Murder Mile by Tony Black Read Free Book Online Page A

unison, the DI halted. He saw McGuire down the other end of the room at the whiteboard with Elaine Docherty, one of the WPCs; they seemed to be very close but separated instantly as they caught sight of Brennan; he tipped back his head to beckon McGuire over.
    ‘Right, listen up.’
    The room stilled. A few rose from chairs, others eased themselves onto the corners of desks. Files and coffee cups were put down.
    ‘There have been some developments in the last few minutes …’ The silence was interrupted by a cackle of low voices. Brennan raised his own voice, ‘We have a name for our victim. She is a local girl and was on the missing persons’ list so we tied the dental together pretty quickly.’
    ‘What’s her name, boss?’
    Brennan turned over the blue folder in his hand, opened up. He was surprised to see a colour photograph of a smiling young girl; she looked nothing like the bloodless corpse he’d seen a few hours ago. ‘Her name is Lindsey Sloan, I’ll be giving the details over to Stevie and he can fill you in …’ Brennan leaned forward, passed the folder to the DS.
    ‘Have the parents been notified?’ said McGuire.
    Brennan shook his head, ‘That’s a job for you and me this afternoon, Stevie.’
    ‘I can hardly wait.’
    The DI continued his impromptu briefing. ‘Now, I don’t need to tell you that the scene of the crime was particularly gruesome. Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are dealing with a seriously deranged killer …’ Brennan spotted the far entrance door to the room open, DI Jim Gallagher sauntered in and pulled out a chair; as he sat he swept a hand over his thick-set jowls. He was not part of the squad; Brennan eyed him down the length of the room, ‘Something for us, Jim?’
    Headshakes, a smoker’s cough into a fist. ‘No, just passing through. Carry on …’
    Brennan ignored the interruption, ‘Right, what’s everyone got for me?’
    Lou was first to speak, ‘Well, everything’s up in the air now that we have an ID, surely.’
    ‘Nothing come out the field?’
    ‘Cow shit, sir,’ said Collins.
    ‘That it?’
    ‘Not a mark; there’s some footprints but they’re looking like the kid’s …’ He turned over a page in his notebook, ‘Er, Ben Russell.’
    ‘What’s he had to say for himself?’ said Brennan.
    Collins deferred to McGuire.
    A shrug, ‘Not much, they were out clubbing, he stopped for a pish, found the victim. He’s a student, the whole lot from the car were, I don’t think they’ve got a parking ticket between them.’
    Brennan swayed on the balls of his feet, pinched the tip of his nose with thumb and forefinger. ‘They never saw anything on the road … car, punter, fucking milk-float?’
    ‘Not a thing, boss.’
    ‘Right, Brian … you’re up,’ said Brennan, he pointed to the DS, clapped hands together. ‘Come on, chop-chop, eh.’
    Brian rose, ‘I just checked with Dr Pettigrew about an hour ago, the postmortem’s not been done yet.’
    ‘What?’
    Brian shrugged, ‘He’s due in later on … I tried to tell him you wouldn’t be pleased.’
    ‘Fucking right I’m not … So, is that it?’
    Brennan watched Jim Gallagher get up and walk back to the door, he was putting a cigarette in his mouth as he went, mouthed a silent ‘Catch you later’ to the DI. Brennan scanned the rest of the room, looking for a grain of information.
    ‘Un-fucking-believable. Right, who’s doing the door-to-door?’
    McGuire looked in his file, ‘Smeeton’s heading it up. He’s out now. Still early days yet, boss.’
    Brennan frowned, ‘Try telling that to the press office when the hacks start on us … Call Smeeton, tell him to update us on the hour, sooner if he turns anything up. And that goes for the rest of you as well, anything comes in I do not want to hear about it second hand. Got it?’
    Together, ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Good. Right, that’s it. Off you trot.’
    Brennan walked towards the whiteboard at the other end of the