Death Trap Read Online Free

Soho’s narrow, crowded streets to report her lack of success. It was a good thing Ken had finally signed her up the previous day, she thought, or he might have been tempted to change his mind about her job. In the event, it was a relatively benign boss, breathing alcohol fumes in her direction, she had reported back to.
    â€˜You can’t win them all,’ he had said, leaning precariously back in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his lower lip. ‘Have an early night, if you like. Get yourself off home. I suppose you think you’ve earned it.’
    Kate took him at his word and was down the narrow wooden stairs and out of the door before the usual rush of workers leaving the cramped offices of Soho hit the streets. She set off towards Oxford Street, planning to do some window shopping before making for the underground at Oxford Circus, but before she had reached the top of Frith Street her stomach lurched as she recognised a familiar figure coming in her direction, overcoat unbuttoned and trilby at a rakish angle.
    â€˜Well, well,’ Harry Barnard said with a smile. ‘I was only thinking about you this morning as I went past your office. I was wondering if you were still here or if you’d gone back north. Did Ken Fellows keep you on, then?’
    â€˜He certainly did,’ Kate said sharply.
    â€˜Well done,’ Barnard said. ‘I must say I never thought he’d take on a girl. It’s not usually reckoned to be a job for a woman.’
    â€˜Times are changing, Sergeant Barnard,’ Kate said, acid in her voice. ‘Maybe they’ll change for the police too, one day.’
    Barnard shrugged. ‘Can’t see me working for a woman DCI in the near future,’ he said. ‘Or ever, to be honest.’
    â€˜Anyway, I’m glad I bumped into you,’ Kate conceded, trying not to let an ounce of warmth into her expression. ‘As it happens, I need some advice about the law.’
    Barnard glanced around the bustling street and then took her elbow and led her round the west side of Soho Square. ‘Coffee, or something stronger?’ he asked.
    â€˜Coffee, thanks,’ Kate said, and followed him into a steamy cafe in Carlisle Street. She watched him as he went to the counter and ordered two frothy coffees in glass cups and carried them back to their table. She could feel her heart beating a little faster than normal and was annoyed at her reaction to this chance meeting. She did not trust Harry Barnard an inch but she had to admit that he was an attractive man, and suspected that he still felt the same about her, although she had rebuffed every attempt he had made to take her out for an evening, even after the case which had entangled her brother, Tom, had been resolved.
    Barnard stirred a couple of spoons of sugar into his coffee, offered Kate a cigarette, which she refused, and lit his own thoughtfully. ‘So what can I do for you, Miss O’Donnell?’ he asked, blowing smoke towards the ceiling. ‘You’ve not stumbled into another murder case, have you?’
    â€˜No, of course not,’ Kate said. ‘But there is something nasty going on where I live, and I want to know if it’s illegal, that’s all.’
    â€˜You’re still in that dump in Notting Hill, are you, with your friends? I did tell you that’s not a good area for girls to be on their own. What’s happening? Have a couple of tarts moved in? Or is it marijuana? There’s a lot of that about down there too. The West Indians treat it just like tobacco.’
    â€˜No, no, it’s nothing like that. Our house is very run down, though. Marie says she doesn’t think the landlord has done any work on the place since she got there and that’s nearly a year ago. But what he is trying to do is get some of the tenants out, the ones who pay a low rent, who’ve been there a long time. There’s an old couple on the first floor –