Bad Moon Rising (#1 - D.I. Paolo Storey Crime Series) by Frances di Plino Read Free Book Online Page A

would be nice to live somewhere he could take pride in. The surrounding walls, from what he could see under the grime, must once have been painted pale beige. They still had the remnants of Blu-Tack the previous tenant had used to fix posters over every inch of space.
    When he’d taken the place, sight unseen, he wouldn’t have cared if cockroaches had been partying on the coffee table. He hadn’t even put up any pictures; nothing that would make the dump look lived in. He’d definitely look for a new place tomorrow.
    He closed his eyes and drifted towards sleep. Just as he was dropping off he remembered Father Gregory’s words. He hadn’t spoken to Katy yet. Damn! That was a problem for his next weekend visit.
    ***
    Paolo looked up from the papers on his desk as his team filed in to the main office. He picked up his coffee mug and joined them in front of the crime board.
    “Right, what have you got to tell us, CC?”
    Cathy opened her notebook. “Main points or full detail?”
    “Main points for now,” Paolo answered. He knew how she worked. She’d give all the information they needed without wasting time on the insignificant.
    Paolo caught sight of Dave staring out the window. He had his feet up on his desk, with his chair leaning back on two legs. His whole attention seemed to be on the view outside. His eyes flicked back to the room briefly, then he yawned before turning his head away again.
    “We boring you, Dave?” Paolo barked. “If so, why don’t you go and get us all a coffee? Do something useful.”
    Paolo was pleased to see Dave’s face flush as he allowed the chair to drop back into place. He waited for him to leave the room before nodding to CC to start her report. It was about time Dave realised this was a team effort.
    “One of the neighbours, a Mrs Fulbright, thinks she remembers seeing a large dark car when she got up to visit the bathroom at about three in the morning. Apparently she doesn’t switch a light on at night, so was startled when the room suddenly lit up. She peered out and saw someone dumping garbage and was going to report it to the council. Only problem was, she didn’t have her glasses on, so couldn’t make out the number plate. By the time she’d found her way to the bedroom and back again, the car had gone. I asked her if she could identify the make and she said no, just that it looked posh. Also, she’s not sure which night it was, so it might not even be our perp.”
    CC grinned at Paolo. “So that makes our job nice and easy, doesn’t it? We’re probably looking for a posh, dark car that might, or might not have been the one used to dump the body.” She looked at her notes again. “No joy with a description of the man. It was too far away for her to see him clearly, even if she’d had her glasses on, but she was sure it was a man. None of the other neighbours saw or heard anything.”
    Paolo added the information, such as it was, to the board. While he was writing, Dave came back in with mugs of coffee and handed them round.
    “Thanks for that, Dave. Pity we don’t have time to drink them, but as you didn’t have any joy in finding one of Lisa’s street buddies, we’ll go together to chat to the girls on her beat. Maybe I can find one of them who can tell us something useful. CC, you and George can watch Azzopardi for a while. Let’s see what he gets up to when he thinks I’m not keeping an eye on him.”
    ***
    Dave drove into Granger Street and manoeuvred the car onto the tarmac area behind the bingo hall. It was the nearest car park to the red-light area of town.
    “Bit early in the day for the girls to be at work, isn’t it?”
    Paolo smiled. “You think the punters only have sex at night?”
    “No, but...”
    “No buts about it, the girls work long hours and cater for daylight customers who can’t get away from the wife to come over at night. Besides, I thought you said you’d checked this area? You should already know they’re on call during