A Reason to Kill by Jane A. Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

on her left side and that’s how we found her.’
    Eden nodded, his jaw working as though he chewed on this new insight. Mac was surprised at how detached he now felt. He had switched into survival mode. He knew, for now anyway, that he would be all right; he could do this.
    â€˜Bastard.’ Eden spat the word.
    Mac didn’t feel any need to reply.

Seven
    M idday found Mac back at Rina’s door.
    â€˜I saw the police cars,’ she said. ‘I knew you’d come. ‘It’s Mrs Freer, isn’t it?’
    Mac nodded.
    â€˜Come inside.’ She led him not through to the kitchen this time, but into a small side room. ‘Sit down,’ she said, pointing to a comfortable armchair set on one side of the fireplace. Mac sat, Rina took the other chair. ‘They were after the gun, I suppose.’ She sounded resigned, weary.
    â€˜Nothing seems to have been taken,’ he confirmed. ‘It’s hard to tell, the place is a mess, but we don’t think there’s anything missing.’
    â€˜And, of course, the gun wasn’t there.’
    â€˜Mrs Martin, I had to have it checked out.’ Mac was angry with himself and that anger transmitted in his voice.
    Rina waved it and him aside. ‘I don’t imagine it would have made much difference anyway,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t as if she could have used it and I don’t suppose it would have stopped them doing … what did they do to her?’
    â€˜She’s dead,’ Mac said shortly.
    â€˜How?’ Rina wasn’t letting him off that easy.
    Mac sighed, seeing in his mind’s eye the bloody mess that had once been a face. ‘Someone beat her around the head and face,’ he said. ‘There’s no way she could have defended herself.’
    Rina absorbed that silently and Mac wondered what it was about this woman that encouraged him to tell her so much.
    â€˜So, what now?’ Rina asked finally. She got up from the chair and poured bottled water into an electric kettle. She set it to boil, glancing at him to ask if he’d prefer tea or coffee.
    â€˜Coffee, please.’
    â€˜I’m afraid it’s only instant. Will that do?’
    â€˜Just now, anything will do,’ Mac said. He watched as she unscrewed the jar, spooned the granules into two mugs, added sugar. He heard someone go past in the hall, pause by the door and then move on.
    â€˜They don’t disturb me when the door is closed,’ she said. She poured the water, added milk which she took from a tiny fridge beneath the shelf that supported the kettle and mugs, and set their drinks on a little table between the chairs.
    â€˜This is your sanctuary, then?’ Mac smiled at his own choice of words. It sounded a little pretentious, but Rina nodded.
    â€˜We all need a space to call our own,’ she said. ‘I’m very fond of my curious little family and I’ve known most of them for more years than I care to count, but we all need a place to think and sit and ignore the world.’
    Mac thought about his lonely little flat. He understood what she meant but his problem was that he had little else but space to think. He leaned forward to collect his coffee mug. ‘You think of your residents as family, then.’
    â€˜In a manner of speaking.’ Rina’s mouth twitched. ‘And as with all families, I am often irritated and affectionate in equal measure.’
    Mac laughed but it occurred to him that he really wouldn’t know. He didn’t have what you’d call family, just people he was distantly related to. ‘You all worked together?’ he asked.
    â€˜At one time or another. We all performed on the same circuit. All except Tim, of course. He’s far too young to remember
our
glory days.’
    â€˜So how come …?’
    â€˜He’s living here with all the old codgers? Oh, Tim is old in spirit if not in years, though, given time and the right