Dead Gorgeous (A Mystery for D.I. Costello) Read Online Free

agreed Raj.
    The door opened and Eleanor came into the room. Raj straightened up and Jenni spoke. “So your mum hasn’t given up hope, then?”
    “No, but I’ve learned to live with it. Morning, Ellie.”
    “Morning, Raj,” replied Eleanor. “I left some swatches down here.” Just at that moment, Ian walked past in the corridor. Eleanor quickly grabbed the swatches and hurried to take the opportunity to walk along with him. “I’ll catch you later at coffee,” she said to Jenni, as she headed through the door.
    When Ian and Eleanor reached Ian’s office, he had to cut across her to enter. Suddenly he paused in the doorway. “Ellie,”he said quizzically, his nose twitching. “You’re doing perfume today; that smells nice.”
    Eleanor could hardly believe what she was hearing at first. Keep it cool, Eleanor, she said to herself. He’s got a good nose, remember, that’s all it might be. “Yup,” she said. “I don’t normally, but I thought I’d give it a go.”
    “Hmm,” he smiled and, Eleanor could have sworn, nearly winked. “Well, it’s very sexy; I approve.”
    Sexy; he said sexy. He did, didn’t he? Yes he did. Eleanor went slowly back up to the stitching room. Well, this was a turn-up. What was that about?
    Kirsty’s mobile phone vibrated in her pocket as she made her way back to the office laden with coffees. She’d received a text from Darren. U on 4 lunch? She stifled a sigh as she balanced the cardboard tray of coffees in one hand and texted back with the other. Yeh, c u @ 1 . She had been getting weary of him even before she started seeing Ian. She found Darren intense and possessive. She felt certain he’d been lingering outside the house where she shared a flat with Sandra, more than once. He hadn’t been loitering outside last week, though. She’d come back from the gym to find him in the living room talking to Sandra while he waited for her. Kirsty paused in her thinking. She’d better watch that. She had a suspicion Sandra liked Darren and she wouldn’t stand for that. Darren was her boyfriend and she hadn’t finished with him yet, Ian or no Ian.
    Still, it would all stop when she and Ian could finally take their relationship to the next level. Kirsty gave a smile. Oh yes, that would raise eyebrows. Kirsty Manners would be somebody then.

Chapter Two
    A Sunday afternoon, one month later
    Detective Inspector Angela Costello and her husband, Patrick, slotted a desk neatly under the window in the second largest bedroom of their house, and stood back in the doorway to survey the results of a morning’s hard work.
    The room, until early that day, had had the appearance of the dumping ground it had become for the past couple of years. It now looked fresh, inviting and cosy. They could finally see the bed, they had cleared the floor of boxes and bags, the windows sparkled, and the stale, dusty smell had disappeared. Later, they would welcome Patrick’s daughter back to the house in which she had grown up, and until as late as yesterday Angela had feared they might have to park Madeleine in the cramped quarters of the smallest bedroom unless they managed to get their act together.
    “Looks just as it did when she was ten,” remarked Patrick contentedly. “All that’s missing is a ballet poster and her teddy bear.”
    Angela laughed, her gaze travelling over the walls, the duvet cover and the lampshade, all in a similar shade of pink. “Very girly,” she nodded.
    “Interesting psychological insight there,” said Patrick. “As a teenager Madeleine was a rebellious Goth, really into black– hair, clothes, make-up – very grim. But she didn’t once try to change the decor in here.”
    “She remained pink at heart. I hope she stays for a while, so I can get to know her.”
    Patrick picked up on the nervousness in Angela’s voice and pulled her to him. “It’s going to be just fine, darling. You two will get on like a house on fire.”
    Angela felt grateful that with her