The Sect (The Craig Crime Series) by Catriona King Read Free Book Online Page A

could he possibly abandon her now? He couldn’t and what’s more he didn’t want to. He loved talking to her, listening to her, just being there to help. Her kindness had been a constant in his life for almost twenty-five years.
    He suddenly knew that in a tug of love between his partner and the small, slim woman who’d tucked him in at night, there would be no contest, and as he shifted his car into gear he prayed that Aaron never made him choose.
     
    ****
     
    5 p.m.
     
    “OK, let’s have some order.”
    The detectives and scientists continued the business of pouring coffee and putting biscuits into their mouths, nodding as they greeted people that they hadn’t seen for weeks. Craig repeated the instruction more firmly and they started shuffling to their chairs, Liam muttering grudgingly at Davy as he went.
    “You took the last custard cream.”
    Davy’s reply was to drop the offending biscuit into his mouth and bite it in two with a loud crack. Craig intervened before the great biscuit war kicked off, but what he really wanted to do was crack both their heads. He was sick to the back teeth of always having to be the reasonable one, but it was a skill it had taken him years to acquire and an essential one if they didn’t want injuries. He’d learned long ago that his temper and fists had two speeds, zero and one hundred miles per hour, and he’d never mastered anything in between.
    “Grow up, the pair of you! Nicky, give Liam another custard cream from your drawer and let’s make a start.”
    As everyone wondered how long Nicky had been hoarding biscuits and how Craig knew the exact count, he began.
    “OK, as of a few hours ago we have three dead bodies. All, and Mike and John can confirm this, in their late teens.”
    Mike Augustus opened the thin file on his knee and read from the single sheet inside. “The third victim is male, aged between sixteen and twenty. He was found soon after death like the other two. I’ll have more detail after the P.M.”
    Craig continued. “OK, so far we have two males and one female victim in nine days; the female was victim number one. All white, all under twenty and all found in the countryside near Downpatrick.”
    As he dragged over a white board Liam muttered. “That’s ruined Downpatrick for me. I was going to take the kids there when it got warm.”
    Andy interjected as Craig arranged the board. “I’m pretty sure it ruined it for the victims as well.”
    Craig finished writing ‘young’, ‘white’ and ‘Downpatrick’ on the board and turned back to face the group.
    “Quiet. We’ve a lot to cover. OK, first question. Why are all the victims young? Anyone?”
    Andy answered him. “Easier to dupe, naïve, likely to be physically slight so easier to lift––”
    Craig held up a hand, stopping him. “Good. All of those things apply. The other common findings are that all our victims were found with manacle marks, wet and wrapped in cling-film, with drowning the cause of death. Mike, was the third one drowned as well?”
    Augustus nodded. “Same as the others. Probably domestic water from The Silent Valley. It serves Belfast and most of County Down.”
    Craig added ‘manacles’, ‘cling-film’ and ‘drowned in domestic water’ to the list.
    “The final thing is that John and Mike found the same words tattooed on the first two victims. In black ink on the boy’s right inner arm and in white beneath the girl’s breasts. Was there any sign on the third victim?”
    Mike answered again. “Same phrase in the same position; right inner arm.”
    Just then Jake walked through the double-doors. Craig nodded to him in respect; he hadn’t expected to see him much that week but he imagined that right now work must seem like a break. He wrote ‘tattoo’ on the board and turned to Davy.
    “The tattoo isn’t in English so Davy’s been trying to get it translated. Davy?”
    Davy had been picking at his nails, for once devoid of varnish. Craig suddenly