Dead Unlucky by Andrew Derham Read Free Book Online

to. And now she’s become a school governor, wants to be elected to her town council and is fast becoming a pillar of her local community.’ Rodgers gave the side of his nose a couple of conspiratorial taps. ‘And we took some time to have a little chat about you after you had gone.’
    Hart didn’t fancy encouraging that line of conversation. ‘What’s caused you to nip into the station, Sir? I thought you would have gone straight home after your dinner.’
    The Chief shuffled from foot to foot, looking sheepish. ‘Had to pick up some work. Well, best be off, my wife’s waiting in the car. Goodnight, Harry.’
    ‘Goodnight, Sir.’
    As the clicking shoes moved away from his door, Hart smiled. Since the Chief’s hands were empty and he was walking towards the stairs which led to the station’s exit, perhaps he had forgotten that work he had come to pick up. After all, he surely couldn’t be so suspicious of Hart that he had popped by just to make sure that he hadn’t made up the story of the murder to get himself away from the dinner.
     
    *****
     
    Hart drove himself home, picked up a couple of brown envelopes from the hall doormat, chucked them unopened onto the kitchen table and went straight upstairs. Toilet, teeth, bed.
    He was hungry after missing out on his fancy seafood dinner but, more than that, he was exhausted. Absolutely knackered. It wasn’t so much physically, but these things take a mental toll like nothing else on Earth. Murder. Bereavement. Supporting and encouraging the other police officers. Doing the same for anonymous families. Encountering every emotion known to humanity, and a few more besides. And you’re in charge of the whole blessed show. Everybody’s looking at you, expecting you to track down the killer of a young man, a boy really, just starting out on life. If you caught him, well then you were only doing your job so you couldn’t expect anyone to pat you on the back for that. And if you didn’t get this monster behind bars, then you had let them all down. You had failed family, friends, the force, the community; everybody who was looking to you to get justice done, to make the world a better, fairer and safer place. That was the burden of leading a murder investigation, and only a very few understood just what lonely work it was.
    After hauling himself into bed and pulling up the covers to his chin, Hart leaned over and clutched the photo on his bedside cabinet. His eyes studied the smiling woman as she sat among the flowers in the garden, looking so beautiful to him in the happy summer sunshine of her life.
    He whispered to her, as he did every night before he turned off the light. ‘Why did you have to leave me, Maggie old girl? Why did you have to go? You know I loved you so much. Still do. Always will.’
    Hart kissed her, and then gently placed her back on her perch overlooking the bed. He pressed the switch on the bedside lamp, rolled over, and eventually drifted away into a heavy but troubled sleep.

6
     
     
    The following morning Hart arrived at the police station car park bang on time to pick up Redpath for the journey to Highdean School. The price he paid for his punctuality was to miss out on the bumper breakfast, including a pile of mushrooms that were turning decidedly mangy, which he had promised to cook for himself that morning. He stayed behind the steering wheel since he would do the driving, as he always liked to do, with Redpath settling into the seat beside him.
    ‘I hear you took that new girl to the Emmers’ place last night,’ noted Redpath, starting them off on a subject which interested him. ‘It’s good to have an Asian working at the factory.’ He turned his head to the right and winked. ‘Especially when she’s drop-dead gorgeous.’
    ‘She’s not Asian, Darren, wherever her ancestors may have come from. She’s British. If she wasn’t she could hardly have joined up to a British police force now, could she? Think about it. Centuries