Broken Heart Read Online Free

– had long since turned into friendship.
    He answered after a couple of rings.
    ‘Raker! How’s things?’
    ‘Pretty good, Task. You?’
    ‘Not bad. Still able to go to the toilet by myself.’
    ‘Always a bonus. You okay to talk for a moment?’
    ‘Sure. What sort of trouble are you in this time?’
    I smiled. ‘No trouble. Yet.’
    ‘Yeah, well, don’t make me come around there and force-feed you those pills. I may be old, but I reckon I could still hand out a damn good beating.’
    ‘I reckon you’re right,’ I told him, and thought of the pills he was referring to. They were in an unopened white bottle at home – antidepressants I’d been prescribed before theturn of the year, after the case with Healy had dragged me beyond my limits. As far as friends like Tasker were concerned, the pills had become a daily part of my life. But the truth was I’d never swallowed a single one of them. I hated the idea of not being in complete control of myself.
    I manoeuvred us away from the subject.
    ‘Task, I’m after a missing persons report from October last year – a Lynda Korin. That’s Lynda with a y , K-O-R-I-N. She disappeared from somewhere called Stoke Point on 28 October.’
    ‘Stoke?’
    ‘Yeah. Usual spelling. It’s in Somerset.’
    ‘Okay. We expecting any nasty surprises?’
    ‘You mean, does she have a record? I don’t know. I don’t think so.’
    ‘I’ll check anyway. You got her DOB there?’
    ‘Yeah – 13 September 1952. One other thing: I’m also looking for some CCTV footage. It’s from the camera at the same place. I’m interested in the day prior to Korin going missing, the day of her disappearance, and maybe the day after – if you can get it. There’ll definitely be a reference to it on the system somewhere, but I don’t know if the video is digital or physical. I’m hoping digital.’
    ‘I’ll take a look and give you a shout later.’
    ‘Great. I appreciate it.’
    I reached the entrance to Edgware Road station. Slick with sweat, and having sidestepped what felt like a million camera-phone-wielding tourists, I paused there for a moment, finding a second number. This was for another old contact I’d made in my days as a journalist: a hacker called Spike. We’d known each other for years, and although we’d never met in person, he was a useful contact to have. As longas you made your peace with the fact that he was breaking the law for you, email accounts, landline and mobile records, financial backgrounds and personal details were all within easy reach.
    After Spike answered, I told him exactly what I was after.
    ‘So, basically, everything I can grab on this Korin woman?’ he asked.
    ‘Phone records, emails, financials, anything.’
    ‘Do you want to set some parameters?’
    I thought about it.
    ‘Korin disappeared on 28 October, so maybe play it safe and grab me the six months leading up to her disappearance – and then the ten months since.’
    ‘You got it.’
    ‘Thanks, Spike. How long do you reckon this will take?’
    ‘For a man of my means?’ Spike paused, the silence filled with the sound of a pen tapping a desk. ‘I should probably have something for you tomorrow.’
    I headed into the station.

5
    The District-line platform at Edgware Road was busy, but I managed to find a space on a bench at the very end of it, beyond the reach of the sun. Next to me, a man in his sixties was talking to himself, or maybe to his shopping bags, so I pulled out some headphones and plugged them into my mobile. Once I’d drowned him out, I went to the browser and started seeing what kind of media coverage had greeted Lynda Korin’s disappearance. It had no bearing on my decision to take the case – once I’d agreed to find someone, I didn’t back out – but until I got the chance to talk to Wendy Fisher again, and to fill in some of the gaps, this would have to do.
    In the end, though, there was little coverage in the national media, except for a brief story on