Bone Machine by Martyn Waites Read Free Book Online Page A

goin’ play some serious X Box. You can join in if
     you like.’
    ‘There you go,’ said Donovan, smiling. ‘That’s your day mapped out for you.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Katya, attempting to return the smile. ‘And will I see … Peta? Is that her name?’
    ‘You might later,’ said Donovan. ‘But she’s out today. Reliving her youth.’
    Katya looked confused.
    ‘Gone back to college,’ said Donovan. ‘Get another degree. She might be along later, though. In the meantime you’ll find some
     clothes in the room you slept in. I hope they fit you. So until I get back, just, y’know, chill.’
    Katya smiled, placed a hand on his arm.
    ‘Thank you, Joe Donovan. You are a good man.’
    Donovan gave an involuntary but instinctive look on to the landing, his eyes resting on the locked door. He managed a smile.
    ‘I try,’ he said.

5
    Slatted, weak sunlight streamed in through the white-plastic blinds, illuminating the dust motes against the blackberry-coloured
     walls in slow, lazy, now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t swirls. The workdesks in the small room had all been arranged into a semicircle,
     leaving a desk in the centre of the room plus space in front of it. Pacing space, Peta thought.
    She entered the room, found a space at one of the semicircle of desks and sat down. She began taking out files, folders, books
     and pens from her shoulder bag. She smiled to herself. A good night’s work previously, a session in the gym first thing. She
     was doing a job she enjoyed that paid and left her able to fulfil ambitions, expand her horizons. She hadn’t felt this happy
     in years.
    Others were coming, doing the same. Some smiled, talked to her. Most just nodded or ignored her. She smiled back, made small
     talk while setting up her place at the desk.
    Jill sat down next to her. ‘Hiya.’
    ‘Hi,’ replied Peta.
    ‘Thought I was gonna be late,’ Jill said, taking out notepads and textbooks identical to Peta’s, her Lancashire accent rendering
     most of her words pretension-free. ‘Just woke up half an hour ago at Ben’s. An’ he lives in Gosforth.’ She sighed. ‘Jesus.
     An’ what a hangover.’
    ‘Good night?’ asked Peta.
    Jill’s face split into a smile. ‘Crackin’. Went to see the Bravery over at Newcastle uni.’
    ‘Were they good?’
    ‘Brilliant.’ Jill stopped talking, regarded Peta with a frown. ‘Anyway, what happened to you? Thought you were comin’?’
    ‘Oh, yeah …’ Peta remembered she had said she might go. But that had been weeks ago. Before work got in the way. ‘Sorry. Something
     came up at the last minute and I had to take care of it.’
    Jill looked interested. ‘Oh, what, family or friends, like?’
    No, actually. Going undercover, pulling an East European prostitute off the streets and taking her to a safe house so that
     her brother can give evidence against a gangster, like
.
    ‘Yeah,’ said Peta. ‘I had to go out with friends.’
    Jill nodded, satisfied with the explanation.
    Peta sensed relief too. She knew Jill had only asked her to the gig out of politeness. Although Peta didn’t look that much
     older than the rest, and was no stranger to jeans, trainers and combat jackets, she was, she knew, regarded as an anomaly
     within her year group. A mature student. And whatever she said or did, however she tried to fit in, she knew she couldn’t
     really. Because she had been out in the world, made a living, and decided to come back to university and get a degree. So
     she carried with her something alien: the smell of work and mortgages, taxes and pensions. The smell of the outside world.
    Jill busied herself with unloading books on the desk. Peta knew what she must have been picturing. Friends. Bottle of wine.
     Chatting around the kitchen table. Like her mother would do. Knowing how far that was from the truth, Peta hid a smile.
    Jill leaned across, almost conspiratorially, eyes wide. ‘They found her, you know. The body.’
    ‘I know. I heard.’
    Jill