Blood Work by Mark Pearson Read Free Book Online

go?'
    'Of course I do. And I want you to know that I will
do everything in my power to help you, Inspector
Delaney. Work with me on this.'
    Delaney turned to Sally. 'Come on, Constable.'
    'Sir.'
    Delaney held the door open and turned back to the
governor pointedly as Sally walked out. 'I'll be
coming back. And in the meantime, you have my
mobile number. You call me night or day you hear
anything.'
    'I am on your side, Inspector.'
    Delaney held his gaze a moment longer and then
left. The governor took off his glasses, running his
hand over his brow, damp suddenly in the air-conditioned
room.
    *
    Kate Walker shrugged out of her raincoat as she
entered the suite of rooms and nodded distractedly to
Lorraine Simons, her recently graduated assistant,
who was still in the early days of training to become a
forensic pathologist. She hung up the coat on an old
wooden hatstand and walked past the trainee's desk,
straight to her own office. She heard the young woman
say something but had absolutely no idea what it was.
She closed the door behind her, sat at her desk and,
holding her head in her hands, cursed herself in a low
whisper as she tried to put together a picture from the
jigsaw pieces of memory from the night before.
    She remembered travelling on the Tube, she
remembered deciding to go to the Holly Bush rather
than returning straight home, although now she
wished to God she hadn't, she remembered having
the first couple of Bloody Marys, and then she
remembered chatting to the tall, handsome man in
his late thirties, with dark curly hair and the kind of
dark, come-to-bed eyes that were lately proving to be
her undoing; but after that she had absolutely no
memory whatsoever. It was a complete blank. She
couldn't remember a damn thing from about eight
thirty last night to waking up with a complete and
total stranger in her bed at seven thirty that morning.
And that wasn't something Kate Walker did. Ever.
    She had shown the man, Paul Archer, out in the
morning but had barely said ten words to him. Just
hurried him out before closing the door on him,
feeling the heat burn her face then as it was now as
she shamefully tried to recall the previous night's
events. Tried desperately hard, but failed absolutely.
    The door to her office opened and Lorraine stuck
her head round the corner. She was twenty-five, with
strawberry-blonde hair, a body trim from cycling, a
heart-shaped face, innocent eyes and the kind of
optimism only found in the unworldly young or the
terminally stupid.
    'I was asking if you wanted any coffee, Dr Walker?
I'm just about to make a trip to Starbucks.'
    Kate found a smile from somewhere. 'Thanks,
Lorraine, get us a hot chocolate and a croissant. And,
please, it's Kate, not Dr Walker.'
    Lorraine nodded. 'It's the weather for it. Don't
know what happened to the summer.'
    Kate smiled again, ironically. 'In our job you get to
learn pretty fast that all things pass, Lorraine. All
things end.'
    Lorraine grimaced. 'Cheery thought.'
    Kate flapped a dismissive hand at her. 'Go on, get
the drinks.'
    Lorraine closed the door behind her and as it did
Kate's smile headed south faster than a penguin on a
promise. She made a small fist of her right hand and
put the nail of her thumb between her teeth. She
deliberated for a second or two, then picked up the
phone and rapidly tapped in some numbers. After a
moment her call was answered. 'It's Kate,' she said
quickly, needing to spill the words out. 'I think I've
done something really stupid.'
    She listened to the response, looking up at the
ceiling. 'It's nothing like that. But I need to see you.'
She looked through the glass window of her office to
see Lorraine, bundled up against the cold, heading
out the door and sighed. 'I need you to do some tests
on me, Jane.'
    'What kind of tests?' Jane Harrington's voice
boomed, shocked, from the earpiece of her phone.
Kate held it away from her ear then put it back and
spoke