A Need To Kill (DI Matt Barnes) by Michael Kerr Read Free Book Online

and neatly file away.  It was a life-changing experience that put all day-to-day and mundane priorities into perspective; the ultimate attention-grabber.
    “ We need to ask you a few questions, Mrs. Freeman,” Pete said.  “The sooner we follow up on what happened, the more chance we have of finding out who murdered your daughter.”
    Sylvia closed her eyes for a second, then stepped back into the hallway and inclined her head to invite Pete and Errol inside.  Her mouth was a paper-cut line, and muscles in her cheeks corrugated as she gritted her teeth and fought the emotions that raged within and threatened to overwhelm her.
    Sylvia ushered them into a light and airy lounge, took a seat on a large cream, leather chair and waited until they sat opposite her on a matching three-seater settee. A long, glass-topped coffee table filled the space between them.
    “ I really do not think I can be of any further help,” Sylvia said before Pete spoke.  “Marsha only telephones me once a week, and visits me very infrequently.  She is a very busy young woman.”
    It was not lost on Pete or Errol that the woman was speaking in the present tense.  It was too soon for her adapt to speaking about her daughter as someone who no longer existed.
    Pete inwardly cringed.  He was positive that the woman was not privy to the fact that her daughter had been a prostitute.  This was going to be a bitch.  “What line of work was she in?” he asked.
    “ Marsha runs...my daughter ran a model agency.  She used to be a top model herself.”
    Pete nodded and fought for inspiration as he took time to jot down what she had said in his notebook.  He could work around the truth or be up front and hit her with the facts.
    “Do you know of anyone who bore her a grudge or threatened her, Mrs. Freeman?”
    Sylvia shook her head.  “She was a lovely person.  No one could possibly have had any reason to harm her.  Marsha’s friends and contacts were not the sort of people who would harm anyone.”
    “ We believe that Marsha enjoyed a very active social life,” Pete said.  “She had an address book that listed a great many men friends...clients.”
    “ Just what are you implying?”
    “ That Marsha might have been murdered by someone who knew her intimately. We need―”
    Sylvia shot to her feet, causing Pete and Errol to jerk back in their seats.  “How dare you imply that my daughter was that type of person,” she shouted.  “Get out of my house.”
    Neither Pete nor Errol moved or spoke.  After a few seconds, Sylvia ’s resolve broke and she wilted in a way that made Pete think of a flower’s life filmed by stop-motion photography.  Her head and shoulders drooped, and she seemed to age a decade and cease to be the person who had manufactured a front to present to strangers.  She became just a disconsolate woman who had lost her child and sat down again and lifted her head to make eye contact with Pete.
    “ She was a wonderful girl,” she said wistfully.  “Her father and I could not have wished for a better daughter.  What she did was not what she was.  After her modelling career began to falter, she was at a loss as to what to do.”
    “ So you knew?” Errol said.
    “ That she worked as an escort?  Yes.  She was a beautiful woman.  Any man would have been proud to be in her company.”
    “ It went further than that, Mrs. Freeman,” Pete said, almost hating himself for having to inflict even more pain.  “Marsha was also known as Trudi Jameson, and was a―”
    “ Don’t you dare say that word,” Sylvia said, her voice spiked with venom.  “What Marsha might or might not have done, didn’t harm anyone.  For God’s sake, my daughter is dead.  What possible reason would you have to blacken her character?”
    “ Our only aim is to find the man who murdered her, Mrs. Freeman.  We are not being judgmental.  Did she ever mention any man who she was afraid of, or who was persistently making nuisance