Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante Read Free Book Online

and the cost; then it went from root canals to implants. He again discussed the cost, and swore, before eventually agreeing to call back.
    ‘Do you have toothache?’ she asked.
    ‘No, my wife, but it’s private and costs a bloody fortune. She had four front teeth capped six months ago and it came to over three thousand quid.’
    ‘It is expensive,’ she murmured, not that interested.
    ‘How is he doing?’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘Langton. I heard he was in a bloody no hope situation.’
    She felt her hand tense. ‘Well, he’s far from that and is expected out of Glebe House soon,’ she lied.
    ‘Well, he’s a fighter, I’ll give him that, but not someone I’ve ever got on with–probably why he’s never made Superintendent. Now, he might–if he’s going to be kept on in some kind of desk job capacity.’
    She bit her lip. ‘I think he’s very keen to get back to the murder team.’
    ‘Yeah, they all say that, you know–but you don’t get shipped out there for nothing.’
    She wanted to punch the back of his red neck. ‘He simply requires a lot of physio on his injured knee.’
    Sheldon turned round, resting his arm along the back of the seat. ‘Well, I suppose you’ll be a regular visitor, so send him my regards when you next see him.’
    ‘I will.’ She was annoyed at the implication that she was on such close terms with Langton, as she had attempted to keep their private life just that–private.
    ‘I knew his first wife,’ the DCI went on. ‘Indian, I think she was, very beautiful–had a tumour and died very suddenly.’
    ‘Yes, I believe so.’
    ‘He had a tough time dealing with it–well, I suppose one would. I think he was shipped out to Glebe House that time too, though I may be wrong.’
    ‘Yes, you are. He has never been there before.’
    ‘Ah well, you know how rumours spread.’
    ‘Yes, I do.’ She leaned back and stared out of the window, hoping the conversation was over.
    ‘I worked with your father,’ Sheldon continued. It was bad enough him talking about Langton, but now her father! ‘Yeah, just in uniform. He was a character–scared the life out of everyone, had a right old temper on him, similar to Langton, in many ways. He never could tolerate all the paperwork. Well, he’d hate it even more now–fart and you’ve got to leave a bloody memo.’
    She was saved from any further conversation as they drew up into the car park of the mortuary.
    Unlike Langton, Sheldon was quite the gentleman, holding open the doors for her to walk in ahead of him; he also told her to gown up, as if she’d never been at a post mortem before.
    Irene Phelps had really fought for her life. The defensive wounds to her hands and arms were like a patchwork quilt. The crisscross wounds also slashed her cheeks, neck and eyes, with one incision virtually slicing through her right eye. She had died from a single knife wound to her heart: the blade, a kitchen carving knife, had been thrust into her up to the hilt. She had been raped and sodomized after the attack. They had DNA from the assailant’s semen and blood.
    Returning back to base with Sheldon, Anna remained as silent as they had been while at the mortuary.
    They drove for at least five minutes before he spoke. ‘Well, what do you think?’ he asked, not turning to look at her in the passenger seat directly behind him.
    ‘Well, it was obviously a frenzied attack by a killerwho left his DNA and probably his fingerprints all over the weapon and the flat.’
    ‘Yes, and…?’
    ‘I don’t think burglary was his initial motive; he may have ransacked the premises after the kill, but I think he was there to kill. He—’
    She was interrupted. ‘Why do you say that?’
    ‘Because of the severity of the wounds. I think he must have been waiting for the opportunity rather than planning it.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘There are no signs of a break-in, which means he was possibly already holding our victim when she let herself in. From what I saw at the