Lazy Bones by Mark Billingham Read Free Book Online

tantalising glimpses of the ful breasts, the nearly trimmed thatch of pubic hair. Of the leather belt around the wrists.
    Hol andhad earlier expressed surprise that the photos had not been confiscated, especial y as Remfry was a sex-offender. Surely this kind of image was risky on 'Fraggle Rock' - the term used by many police officers for the Vulnerable Prisoners wing. Lenahan, bridling slightly
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    at the slang, had explained what she cal ed the Page Three rule. Stuff like this was discretionary. Obviously images of kids were not al owed on the VP wing, but if it was the sort of thing you might see on Page Thiee, then the OSGs would have a look, pass the odd comment and put it back in the envelope.
    'Jesus,' Hol and had said. 'Page Three must be going seriously fucking arty...'
    Lenahan put the picture down, scraped at the edge of it with a long red fingernail.
    'This is clever too. It's the ideal image to have chosen. Just what would be needed to hook an offender like Remfry, to tease him with the promise of something. This is a rapist's wet dream. Wherever your kil er got it from, it's perfect.' She swal owed, cleared her throat. 'Remfry was a man who got off on submission...'
    Thorne and Hol and exchanged a glance. They hadn't told Tracy Lenahan, but they were pretty sure the picture wasn't one the kil er had just gone out and bought. The naked woman was wearing a hood identical to the one that'Phil Hendricks had taken off Douglas Remfry's body...
    'There's half a dozen similar pictures,' Thorne said. 'They were sent with the most recent letters. They start to get more revealing the closer the letters get to his release date.'
    Lenahan nodded. 'Increasing the excitement...'
    'By the time he got out he must have been gagging for it,' Hol and said.
    She picked up the photograph again in her left hand and reached for the letter with her right. She brandished them both. 'Your kil er is sensitive to the way this kind of woman might think, and to what wil best stimulate the man she's writing to.'
    Thorne said nothing. He was thinking that she sounded bizarrely impressed.
    'Sensitive, like a gay man maybe,' Hol and said.
    Thorne shrugged non-committal y. They were back to that. He
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    had to agree it was possible, but he was growing irritated at the way the investigation was fixing on what they presumed the kil er's sexuality to be. Yes, the violent sodomising of the victim was clearly significant. The rapist had been raped and Thorne was sure that this would prove to be crucial in finding out why he'd been murdered. Thorne was less sure that who the kil er chose to sleep with was as important.
    Hol and slid forward in his chair, looked at Tracy Lenahan. 'This is an angle we obviously have to consider - that Remfry was kil ed by someone he'd known in prison. Someone with whom he'd possibly had a non-consensual sexual relationship...'

    Lenahan looked back at him, waiting for the question, not appearing terribly keen to do Hol and any favours. �Is that possible, do you think? Could Remfry have sexual y assaulted another prisoner? Could he have been sexual y assaulted himself?.'
    The Deputy Governor leaned back, something dark passing momentarily across her face. It vanished as she clasped her hartds together and shook her head. Thorne thought that the laugh she prQ duced sounded a little forced. '
    'I think you've been watching too many films set in American prisons, Detective Constable. There're some very nasty pieces of work in here, don't get me wrong, but very few of them are cal ed Bubba, and if you're looking for bitches or puppies, you should look in a dogs' home. Prisoners form relationships, of course they do, but as far as I know, nobody's going to get gangbanged if they drop the soap in the shower.'
    Thorne couldn't help but smile. Hol and smiled too, but Thorne could see the skin tighten around his mouth and the reddening just above his col ar. 'As far as you know?' Hol and said.
    'Meaning that it's