Tastes Like Fear (D.I. Marnie Rome 3) by Sarah Hilary Read Free Book Online Page A

Garrett, I’d have lit a fire just to keep the chill away. No one knows anyone else, or cares. Security’s a joke. Don’t bother checking the CCTV. It packed up years ago. No expense spent … From what DS Carling tells me, it’s got worse recently.’
    ‘Mrs Tarvin agrees. She has a particular problem with a group of teenage girls.’
    ‘Kids,’ Welland said disgustedly. ‘They lowered the age of criminal responsibility for a reason, but most of the time we can’t arrest them, never mind prosecute. They know it, too. I’ve seen six- and seven-year-olds working their patch, popping out to pick up Mum’s prescription from whichever lowlife’s dealing her a day’s oblivion. If this girl’s gone to ground on the Garrett, good luck finding her.’ He tapped his teeth with his thumbnail, shaking his head. ‘May Beswick has more sense than to set foot in that shithole.’
    ‘As far as we know,’ Noah said.
    Welland cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘Your pessimism does you credit, Detective.’ He nodded at Marnie. ‘Buy DS Jake a large coffee to go with that.’
    Marnie did as she was told, standing in the street outside the police station to drink coffee with Noah. ‘We should speak with the Beswicks.’
    ‘It’s been weeks since we had any news for them.’ Noah shielded his eyes from the glare coming off the station’s windows. ‘What if we’re raising their hopes for nothing?’
    Marnie worked the lid off her coffee. ‘When the press get hold of the story from last night, May’s parents will be on the phone wanting news. I’d rather call them before they do that.’
    ‘You still think it might be May? Mrs Tarvin mistook her for a prostitute, or a drunk.’ Noah frowned. ‘Assuming she was mistaken. Without a proper ID, how much can we tell them?’
    Marnie drank a mouthful of coffee before she answered. ‘They’ll see a connection because that’s what they need. This girl is alive. They’ll want to believe she’s May. I would, in their place.’
    ‘I wonder how Loz is coping.’ Noah felt a pang for the Beswicks’ younger daughter. ‘Poor kid.’
    Loz was thirteen, prickly with intelligence. Living in a house that was cracking apart under the stress of her sister’s disappearance. May was sixteen, with no good reason to leave home, or none Marnie and Noah had uncovered. Fearing the worst was easy. The hard part was hoping for the best.
    ‘Any news from the hospital about Logan Marsh or Ruth Eaton?’ he asked.
    ‘Logan’s condition remains critical. Ruth’s stable, for now.’
    ‘If we find this girl … will Traffic want to charge her?’
    ‘With what? A public order offence?’ Marnie’s blue eyes were dark, serious. ‘They’ll go after Joe Eaton if they can. They’ll want to know why he swerved instead of braking, how he ended up on the wrong side of the road while going fast enough for a smash on that scale. He said she wasn’t running, so why wasn’t there time to brake, or slow down? He’ll have to answer some hard questions, especially if no one else witnessed what happened.’
    ‘Do you think Mrs Tarvin was right about her being drunk, or drugged?’
    ‘Trouble, that was the word she used. New, and trouble. I don’t think Mrs Tarvin has much time for kids of any description.’
    ‘No family photos. Odd for someone of her generation not to have kids, or grandkids.’
    ‘Families fall out. And split up.’
    ‘She’s living alone up there. I wouldn’t want that for my gran, would you?’
    ‘I think she’s making a decent fist of it.’ A dry tinge to her voice. ‘But no, I wouldn’t.’
    ‘We did house-to-house on the Garrett after May first went missing. Same part of Lambeth. No one saw anything, not even Mrs Tarvin.’
    ‘No,’ Marnie agreed. ‘This girl’s found a change of clothes from somewhere. It’s possible she lives on the Garrett, or knows someone who does.’
    Not May Beswick, in other words.
    ‘D’you think she knows Natalie Filton or Abi Gull,