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

that was too big to get down here, but I never saw anything. Sorry I can’t help with that.’

‘No problem. Now we come to the tricky part because I know you like her, but she’s killed nine young women, Adam. She killed four in twenty-fourteen, then stopped for five years and now she’s killed another five over the past couple of weeks. She’s an extremely dangerous woman who wouldn’t hesitate to kill you if she thought it was necessary. We’re instigating surveillance as we speak, and the second she enters this site a large vehicle, probably a car recovery truck because that’s something you would expect to see parked on a road rather than a car park, will move into position and block the exit. If she does come to see you first, the second she leaves here,’ he swept his hand around the garage, ‘I want you to press this.’

He handed Adam a small gadget. ‘It’s a simple alarm, but it will notify us of where she is. Make sure she has closed your door behind her before you press it. Act as you have always acted towards her, and we’ll take care of everything else. And stay in here. I’ll let you know as soon as we have her in the back of a police car. Do not respond to anyone then but Mike or me.’

Adam turned over the alarm, twisting it between his fingers.

‘Press it now,’ Sam said. ‘We need to test it. We have someone outside with the receiver in place.’

Adam gave a small nervous laugh, and pressed down on the red button. Nothing audible happened, but after a few seconds Sam’s phone rang. He spoke briefly, and turned to Adam.

‘That’s fine. So I’ll disappear as soon as I’ve finished my coffee, and you’ll be on your own. I know this sounds strange but we don’t think she’ll be here tonight because rain isn’t forecast. However, we’re back to gale conditions and torrential rain tomorrow, and that’s when she usually operates. You okay with all of this? Say if you’re not, and we can move you out of here and leave everything to chance.’

‘You kidding? This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!’

‘As soon as we have her we’ll get you into the station for a statement, an identity parade probably…’

‘It won’t be in the papers, my name, will it?’

‘No, I promise you that. Make sure you don’t open your mouth to talk about it, because there’s always somebody who’ll have loose lips, believe me. I realise you don’t want your family tracking you down.’

‘I fucking don’t.’

Sam realised that it was the first time he had heard Adam swear.

Sam walked out of the garage site and sat in his own car. Mike was in the passenger seat. ‘Worked perfectly, that alarm. Adam okay?’

‘He is. Wait while you see his garage now. A proper little home. Still freezing cold at night though. He’d warmed himself a tin of soup when I got there. I gave him the option of us putting him somewhere safe until it’s over, or helping us as we’ve discussed with the boss. No contest. He wants to help.’

‘Nice lad.’

‘Yep. Wanker’s certainly got a lot to answer for. Anyway, Adam’s picked up a little cleaning job, so maybe the garage will be passed on to one of his mates in the near future. Hope so. It’s going to be a long cold winter if not. I’ve explained to him that although we’ll be here, we’re not expecting her to come tonight because it’s not raining, and it’s not been forecast. He’s on the alert for tomorrow night though.’

By eleven o’clock that night all surveillance vehicles had moved half a mile away from the area, leaving one newly arrived car containing Ian Thomas and Kev Ward to take the token overnight watch. No activity was expected, their OCD suspect liked the rain.

It was dry and slightly warmer than of late. A good autumn evening, reminiscent of bonfire nights he remembered from his youth, Ian thought. The sky wasn’t quite the deep black they had been experiencing recently, the moon helping to wash the clouds with a paler blue hue. His thoughts drifted back over the case; there was a mild sense of anticipation that tomorrow would see the end. This woman, this killer, could have no idea how close they were, how fortuitous Sam’s instinct to go back and talk to the resident of the garage would prove to be. When this was all over, Ian would like to go and shake the young lad’s hand.

Ian leaned against the car sipping at the coffee he had collected from the late-night burger van, contemplating his proposed career move. He hadn’t wanted to do it, but it would mean more money…

His phone rang and he saw ‘Boss’ on the screen.

‘Boss?’

‘Only checking in, Ian. Everything quiet?’

‘It is. Go to sleep. We’ve a busy day tomorrow.’

‘I’m still at work. Rereading reports, linking one thing with another…’

‘And?’

‘And nothing. I’ve had a bollocking from the wife for still being here, so I thought I’d check everything was quiet, then go home. Frannie’s gone to bed because she’s got an early start tomorrow, so it’s Horlicks and bed. Sweet dreams, boys. See you tomorrow afternoon.’

Ian disconnected and shook his head. No wonder Frannie had been pissed off, still in the office at nearly midnight. He took out a cigarette and lit it. It really was a peaceful night. They had a full view of the opening to the garage site, and an equally full view of any traffic using the road on which they were currently parked.

He let his eyes roam, saw nothing to cause him any concern so dropped the last of the cigarette into the dregs in the bottom of his coffee cup. He collected Kev’s and walked back to the burger van to deposit the two cups into the litter bin.

‘On surveillance then?’ the burger van owner asked.

Ian grinned, and walked back towards Kev. ‘So much for