Nine Lives by Anita Waller (best english books to read .txt) 📗

‘Yes.’

‘Yes what?’

‘Yes to all of it. Now shut up and kiss me. And I could manage a refill if there’s any going.’

10

Beth looked around her lounge and knew Evan had been in. The key he had dropped through her letter box the previous week had meant nothing – he had clearly had a second one cut. She could sense him, sense his presence without him being in the room, and her anger grew.

Their separation had been acrimonious; the list he had presented her with where he outlined everything they had bought together showed how nasty he could be, and he wanted his half share of everything.

Turning around she covered each area, and realised the television had gone. A half smile formed on her lips. She had no problem with his removing that; he had insisted on a massive set because, in his words, ‘you couldn’t watch Sky Sports on a small screen’. She didn’t care about watching Sky Sports on any size screen, so she walked upstairs to the bedroom, unplugged the thirty-two-inch, and carried it downstairs. As she set it up, she smiled at the speed with which she had cancelled Sky. Evan had only been gone a day.

Tomorrow would be a day to organise a locksmith to change the locks on front and back doors, and to attend the post-mortem of a twenty-year-old. Evan really was a mere blip in her existence so far, and it was time to admit to a feeling of relief that he had gone. Beth vowed to tell Erica about it, get it out in the open, and move on.

‘And I thought he was the love of your life!’ Erica looked closely at Beth. ‘Clearly he wasn’t.’

Beth shrugged. ‘We wanted different things. He wanted other women, I didn’t want other men, that sort of thing. Five years is long enough to work out I don’t even like him, let alone love him. I thought I’d better tell you, before you wrote your Christmas cards.’

‘I don’t send Christmas cards.’

‘That’s okay then. We’re both sorted. Thank God I didn’t marry him, it’s been hard enough getting rid of him without having to divorce him as well.’

‘So he took your television?’

‘No, he took his bloody television. It’s big enough for him to nearly be able to play on the pitch, so I was glad to see the back of it. I’ve connected up the bedroom TV, and I’m quite happy with that. Don’t have time to watch much anyway, with this job. No point starting to watch any serials, I’d miss most of the episodes. And I’m saving nearly £100 a month by cancelling Sky. Result.’

‘Then I’m happy for you, but you know, I have to say the obligatory stuff like “if you ever need to talk” and “don’t ever feel alone, I’m here”, but actually I do mean it. It might feel good at the moment, but then you’ll hit a memory and wonder if you really did the right thing.’

Beth laughed. ‘You’re going all philosophical on me, and it’s only half past six. You want another coffee before we go to this PM?’

Erica looked at Beth and knew she would be okay. ‘Why not? I’ll give Diana Vincent a ring later, and get her organised for Clare’s formal identification, but what I really want to do is go over the twenty-fourteen evidence, or lack of it, to see if there’s anything we could possibly have missed. Do you have any feelings on it?’

Beth handed Erica the freshly poured coffee, and sat down facing her. ‘In twenty-fourteen I didn’t think for myself. I was a mere foot soldier for the likes of you. You were what I aimed to become, and there was a bit of hero worship in the mix, I think. I had started seeing Evan, and so I really was only there to take orders, not make waves and not contribute other than searching the crime scenes. Times have changed, and I spent last night listening to music and going through the old files. The press haven’t picked up on it yet, that he or she has returned, so that’s good. Some smart arse will before much longer. Have we got a strategy?’

Erica sipped at her coffee. ‘I haven’t, but you know me and the press. The words “no comment” were made for me when confronted by them. There’s people higher in rank than me who can deal with that stuff, I’ve a killer to catch.’

Standing by the side of the autopsy table left Erica and Beth in no doubt that the same person had killed both girls. Ivor turned over the right hand, and there was VI cut into it, along with the missing tip of the little finger.

‘Number six,’ Beth said quietly. ‘Thank God we’ve removed his seven and eight.’

Ivor looked at the two police officers. ‘Don’t underestimate him.’

‘You think it’s a him?’ Erica’s response to his comment was swift.

‘I’ve no idea. It’s just… dead bodies are heavy, and even more so when you’re battling the elements. But let’s not write off it being a fit woman. Anyway, I’m starting to record now.’

He took them through the main points, all of which were basically the same as the autopsy performed on Susanna Roebuck, and eventually Erica and Beth left the suite feeling queasy and concerned.

‘Are we in danger of underestimating this killer?’ Beth asked.

‘I’m not. This is the sixth post-mortem I’ve attended that’s a direct result of the actions of this one person. Let’s go and find a café, grab some breakfast, and talk things through. Then I’ll ring Diana and get things moving there.’

They walked to the outside of the building and Beth stopped. ‘That’s sunshine.’

‘Thank God for that. We’ve got teams out on the riverbank again today, but I’m calling them back in tomorrow. We’ve interviews to do, searches and stuff, but it’s important to get the crime scene cleared as soon as possible.’

‘And I want to start on tracking down anyone who