Evil in Return by Elena Forbes Read Free Book Online

area but a lot of people use the cemetery who aren’t gay. Problem is, we don’t know where or how Logan met the killer. The last sighting we have of him is around five in the afternoon, pushing his bike along the towpath on his way out to meet someone.’
    ‘So why the castration, do we think?’
    He grimaced. ‘Could be all sorts of reasons. Even if he isn’t gay, it could still be sexual – a mark of contempt, or punishment. Maybe someone was trying to make an example of him as a warning to others. He was certainly left where he’d be found, and the choice of the crypt is striking though I haven’t a clue what it means.’
    ‘You’re thinking it’s drugs or gang related, some form of organised crime?’
    ‘It would tie in with the method of killing. From the little we know, Logan was a writer and a teacher, though he’d been an actor. We don’t yet know what else he was involved in, but if he was dealing it wasn’t from the boat. The neighbours would have picked up on it, plus we found no physical evidence.’
    ‘Hopefully his papers or bank records will reveal something.’
    He nodded. ‘Maybe it’s a simple crime of passion, maybe he was messing around with someone else’s wife or girlfriend, someone who has a gun.’ He paused, then decided to go further. ‘But it was all carefully planned. Logan was taken somewhere, beaten up and executed. Whoever did it stood right in front of him as they delivered the coup de grace . They looked him in the eye. Whatever the motive, it’s got to be personal.’
    He watched Steele’s face for a reaction, but there was none. According to the office rumour mill, Steele’s direct superior, Superintendent Clive Cornish, had put forward the wild theory that Logan had been picked off the street at random by some gun-toting whacko. Cornish had come up through the ranks in uniform and had no hands-on experience of murder investigations in his career; he was best known for his expensive suits and smooth political skills. Tartaglia had no idea if Cornish had actually expressed this view, although from what he knew of him, it rang true. Nor had he any clue what Steele’s opinion of Cornish was; as with everything else, she played her hand close to her chest and he had never felt sufficiently at ease with her to express his views freely. But he wanted to hit the theory on the head right away. If not, they would lose precious time and resources on what he was positive was a non-starter.
    She rubbed her bottom lip thoughtfully with her finger and he caught the flicker of a smile. He wondered if she, too, was thinking of Cornish. ‘No,’ she said, with a quick nod of the head. ‘Whatever happened, it certainly wasn’t opportunistic.’
    ‘But there’s one thing that doesn’t add up,’ he added, relieved that she seemed to agree with him. ‘The killer chooses to dump the body in a disused crypt in Central London, right in the middle of about forty acres of public land. Apart from anything, it’s taking one hell of a risk. A pro wouldn’t go to so much trouble.’
    Steele nodded slowly. ‘Unless it was part of the contract, for some reason. What about Logan’s phone?’
    ‘Still hasn’t turned up, but one of his neighbours gave us the number and we’ve traced it back to the provider. It’s switched off, so it could be anywhere, but we should have all the details and a cell site analysis of his calls by tomorrow morning, plus the lab will report back on his computer.’
    She turned towards the window, eyes half closed as though she was picturing something far away. He wondered if she was having personal problems, or if it was just the stress of the job, but he knew better than to ask. She never brought her private life into work. Even her office gave nothing away, with no photos or personal items of any sort on show. Apart from the fact that she was single and lived alone in a basement flat in West Hampstead, a detail that had come to light accidentally in a