In for the Kill by Pauline Rowson Read Free Book Online

mentioning it at the coroner’s inquest. Clipton must have had one and it would show who he had called. I was heartily glad the houseboat didn’t have a telephone and that I didn’t have a mobile. If Clipton had called Camp Hill Prison to enquire after me then the screws hadn’t told me. And where were his notebooks? All police officers carried notebooks and nearly all ex-police officers kept their old ones when they retired.
    DCI Crowder knew a hell of a lot more than he was saying.
    A young woman with heavy perfume and pubescent hips showed me up to Miles’s office on the first floor. I got the impression that she found me rather attractive. I’d heard from some of my fellow inmates that they had no trouble finding women when they came out. I guessed ex-cons were a challenge to them, a man with a hint of danger and mystery, someone to reform.
    For a moment I wondered what had happened to the blonde bombshell I’d met in Brading church.
    ‘I’m up to my armpits with work.’ Miles waved me into seat across the black ash desk piled with papers. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in days. His tie was askew, his sleeves rolled up showing his strong hairy forearms. There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and a more than usual haggard expression on his craggy face.
    ‘I’ve got a big court case coming up, and I’ve got to prepare the papers for the barrister. Man accused of food contamination and he doesn’t much care if he goes down for it. Claims it will be a blow for consumers against capitalism.’
    ‘Tell him he’s wasting his breath. I doubt it’ll dent the supermarkets’ profits and no one gives a flying fart about principles in prison,’ I said caustically.
    ‘I’ll pass your message on,’ Miles said, with the twist of a smile. He picked up a pencil and began tapping it on the desk.
    I said, ‘Joe’s dead.’
    That brought him up sharp. ‘What? When?
    You’re kidding!’
    ‘Afraid not. His street is crawling with police.’
    ‘Bloody hell! How?’
    ‘For some reason the police didn’t seem to want to take me into their confidence.’
    ‘The police have interviewed you!’ He looked shocked.
    ‘A DCI Crowder and Sergeant Adams gave me a lift back from Clipton’s funeral. They wanted to know where I was between nine and eleven this morning, presumably when Joe was killed.
    It’s rather a coincidence that Joe was killed on the morning I was due to visit him, don’t you think? Which means that Joe must have known something about Andover and was going to tell me. It also means that Andover knew I was going to see Joe.’
    I told him my theory about Joe’s phone possibly being tapped. He didn’t look at me as if I’d gone mad. Miles had too much experience of the criminal fraternity for that.
    ‘Apart from the obvious, who else knows I’m out?’
    ‘Vanessa does. I called her to tell her.’
    ‘Which means her new husband knows.’
    ‘Yes. Gus Newberry.’
    I wondered what he was like? How did he compare with me? What did my sons think of him? I felt myself tense at the thought of Gus Newberry doing all the things with my boys that I had once done, like kicking a football, teasing them, putting them to bed…Roughly I pushed such thoughts away. ‘There’s also Joe’s secretary,’
    I growled.
    ‘Joy! I can’t see her involved in this.’
    ‘I don’t know her, but I’d like to talk to her.’
    ‘I can arrange that. There is another alternative…’
    ‘Joe contacted Andover and told him I was coming to see him. Yes, I had considered that.
    Maybe Joe thought Andover would kill me, but silenced Joe instead.’
    ‘Which means –’
    ‘That Joe found out who Andover was and did some kind of deal with him. That’s why he told me the trail was cold. It’s why he never found out why Westnam, Couldner and Brookes allowed themselves to be blackmailed. Yes, it had crossed my mind.’
    Miles let out a long slow breath. ‘Where does DCI Crowder fit in?’
    ‘I’m not