The Bird That Did Not Sing (DCI Lorimer) by Alex Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

sudden death that might well require a post-mortem examination; somehow he would have to bring up that distinct possibility with the grieving woman across the passage.
    Vivien was in the lounge of the small apartment, a uniformed female officer sitting beside her. A tray with mugs of tepid tea lay on a small oval table, abandoned by both women.
    Vivien sat hunched over, arms clasped around her stomach as though she were in pain. And perhaps she was, thought Lorimer. Hadn’t his psychologist friend, Solly Brightman, told him about the real physical pain that the bereaved could experience? A heartache that was more than a figure of speech. The detective stood by the doorway, wondering what he could say to make things better. He’d attended countless scenes of crime that had been far worse than this, an ordinary situation of an older man dying quietly in his sleep.
    Yet seeing her bent head, its flame hair tousled where Vivien had raked it with those thin fingers, something shifted inside him that was more than pity.
If
it
had
been
Maggie
… a little voice whispered. And at that moment he had an inkling of just how Vivien Gilmartin must be feeling.
    ‘Vivien?’
    She glanced up at him and for an instant it was like looking at a stranger, this woman whose green eyes were dulled, smudges of mascara making her look far more than her forty-one years.
    ‘Is there anyone you can call? A girlfriend, perhaps?’
    Lorimer heard himself asking the question, hating himself for wanting to be away from here, wishing that he were back in bed, Maggie’s warm body against his own.
    She shook her head, staring at him blankly.
    ‘Surely… someone from last night…?’
    There had been so many people, lots of women that he’d seen her talking to, smiling with… wasn’t one of them a special friend? he thought helplessly.
    ‘Mrs Gilmartin hasn’t any family here, sir,’ the female officer said, her face a mask of careful reproach.
    ‘Your sister…?’
    ‘She’s in Canada,’ the police officer answered for Vivien.
    ‘Is there anywhere else you want to go to?’ Lorimer tried again. ‘A friend’s place, maybe?’
    Vivien shook her head. ‘I don’t think so,’ she sniffed in a small voice. ‘When will they take him away?’ she asked, turning to the woman sitting beside her and catching hold of her hand.
    ‘The doctor’s called for an ambulance,’ the officer said soothingly. ‘They won’t be long now.’
    ‘There might have to be a post-mortem,’ Lorimer said quietly, hunkering down beside her.
    She nodded dumbly, her green eyes staring past him, making Lorimer wonder if she was taking in anything he was saying. He had seen the effect that shock produced often enough to make him realise that Vivien was maybe not hearing a thing that was being said to her. Instead she might well be replaying over and over the moment when she had found her husband’s body, other people’s words a mere blur of noise outside her head.
    The female officer rose then, letting go of Vivien’s hand, and left the room. He took her place, taking Vivien’s hand in his, letting her body sag against him.
    Outside he could hear the officer talking to the doctor. Then there was a knock on the door to the apartment and Vivien’s body stiffened against his, her hand clasping his arm as if in sudden panic.
    ‘It’s all right, the paramedics will deal with things,’ Lorimer soothed her blandly. He started as she looked wildly towards the lounge door. ‘Do you want to go and see him before…?’
    The woman beside him shook her head fiercely, the edges of her hair caught like gold in the lamplight. She was biting her lower lip, controlling any sobs, though Lorimer guessed that a storm of weeping was not far away. The sounds of men’s voices and heavy footsteps could be heard, then the door trembled as a draught of air entered the room. As the outer door closed at last, Lorimer felt rather than heard the long shuddering sigh from the woman by his