The Kill by Jane Casey Read Free Book Online Page A

dragging you around with a face like a smacked arse for however long it takes to find out who killed Terence Hammond.’
    He walked away, up the hill. Godley had emerged from behind the screens and Derwent made towards him. I hurried to follow him, trying to pull myself together. Every time I thought I was used to working with Derwent – every time I started to relax around him – he found some way of making me feel ill at ease. And it made it so much worse that I’d handed him the opportunity to make me prove myself yet again.
    Godley came to meet us. ‘You made good time, Josh. Get caught by any speed cameras?’
    ‘Not that I noticed. You?’
    ‘Not this time.’
    Derwent was trying to smile but he obviously hated that he’d come second. ‘What was your average speed? One twenty? Did the wheels actually touch the ground?’
    ‘The car likes to go fast,’ Godley said calmly. ‘And so do I.’
    ‘What’s behind the screen?’ I asked.
    ‘The victim’s car. He’s still in it.’
    I tried to think of an appropriate response. ‘Oh good’ didn’t seem right. I settled for nodding.
    ‘Why haven’t they moved him?’ Derwent asked. ‘Waiting for us?’
    ‘Waiting for the forensics team to finish with the area around the car and the outside of the car itself. He was locked in. No keys in the ignition. No keys visible in the car.’ Godley shrugged. ‘They may be in his pocket or under him, but at the moment we can assume someone locked him in and took the keys away with them.’
    ‘Why would they do that?’ I said, puzzled.
    ‘To annoy us.’ Derwent’s voice was dust-dry and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or if he meant it. ‘It slows us down. Gives the killer more of a head start.’
    ‘Maybe. It’s his car, but it looks as if he wasn’t driving. He’s in the passenger seat.’ Godley checked the time. ‘No sign of Chris and Dave. You two might as well have a look at Mr Hammond while he’s still in the car. Pete Belcott is around there already with Colin. They’ve been working with the forensics team.’
    I bit back the swear word that I was thinking. I’d forgotten about Belcott, one of the other detective constables on the team. He’d been invited to the wedding like everyone else, but stayed in London, claiming to be too busy. Too lazy to travel to Somerset, I’d thought, and had been glad he wasn’t there, with his damp hands and small, hostile eyes.
    Derwent set off towards the screen. Rather than call after him and be ignored I ran and grabbed his arm. He swung around, ready for a fight.
    ‘You’ll need these.’ I held out some spare shoe covers and a pair of blue latex gloves.
    A smirk. ‘I knew there was a reason I brought you along.’
    ‘Just take them.’
    He did as he was told, for once. The two of us passed inspection by a short, pretty SOCO who had pushed the hood back on her white boiler suit. Her hair was a shock of dark corkscrew curls. I wondered how she got it all to stay inside her hood when she was working.
    Derwent smiled at her. ‘I like curly hair.’
    ‘Then why don’t you get a perm?’ the SOCO snapped.
    ‘That’s not what I meant.’ He watched her walk off, then turned to me. ‘That wasn’t what I meant.’
    ‘She knows that.’
    ‘Does she? Then why can’t she take a compliment?’
    ‘Because she’s working, not hanging out in a bar, and she doesn’t need to deal with comments on her appearance while she’s doing her job.’ If I explained it often enough, one day it might sink in. ‘Stop trying to distract yourself.’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    ‘The flirting? It’s your way of taking your mind off what you’re about to see. Like the gum chewing and the car talk.’
    Derwent glowered. ‘Don’t analyse me.’
    ‘I’m just saying what I see.’
    ‘Well, don’t.’
    He headed past me through the screens that shielded the car from view. I followed, almost losing my balance as a couple of white-suited SOCOs