police Procedural Series) by Casey Hill - Free Book Online

eventually she would come around. We had a good thing. A good, warm thing.’
    ‘Have you ever heard of antimine?’ asked Kennedy suddenly.
    Burke looked truly surprised by this question. He had no idea where it had come from. ‘Like, protesters against mining and stuff?’ he asked. ‘I’ve seen them on the telly. What’s that got to do with anything?’
    ‘Where were you the night Jennifer died?’ asked Chris.
    ‘With Helena. Ask her; she won’t lie, even if she is devoid of all feeling.’
    Reilly had a feeling that his alibi would check out. She thought that they were looking at a scumbag, but not a killer. She exchanged a look with Chris and knew he was thinking the same.
    ‘Ok,’ he said. ‘We’re going to take a break.’
    Outside, the three of them watched Blair Burke as he held his head in his hands. He seemed truly upset by Jennifer Armstrong’s death, even if he was a horrible person. He treated her like a possession, thought Reilly. People are always upset when their things got broken or taken away.
    ‘Let him go?’ Chris suggested.
    ‘I wouldn’t jump the gun,’ said Kennedy. ‘I agree that this doesn’t look like our guy, but you can’t be too sure. Best to bring the wife in and check his alibi.’
    Reilly sighed. She hated to admit it, but Kennedy was right. It did pay to be careful, where you could. The last thing they needed was Blair Burke skipping the country if he was the one who had killed Jennifer.
    ‘I’ll get Helena in,’ Chris said. ‘She could have saved us a lot of messing about if she had just told us he was with her in the first place.’
     
     
    Later, after watching the interview with Helena Burke, Reilly felt more drained than ever, and strangely dirty. She had had enough of humans and their problems.
    Burke’s wife had been diminished by the stark reality of the interview room. Chris and Kennedy had interviewed her, but Reilly had watched through the one way mirror. Helena had kept glancing at her own reflection, as if surprised at how small and scared she looked.
    ‘Was your husband with you the night Jennifer was killed?’ asked Chris.
    Helena nodded.
    ‘I need you to say it. For the record, please: was your husband with you the night that Jennifer Armstrong was killed?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Helena. ‘He was with me. We were at a charity gala. He used my phone to call Jennifer.’
    ‘Did he go home with you?’
    ‘Yes, we went home together. He was drunk. He fell asleep on the couch and was still there in the morning when the children got up. I don’t think he could have moved, to be honest. Not even to take his shoes off.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us this in the first place? You have taken up precious resources of this investigation by withholding,’ Kennedy chided.
    ‘I’m sorry.’ Helena lifted her eyes in appeal. ‘I just wanted him to feel a tiny bit humiliated. Having the police show up at his restaurant…you can’t know what he’s put me through.’ The mask of perfection had slipped, and anyone could see how desperate and scared the wife really was. Reilly watched as Chris turned off the tape recorder.
    ‘Why don’t you leave him?’ he asked.
    ‘I wouldn’t know where to begin,’ said Helena. ‘I’ve been with him since I was sixteen. I don’t have the first clue how to get by without him.’
    ‘He won’t change,’ said Kennedy.
    ‘I know,’ said Helena. ‘But if he keeps drinking, maybe he’ll die first. That’s what keeps me going.’
    Reilly thought it was a slim hope to live on. A life that was barely a life at all. She felt sad for the whole lot of them. Jennifer, Helena, Blair Burke: what kind of loneliness drove them to do the things they did?
     
    ‘Not a nice thing to end your days with,’ said Chris, when he got out of the interview room.
    ‘We’ve seen worse,’ said Reilly. ‘It’s just all so…sad. I used to be better at handling this kind of thing, letting it slip away. But at the moment I get home and