David Raker 01 - Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver Read Free Book Online

south-west of Bristol city centre.
    John was a police officer.
    By the time I got there, it was lunchtime and had been raining: water still ran from guttering, and drains had filled with old crisp packets and beer cans. The street was deserted, except for some kids further down, their cigarettes dying in the cool of the day. I parked on the road and headed into the station.
    It was quiet. There was a sergeant behind a sliding glass panel, framed by a huge map of the area. Dots were marked at intervals in a ring around the centre of the city.
    The sergeant slid the glass across. ‘Can I help you?’
    ‘I’m here to see John Cary.’
    He nodded. ‘Can I ask what it’s about?’
    ‘I want to speak to him about Alex Towne.’
    It didn’t mean anything to him. He slid the glass panel back and disappeared out of sight. I sat down next to the front entrance. Outside, huge dark clouds rolled across the sky. Somewhere in the distance was
    Something clunked. At the far side of the waiting room a huge man emerged from a code-locked door. He was chiselled but not attractive. His Mediterranean skin was spoiled by acne scarring that ran the lengths of both cheeks. I walked across to him.
    ‘My name’s David Raker.’
    He nodded.
    ‘I’m looking into the disappearance of Alex Towne.’
    He nodded again.
    ‘Alex’s mum came to me.’
    ‘She told you he’s dead, right?’ he said, eyeing me.
    ‘Right. I was hoping I might be able to ask you a couple of questions.’
    He glanced at his watch, then looked at me, as if intrigued to see what I might come up with. ‘Yeah, okay. Let’s go for a drive.’
    We drove north to where Alex had died. It was a picturesque spot: rolling grassland punctuated by narrow roads, all within sight of the city. Cary parked up and then led me away from the car, across to a field sloping away from the road. I looked down. A sliver of police tape still fluttered in a tree nearby. Apart from that, there was no sign that a car had once come off the road here.
    ‘Were you on duty when he died?’ I asked.
    He shook his head.
    ‘So, you went to see him at the morgue?’

    ‘You actually saw his body?’
    ‘What was left of it. His hands, his feet, his face – they were all just bone. Some of his organs were still intact, but the rest of him…’ Cary looked out at the fields. ‘They reckon the tank must have ruptured when the car hit the field. It was why the fire consumed everything so quickly.’ He glanced at me, sadness in his eyes. ‘You know how hard you have to hit something in order to rupture a petrol tank?’
    I shook my head.
    ‘That car looked like it had been through a crusher. The whole thing was folded in on itself. Old model like that: no airbag, no side impact bars…’ He paused again. ‘I just hope it was quick.’
    We stood silent for a moment. His eyes drifted to the space where the car must have landed, and then – eventually – back to me.
    ‘He’d been drinking,’ I said. ‘Is that right?’
    He nodded. ‘Toxicology put him at four times over the legal limit.’
    ‘Did you see the autopsy report?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘It was definitely him?’
    He looked at me like I was from another planet. ‘What do you think?’
    I paused for a moment.
    ‘What are the chances of me getting hold of some of the paperwork?’

    ‘What about unofficially?’
    ‘Still low. I go into the system, it gets logged. I print something out, it gets logged. And why would I anyway? You’re about as qualified to be running around, chasing down leads, as Coco the fucking clown.’
    He shook his head, astonished into silence. I didn’t say anything more, just nodded to show that I took his point, but didn’t necessarily agree.
    ‘Strange he should end up dying so close to home.’
    Cary looked at me. ‘What do you mean by that?’
    ‘I mean, he disappears –
completely disappears
– for all that time… I would have expected him to have turned up somewhere further afield. Instead he