Black Daffodil (Trevor Joseph Detective series) Read Online Free

as though she was sleepwalking, Kelly moved to the other side of Alec. Ally opened the door to Jake’s room and pushed him in. She closed the door without looking inside.
    ‘Smile, sunshine!’ Ally ordered as she walked away. ‘That’s if you don’t want to end up like your sisters. You don’t need me to tell you it’s a short slide down in this business. And this is a lot easier than being pawed by sweaty old men for hours on end in the parlour.’

Chapter Two
    Inspector Trevor Joseph tossed the report Superintendent Bill Mulcahy had given him onto his desk. ‘It’s a well-known ploy, sir. When a dealer wants to expand his market, to increase profits or cover the escalating cost of a habit, he targets potential punters and offers them freebies. If they refuse they’re pinned down and given large enough shots of whatever he’s selling to make them want more. A month later the dealer has recovered the cost of the freebie a hundred times over. It’s rumoured to have started in prisons …’
    ‘I don’t need a lecture on how it started or why they assaulted Jake Phillips and Alec Hodges and pumped them full of this stuff,’ Bill answered shortly. ‘“Make an addict parties” are a bloody nightmare. Especially in cases like this where scores of people develop amnesia when questioned about the identity of their fellow guests. What I want to know is, was Jake Phillips thrown off that balcony to hide a screw-up, or was it a cold-blooded and deliberate attempt at murder?’
    ‘He was lucky to have landed on that awning …’
    ‘If you read on, you’ll see he’s in a coma and not expected to recover.’
    Trevor retrieved the file and flicked through it again. ‘It’s attempted murder or GBH if he does recover. Murder or manslaughter if he doesn’t. But devastating as this is for the victim and his family, it’s not enough reason for us to dig into our budget to help out a Welsh force. It’s their problem, not ours.’
    ‘Ordinarily, I’d agree with you.’ Bill sat in the chair in front of Trevor’s desk, pressed his fingertips together and gazed thoughtfully at his nails.
    Trevor knew what the gesture meant. He had seen his superior do it many times, and always before the superintendent was about to ask him to volunteer for something above and beyond the call of duty.
    ‘There are two reasons why we should make this case our business.’ Bill removed a red file marked Classified from a folder and handed it to Trevor. ‘Professor Robbins’s report.’
    ‘Norman Robbins?’ Trevor asked in surprise. ‘I thought he’d retired.’
    ‘He did – is. But as he knows more about the chemical composition of drugs and their effect on the brain than anyone else we can call on, we sent him the results of the blood tests on our coma victim, Jake Phillips and Phillips’s flat-mate Alec Hodges, and also the pills we found in Hodges’ pocket.’
    ‘Was Hodges at the party?’
    ‘He was in the penthouse along with 106 others when the locals arrived in response to a call from a passer-by who saw Jake Phillips being thrown from the balcony.’
    ‘Then Hodges is a suspect?’
    ‘He’s about the only one there who isn’t. He was comatose and incapable of standing upright when the officers arrived within ten minutes of the witness seeing Phillips being thrown. The officers assumed Hodges was drunk. When they tried to wake him, he went crazy. He’s been in a psychiatric ward ever since. Look at Hodges’ symptoms as listed by his psychiatrist.’
    Trevor scanned the report compiled by the psychiatrist who had examined Alec Hodges the morning after he had been admitted to a secure ward. ‘Manic behaviour – grandiose delusions – hallucinations – loss of inhibitions – enhanced strength – hyper-activity – loss of all sense of guilt and morality –’ he glanced at Bill. ‘Some form of hallucinatory. Ecstasy or peyote, possibly combined with crack cocaine, heroin or crystal meth?’
    Mulcahy leaned