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

nap earlier in the evening had helped with the tiredness, and she suspected it would be a restless night. It was better if Fran dropped off to sleep before she joined her, then hopefully one of them would get a good sleep.

She opened her Kindle, then closed it again and rang the hospital. No change, the nurse told her. Erica thanked her and said she would be at the hospital the following day.

She dragged a fleece blanket over her and settled into the furry cushions. She read a few pages and within ten minutes was asleep.

Erica was at the hospital by eight o’clock and sat silently by her friend’s side, holding her hand.

‘There’s no change yet,’ the nurse said gently, ‘but don’t give up on her. She’s young, I don’t doubt she’ll fight to live. It was a brutal attack, but we have the best surgeons…’

‘There’s been nothing?’

The nurse shook her head. ‘No, and her parents have been here most of the time, talking to her, but no response at all. It’s early days, give it time.’

Erica leaned towards the silent Beth. ‘Wake up. I need you.’ She kissed the back of Beth’s hand. ‘We got him, Beth. He’s going down for a long time. Come back to us soon.’

She looked up at the nurse. ‘I have to go, it may be Saturday but I need to go in to work.’

The nurse smiled. ‘You and me both.’

‘If there’s any change…’

‘I’ll ring.’

The briefing room seemed full. Apparently there wasn’t only her who felt the need to work. There was a chorus of ‘Morning, boss’ from around the room, and she acknowledged them with a wave.

Entering her own office she started her computer and pulled up her emails. There was one from the Starlite Gym.

The receptionist had sent two documents: the membership list and one headed ‘atendances over the last three months’. Erica smiled at the misspelling.

She opened up the attendance document first, deciding to print it off so she could write notes and thoughts that might occur to her. She wandered into the main office to pick up her printout, and banged on a desk.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. She gave them a brief update on Beth’s condition, and heard one or two groans as they digested how serious her injuries were.

‘Why are you all in?’

‘Following up on stuff,’ Ian Thomas said. ‘And it’s not raining. Thought a couple of us might go down to the river…’

‘Don’t forget your waders,’ she said with a smile. ‘And don’t drown. Has this overtime been agreed?’

‘Erm… we didn’t ask.’

She gave a slight nod. ‘Leave it with me. Thank you, everybody. Ian, can I speak with you for a minute?’

Ian followed Erica into her office. ‘Boss?’

‘You think we’ve missed something?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Something’s nagging at me, but I’m damned if I know what it is. I mentioned it to a couple of the others last night, and they said they’d come in this morning and we could go down en masse, so to speak. Honest, boss, I don’t know what it is, but I do know it’s four beautiful young lasses who’ve lost their lives, and it’s not the river that’s to blame, it’s the bastard who strangled them. Maybe the river can tell us more, maybe it can’t, but we won’t know unless we look.’

‘There’s another link. I mean apart from the Porter. I’ll be filling everybody in on Monday morning, but it seems all four girls had a membership at the Starlite Gym. Susie wasn’t there on the night she was taken. Clare was on the way to the gym when she disappeared, and Imogen and Tanya were leaving the gym when they were abducted.’ She waved her printout. ‘These are attendees, dates, times, etc., for the last three months, and I have a full membership list to work through, so can you make sure we have a seven o’clock start time on Monday, full briefing then.’

‘I can, boss. Flick’s in if you need her to help with the lists.’

‘No, I want to take my time, make sure we don’t miss anything. It’ll be hectic next week, we’ll have a lot of these names to interview.’

Ian went to leave but turned back. ‘You’re doing a cracking job, boss, and we’re all gutted about Beth. You’ll tell her when she comes round?’

Erica nodded. ‘But it’s if, Ian, not when.’

Erica stuck to drinking water. Memories of the previous evening’s headache were in the forefront of her mind, and she guessed it had been caused by a surfeit of caffeine. Today would be a day for a clear head and gallons of water, she reckoned.

She had sheets spread around her desk with different headings, and arrows pointing to links that were obvious. Things were further split into male and female, and she quickly realised the scale of the task.

‘Do all gyms have this amount of members?’ she grumbled.

Five of them went down to the river, gathering initially in the pocket park. Ian took his list out of his pocket.

‘Sam and Kev, take your car and go up to the source. Waders on, and if it’s safe get into the water and look, initially. Make a note of anything you see, even if it’s not relevant. It might be. Easiest to use the voice recorder on your phones. Then get up onto the banksides, basically look everywhere. A couple of hours should do it, but if you see anything that’s likely to help, ring me and we’ll all get up there to meet you. Mike and Will, we’ll start here and work upwards towards the source. Any questions?’

They all said no, and Sam and Kev headed back to the car park to drive up to Ringinglow.

The crime scene tape was still around the pocket park, and a man and woman walked up to it. As the three officers struggled into their waders, the woman called down to ask if they wanted a hand.

‘No thanks, love,’ Ian called back