The Burning Girl-4 by Mark Billingham Read Free Book Online

mood. He needed to drift a little, to lose himself in the music and let at least some of the tension bleed away.
    The problem was Tughan .. .
    Half a mile shy of Hendon, Thorne had settled for Unchained. By the time Cash's vocal came in on "Sea of Heartbreak' and he was smacking his palms against the steering wheel, Thorne was starting to feel much better. As wel as it was possible to feel, given the current procedural set-up. The current personnel.. .
    He drove east for a while, then cut south, crossing the North Circular and heading towards Golders Green.
    Thorne had clashed with Nick Tughan on a case four years previously, and he'd thanked al the deities he didn't believe in when their paths had final y separated. While Thorne had been part of the new team established at the Serious Crime Group, Tughan had found other tits to get on at SO7. Now he was back as part of the investigation into the Ryan kil ings, the investigation with which Thorne and his team were supposed to cooperate. He was back giving Thorne grief. Worst of al , the slimy fucker was back as a DCI.
    Though they hadn't set eyes on each other for four years, their relationship had picked up exactly where it had left off. It had been neatly encapsulated in their first, terse exchange in the Major Incident Room at Becke House:

    "Thorne .. ."
    "Tughan .. ."
    "I'l settle for "Sir" or "Guv" .. ."
    "What about "twat"?"
    If an officer were to get physical, to throw a punch, for example, at another officer of equal or subordinate rank, things could get a tad sticky. If he were to throw that punch and break a nose, or maybe a cheekbone even if he just handed out a good, hard slap, to a superior officer a DCI, say he would be in a world of very deep shit. Thorne was thinking about just how unfair this was when his mobile began to ring.
    He took a deep breath when he saw the name on the cal er ID.
    "Tom .. .?" Auntie Eileen, his father's younger sister. "Listen, there's no need to panic .. ."
    Thorne listened, glancing in the rear-view mirror, swerving across the road and pul ing up in a bus lane. He listened as buses and cabs drove around him, deaf to the swearing of the irate drivers, to the bark and bleat of their horns. He listened, feeling sick, then scared, and final y fucked off beyond belief.
    He ended the cal , dragged the car through a U-turn, and accelerated north, back the way he'd come.
    The scorch mark rose up the wal behind the cooker and licked a foot or so across the ceiling. The patterned wal paper had bubbled, then blistered, where the grease that had accumulated over the years had begun to cook the dried paste and plaster beneath. The windows in the kitchen were open, had been for several hours, but stil the stench was disgusting.
    "No more fucking chip pans," Thorne said. "We get rid of al the pans, al the oil in the place."
    Eileen looked rather shocked. Thorne thought it was his language but then realised when she spoke that it was more than that.
    "We should disconnect the cooker] she said. "Better stil , we should get someone to come and take the bloody thing away .. ."
    "I'l get it organised," Thorne said.
    "Why don't you let me?"
    "I'l sort it."
    Eileen shrugged and sighed. "He knows he's not supposed to come in here."
    "Maybe we should put a lock on the door in the meantime." Thorne began walking around the room, opening cupboards. "He was probably hungry .. ."
    She nodded. "He might wel have missed his lunch. I think he's been swearing at the Meals on Wheels woman."
    "They don't cal it Meals on Wheels any more, Eileen."
    "He cal ed her a "fucking cow". Told her to "stick her hot-pot up her fat arse"." She was trying not to laugh, but once she saw Thorne giving in to it, she stopped bothering to try.
    With the tension relieved, they both leaned back against work tops Eileen folded her arms tight across her chest.
    "Who cal ed the fire brigade?" Thorne asked.
    "He did, eventual y. Once he worked out that it was the smoke alarm going off, he