Death Trap Read Online Free Page A

Why did she always end up with the whiff of scum parked right beside her?
    Rio dumped the bad thoughts when she reached the protection officer. ‘No one, and I mean no one, comes into this room unless it’s medical staff.’
    As he nodded back Detective Jack Strong walked towards her. Rio had deliberately not been looking his way. He’d shown expert policing skills, talking the witness out into the open, but so what? That didn’t put him in her good books. Or any of her books for that matter. As soon as she got back to The Fort he was history. Without acknowledging him, Rio quickly entered the room and shut the door firmly in his face. Turned her back. Waited. If he dared to enter this room he was going to quickly find out that she wasn’t scared of verbally taking him down, even in front of the most valuable evidence in this case.
    Rio gave it ten seconds. The door remained firmly closed. Good. Now she could get back to the case. The teenager was lying on top of the pale blue blanket that covered the bed. Nikki Bell was about average height, but she looked small and shrunken in the bed. After seeing her mother butchered in the kitchen the girl had started shaking and crying with such pain that Rio knew there would be nothing gained by talking to her straight away. So she’d let Nikki have some personal space and got her to the hospital as quickly as possible.
    ‘I’m sorry about your mother,’ Rio said as she walked towards the bed.
    The February light coming through the single window was bleak and uneven. There was a chill in the air that even the central heating couldn’t dispel.
    ‘I’m sorry that you had to see her like that,’ Rio continued when she reached the side of the bed.
    Nikki didn’t say anything; instead she dropped her gaze to stare at her fingers twisting tightly together. She’d refused to remove the lilac-and-black striped fingerless gloves from her hand, even when Doctor Green had wanted to feel her pulse. Maybe the gloves acted as some type of anchor to reality, Rio thought, or maybe they were a gift from her mother. Whatever the reason, Rio had told everyone to not make such a drama out of it. She needed this girl as steady and as grounded as possible to uncover every detail of what she’d seen.
    ‘Do you mind if I sit down?’ Rio quietly asked.
    The teen shook her head, unleashing the natural bounce of her blonde hair now the sweat had dried out. But she refused to make eye contact.
    Rio knew she had to take this slow, but she was the first to admit she was shit with kids, especially the adolescent kind. All those hormones and moods clogging up the road towards the truth; she’d rather be busting the balls of some serial killer.
    ‘I know this will be painful for you,’ Rio started, ‘but you’re the one person who can help us because you’re the only person who saw what happened. Do you think you can tell me what you saw?’
    Rio hoped she’d got the tone right: didn’t want the teenager to think she was talking down to her like she was some seven-year-old.
    The girl didn’t answer. Instead two of her fingers pulled up a small part of the blanket and started to rub the material together.
    Take it slow , Rio warned herself, although instinct jabbed her to press on.
    Finally Nikki raised her eyes to look at Rio. Her face wasn’t so pale anymore. She had a bit of colour in her checks and on the tip of her nose. Her eyes had lost that silver shine, and were now brimming like soft clay.
    Then she spoke. ‘Can I have my iPad back now?’
    ‘I explained earlier that we’re keeping it for evidence.’ Rio punched firmness into her voice. ‘What happened, Nikki?’
    The girl’s gaze flipped away again. ‘I don’t remember.’
    Was this kid playing her?
    ‘Then why were you hiding inside the airing cupboard?’
    Nikki swallowed deep, but kept her stare locked away from Rio.
    ‘Ania made me get inside.’
    ‘She must’ve told you to do it for a reason.’
    Nikki shrugged.