Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

reapplied the restraints, as if she was going to pull away with the agony coursing up her arm. Nita couldn’t stop the tears falling down her face, she could barely breathe through the blood in her throat, and felt it thicken as her body tried its best to stop the blood flowing by clotting and congealing. Why was he doing this? What kind of freak did this?

As he put his hand back on her cheek, she pulled her head away, shaking her head vehemently from side to side. Please let me go, please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone, I swear. She felt herself whimper, her breath quickening as her body went into a panic. Within seconds she was hyperventilating, unable to stop the reaction as she struggled to draw breath. Black spots appeared in her vision as her panic grew, and suddenly, it all went black.

Ryhope, Sunderland – 8 November

He hadn’t expected that; the blood flying from her mouth and covering his grey trousers with red spots. He knew they would wash out, but still, it wasn’t pleasant. Maybe he should invest in some clothes just for use out here. That way he wouldn’t have to worry that someone would see.

Working methodically, he cleaned up the blood from the floor, putting the cloth in the bin under the workbench. He wiped down the chair and replaced the mallet on its hook on the wall.

Finally, he opened the cage and placed a salad bowl, a sandwich, water and a section of a strip of paracetamol inside.

And now he sighed deeply. He knew he would sleep tonight. There was rarely a night he didn’t sleep, but he didn’t particularly want to. He had a sudden urge to go to a bar and get shit faced. It had been a long time since he’d been so drunk, he’d managed to force himself to forget everything. The last time had been about three years previously, and he’d been so drunk he couldn’t even remember where he lived. He’d sat in the taxi and giggled to himself as the metre had run onward, the taxi driver charging for every minute he couldn’t remember. Eventually the woman he’d picked up in the bar had told the taxi driver her address and had let him go with her. He’d woken up the next morning in a strange bed, with a strange woman lying beside him and no recollection of how he’d even got there.

Maybe getting drunk was a bad idea. He had so little control over his life; he definitely didn’t need to lose the control he had over himself now as well.

He rubbed a hand across his face, feeling the initial stage of the migraine progress into what was going to become a whopper. Locking the door behind him, he acknowledged it was time for his medication. It was sleep he needed, not alcohol.

Decision made, he headed home.

 

Chapter Fifteen

Alleyway, Sunderland City Centre – 9 November

A li pulled the car over alongside the two marked vehicles that were already in the alleyway. He and Charlie clambered out, signed in with the loggist stood beside the police tape that worked as a cordon, and made their way over to the body.

‘Wow, looks like he’s had a number done on him. How’d his lip end up like that?’ Ali asked the pathologist, Nigel Evans, who had just arrived at the scene. He’d seen the gaping wound across the male’s neck, of course, but there was just something off about his lip. It was hanging, looked like it had been ripped.

‘Give me a few minutes to look over him. Don’t want to jump to any assumptions.’

Ali nodded and made his way over to the uniformed sergeant. ‘Harry, how’s things? What have we got here then?’

‘Body dump I reckon, guv. His throat’s been cut, but no way he bled out here. ID in his pocket says he’s Daniel Burton, lives over Southwick way. I’ve got someone heading to the home address now, unless you wanna do the notification?’

‘No thanks, I’ll let your guy handle that. I’ll see what happens next then head over later. He married, do we know?’

‘Not married, no, but he lives with his girlfriend and their baby. PNC shows warnings for drugs, but that was a few years back.’

‘No problem, we’ll be looking into every angle. Wonder who he pissed off? His face is a mess.’

‘Rats,’ muttered Harry under his breath.

‘Rats? What do you mean?’

‘Some of the wounds look like gnaw marks. Attended a death years ago. Rat breeder had had a stroke in the shed where he kept the horrid little things. He was still alive, and they’d just eaten him. He was found a few days later. When I got there, a huge white one crawled out of a hole in his gut. Was disgusting, guv. He’d cared for them since they were babies, always handled them and made sure they were friendly. Then they turned on him in his moment of need. He haemorrhaged and bled out from the wounds.’

Ali felt his lip curl. ‘Rats? That’s gross. You really think that’s what happened to him?’

‘Honestly, don’t know, guv. Looks that way to me. Guess we’ll find out in the PM.’

Ali nodded thoughtfully. He hoped it would end up being later this afternoon and not tomorrow. He was finally on his rest days and he had every intention of hiding away, possibly even going home to see his mum. Alex was due back today, so there was no reason for him not to go. He’d even been invited for dinner at Cass and Alex’s cottage that evening.

Making his way back over to the body, he waited for Nigel to finish looking around.

‘I’ve got a slot this afternoon for a PM as long as the mortuary technician can get prepped in time. It’ll be 2 p.m. at