Jack Stone - Deadly Revenge by Vivien Sparx Read Free Book Online Page B

took Stone ten minutes of patient arguing before she finally agreed to let him follow up the address he had been given for Katrina on his own.
    He found a local map on the counter of the seafood take-way shop and sat on a wooden park bench on the edge of the parking lot. A couple of the four-wheel-drives he had seen that morning were still parked up. Stone unfolded the map and scanned the list of street names.
    It was a tourist map. All of the local attractions were labeled in bold red print, and dozens of small colorful advertisements formed a border around the page. Stone ran his finger quickly down the list then located Katrina’s street on the grid reference. It was one of the narrow alleys that ran in a messy tangle off the main road into town in a series of residential and holiday apartment blocks that gridded the hillside behind the shopping strip.
    He started walking.
    Ten minutes later Stone was standing in front of a drab four-story apartment block that had been built so long ago the brickwork had dulled and greyed. The building had the depressed and unloved air of approaching dereliction.
    Stone checked the address. He frowned and looked around.
    There was a narrow path leading from the sidewalk to a pair of wooden entrance doors. The path was concrete slab, cracked and crumbling with tufts of grass growing through the fractures. There was a low brick wall out front of the building with a dozen mailboxes built into its façade. Stone checked Katrina’s mailbox. It was stuffed with shopping flyers and a free local newspaper. The paper was dated from Tuesday.
    Stone looked back along the street. There was an old white Toyota and a silver Ford compact parked on the side of the road. The compact looked low on its springs, sad and abandoned, its windscreen and paintwork covered in dust and bird droppings.
    Stone put the paper back into his pocket and pushed his way through the big double-doors. Inside was a narrow, gloomy hallway. There were stairs to his right. The building stank of decay and desperation. The carpet was dirty and worn. He went up the stairs quickly and at the end of a short corridor on the first floor he found the door to Katrina’s apartment.
    It was a piece of solid timber with a spy hole. The door handle was worn and loose, but locked. He knocked. Waited. Knocked again , and then pressed his ear to the door. Heard muffled sounds and vibrations coming from other parts of the building, but nothing from behind the door.
    He pulled out his wallet. Behind the photo of his sister Susan were two thin pieces of metal that looked like they belonged in a dentist’s surgery. It took him ninety patient seconds to pick the lock and force his way inside.
    The room he was standing in was tiny and neglected. The air was hot and still and foul. Paint was peeling from the ceiling and there were brown water stains on the outside wall on either side of a small curtained window. There was a tired old sofa in the middle of the room and beside it an old television on a low table. There was a pair of red high-heel shoes beside the front door, and not much else.
    Across the room was a dark hallway. Stone paused. He heard footsteps coming from the stair well. He crossed quickly to the hallway and found a bedroom and a tiny bathroom. The bathroom was just a small shower cubicle, sink and toilet. There were brown rust-like stains in the sink and the hot water tap handle was broken. The bedroom had a double bed that was covered with discarded clothes, and a wardrobe set against one wall. One of the doors was open. Stone saw a rack of expensive looking dresses.
    He came out of the hallway and stood for a moment. It looked like Katrina Walker had left in a hurry – and it looked like she was expecting to come home again.
    Maybe she would. That’s what Stone guessed. He saw no sign of struggle. No evidence that Katrina had fled, or moved on.
    And then suddenly the front door smashed open, slamming back against its hinges with