Black & Blue: BookShots (Detective Harriet Blue Series) by James Patterson Read Free Book Online

department had wanted someone victims could relate to, someone who wouldn’t accidentally intimidate them with their masculine hulk in the tiny station interview rooms. It wasn’t long after arriving that I’d decided I needed some form of self-defence, my days filled with horrific stories of attacks in alleyways and empty parking lots, young girls ensnared walking home across darkened parks by fiendish predators. I was probably getting too swift for Chief Morris, who had been training boxers since before I was born. But I trusted his advice. He’d made me strong, and he didn’t take less than full commitment in his sessions.
    ‘Tell me about the Georges River case,’ I said, batting away his swing at my face. ‘Why were your guys so sure my girl wasn’t one of the victims?’
    I’d given up on the idea that Claudia Burrows was a Georges River Killer victim. But something was nibbling at me about the certainty with which Nigel had shoved me away. Nigel hadn’t even been called to Claudia’s crime scene for a look. How could they know their killer wasn’t responsible?
    ‘Have you guys got a suspect?’ I asked.
    ‘Leave it, Harry,’ he said.
    ‘You must be pretty set on this suspect if you’re certain he didn’t kill Claudia,’ I said. ‘Maybe because you were watching your suspect when Claudia was killed. Am I right? Have you got enough for an arrest?’
    ‘I didn’t even say we had a suspect.’
    ‘Well, if you don’t have a suspect, I have to assume you’re letting Nigel and his band of asshats push me away because they want it to be a men-only case.’
    I punched Pops in the stomach. He fell against the ropes.
    ‘Harry—’
    ‘I’m a good cop, you know.’ I thumped my chest with my boxing glove. ‘Being a woman shouldn’t exclude me from anything.’
    ‘No one’s excluding you.’
    ‘The Camden strangler? Dennis Yama? David Paris, that cannibal guy? They were all me, Pops. Homicide got the credit, sure, but it was the sex crimes side of those investigations that put them on track.’
    ‘Harry, no one’s doubting your abilities.’
    ‘Then why the fuck am I being shut out?’
    I pummelled Pops with a series of hits to the head. Without warning, he clutched at his chest and fell into the corner of the ring. I watched in horror as he collapsed.

CHAPTER 21
    ‘OH SHIT!’ I tore my gloves off. ‘Shit! Pops! I’m sorry!’
    I dragged the old man to his feet. He unclipped the padded helmet and let it fall to the mat. His face was red and drenched in sweat. He thumped his chest as though he had heartburn and shook his head.
    ‘Are you all right?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah.’
    ‘I’m sorry. I got carried away.’
    ‘You’re too good for your old trainer, Harry.’ He batted me on the shoulder with his glove. ‘You’re a good cop, too. You’re not being shut out of the Georges River task force because of your abilities, or your gender. You gotta let it go. OK?’
    ‘Why?’ I followed the old man to the stool at the opposite corner of the ring. I handed him the bottle of water sitting there. ‘I just don’t understand. I feel like there’s something you’re keeping from me. And we’ve never been like this, Pops. We’ve never kept things from each other.’
    The old man sucked at the water bottle and regained his breath. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I ducked my head to try to see what was hidden there, whether it was guilt or shame or concern cutting him off from me. But he wiped his forehead on the back of his arm and turned away.
    ‘It’ll all come out in time,’ he said. ‘And when it does, you’ll … You’ll be grateful for all the time you
didn’t
know the truth.’

CHAPTER 22
    HOPE NEEDED TO stay calm. It was rational planning and control that was going to get her through this. As soon as she had the Spellings’ money, she was out of here. Off towards the sunrise on the gentle waves. She’d never look back on Sydney, on the feast of horrors the city had provided over