Dead Girls: An addictive and darkly funny crime thriller. Graeme Cameron

didn’t bloody realise I’d seen her until after the fact; she wasn’t even my case then, and by the time I’d notified the Major Investigation Team, and we’d secured a search warrant, and Mal Lowry and Eli Diaz and John Fairey and I had piled into a couple of cars and sped out to the forest in the south of the county and searched every square inch of that house and questioned That Man, whom we knew at the time as Thomas Reed, all knowledge was plausibly denied and the trail had run cold.

      ‘So,’ Kevin said, stifling a yawn. ‘Now what?’

      ‘Simple,’ I said. ‘We start again, at the last place Erica was seen alive.’

      ‘Reed’s place?’

      I nodded. ‘Happy with that?’

      ‘Makes sense to me,’ he said. ‘Can we stop and get a McDonald’s on the way?’

      ‘If you’re pay—’ I was interrupted by a startling thump on the window. Kevin jumped in his seat. I gave Eli Diaz a smirk as I slid the glass down a crack. ‘You made one of us jump,’ I said.

      Diaz laughed. ‘Sorry, Kevin. Ali, you haven’t seen John Fairey this morning, have you? He was meant to be taking the new guy out canvassing toms last night and they didn’t check back in. Their phones are off and apparently no one’s heard from them since lunchtime. Any ideas?’

      Knowing John, they were probably locked in a pub somewhere, but my blood ran cold of its own accord. ‘Can you not track his car?’

      ‘What do you think?’

      I glanced over at Kevin. There was no way of telling whether he was thinking what I was thinking, but he looked distinctly uncomfortable. ‘This is all about Erica, isn’t it?’

      ‘You read the report,’ Diaz reminded me. ‘It doesn’t add up, does it?’

      ‘That’s exactly what I was about to ring Lowry about,’ I said, which was only a white lie. ‘I want to head down to the Reed place and re-interview him. Maybe we can stir something up.’

      He nodded. ‘Great minds think alike,’ he said. ‘We’ll be ready in twenty minutes.’

      Fine with me. ‘I’ll meet you there,’ I said. ‘Kevin needs feeding.’

      Diaz patted the roof of the car and tried to get back in through the fire escape he’d emerged from. It was shut. He swore to himself and hurried off around the corner of the building, out of sight. Kevin laughed.

      ‘Grab my bag from the back,’ I said, once we were a few miles from the house. ‘My notebook’s in there, it’s got Reed’s number in it.’

      Kevin wiped his greasy fingers on a paper napkin and retrieved the book. ‘Dial it?’

      ‘Yes please. Let’s rattle this guy’s cage. Use mine, it’s on the hands-free.’

      He held my phone up for me to tap in the unlock code, and then keyed in the number. It went half a ring before That Man’s voice barked out of the speaker, startling both of us.

      ‘I’m here! Where are you?’

      I had a brief moment of doubt then. He couldn’t have known we were coming, could he? ‘Hi,’ I stuttered, trying to sound unfazed. ‘It’s . . . Are you okay?’

      ‘Who is this?’ he said. That voice. I remember that voice – deep, like a river of dark chocolate. Like leaning over an abyss. I wasn’t who he was expecting to hear from, but that knowledge didn’t settle me one bit.

      ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s Ali Green. Have I caught you at a bad time?’ I sensed Kevin shifting to attention in his seat and glanced at him, mirroring his raised eyebrow.

      ‘Sergeant Green,’ That Man said. ‘No. Perfect timing. I’m having a shitty day anyway, you can’t ruin it this time.’

      I feigned laughter. ‘That’s not my intention,’ I said. ‘I was hoping I’d catch you, though.’

      ‘You don’t say,’ he replied. Indifferent. Smug, almost.

      Kevin chuckled beside me, and I shot him a look. Then I went for broke. ‘I’m on my way there,’ I said. ‘There are a few things I need to talk to you about.’ Silence on the other end. ‘And before you say it, they’re actually not all about you.’

      There was a long pause before he said, ‘I don’t understand.’ There was a definite crack in his voice then, barely detectable, but there. Something wasn’t right.

      ‘Neither do I, believe me. The sky’s probably about to fall down, but I’ve been over and over it in my head, and it’s hugely irritating, but we might actually need each other’s help.’ We were ten minutes away. ‘I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. Okay?’

      Another interminable silence. Then, ‘Actually, I was just about to go out.’

      ‘You’ll wait,’ I said, perhaps a little more firmly than I intended, but it seemed to do the trick because his tone lifted instantly.

      ‘Oh, yeah, of course,’ he said, and faked his own laugh. ‘I just meant I’ve got to fix something round the back, that’s all, so if I’m not around when you get here, just come in and make yourself at home.’

      Kevin’s face twisted in exaggerated incredulity, and he mouthed what the fuck at me as I tried to keep a straight face. ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ I said. ‘I’m going to stop and get a cup of coffee and a muffin. Let’s say I’ll be there in an hour, how’s that?’

      ‘That would be better,’ he said. I was sure he knew it was a lie, but that suited me just fine. Whatever happened next would happen through a jumble of double- and triple-guessing. ‘Can you tell me what this is ab—’ He stopped so suddenly I wondered for a moment if we hadn’t been cut off, but the speaker was clear enough that I could still hear him breathing. Fast, shuddering breaths. Either he was playing with himself or he was nervous as hell.

      ‘Are you alone, Mr Reed?’ I said.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘And you’re sure you’re okay?’

      ‘I’m fine,’ he said, hoarsely, forcing the words, sounding for all the world like he’d just seen a ghost. ‘Sorry, I’m just getting dressed and I strangled myself.’

      ‘Right.’ I was already pressing the throttle to the floor. ‘In that case I’ll let you go before you come to any more harm. But to answer your question, we urgently need to discuss Erica Shaw.’

      ‘Oh, God,’ he said. ‘Ms Green, I’ve already told you everything I know about that girl. I really don’t know how else I can help you.’

      ‘It’s just routine,’ I told him. ‘Crossing the “i”s and dotting the “t”s. I’ll see you in an hour.’

      ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘One hour.’ And then he was gone before I could say goodbye.

      Kevin opened his mouth to speak.

      ‘I’m going as fast as I can,’ I said.

      Whatever I’d been expecting to find when we arrived, I was completely unprepared for what happened. I’d radioed for urgent backup; I’d called Diaz, and he was on his way with the DCI and an armed response unit. I knew I should have waited, hunch or no hunch. But I didn’t.

      I stopped for nothing but the heavy iron gate across the track that led half a mile through the woods to That Man’s house. Kevin was out of the car before it stopped rolling, and then the gate was open, and I was already moving again when he scrambled back in. My temples were pounding, my eyes as focused as a hawk’s. Kevin was silent beside me, a little pale, gripping the grab-handle above his head.

      When we reached the far side of those trees, the car sliding sideways out onto the wide gravel driveway in front of the house, the shooting had already started. And