Four Below Read Online Free Page A

us.’ Denkhaus hung up without bothering with formalities.
    ‘They’re doing that already, sir,’ McLusky offered.
    ‘They’re doing what?’
    ‘Throwing rocks at us. When we closed down the crack house in Knowle West last Monday, a rock and a bottle were thrown at officers, just for doing their job.’
    ‘By some local yobs. Not by your average citizen, not yet, and that’s why public relations is half the battle. A reduction in the public’s perception of crime is as important
as reduction in crime itself. No point in eradicating crime if people are still frightened in their beds.’
    ‘A bobby on every street corner.’
    ‘Quite. It would only take an extra million officers. As it is, cuts are now inevitable. Enough.’ Denkhaus waved away the distraction. There was no point in discussing issues like
these with junior officers. ‘How reliable is your witness?’
    ‘Hard to say, but she was no airhead and was quite sure of herself. She did take her time reporting it, though. She waited several hours before making up her mind that she had in fact seen
human remains being carried around by a fox. Now she’s adamant.’
    ‘And you turned up nothing at all?’
    McLusky pointed out of the window. ‘It was already getting dark and it’s very misty up there, too. ‘
    ‘Tomorrow, then, at first light.’
    ‘How many officers can we deploy?’
    ‘I can let you have four. With you and DS Austin, that’s half a dozen.’
    ‘Half a dozen? Sir, have you seen the size of the place? Leigh Woods is two hundred hectares, give or take. In old money that’s probably—’
    ‘Five hundred acres, thanks, McLusky, I’m fully decimalized. There’s a big football match on tomorrow; we can’t possibly spare dozens of officers to poke around in the
woods on the strength of some vague sighting. Find some evidence of foul play and you can have all the officers you want. Until then you’ll have to make do.’
    Football. Why couldn’t they play football in summer, when it was nice and warm? ‘There’s at least one pond in there as well.’
    ‘Forget the damn pond. It was a fox she saw, not a beaver. Leave the pond alone. Underwater search costs an absolute fortune. Now if there’s nothing else, DI McLusky
…’
    DI Kat Fairfield turned the heater up. Then she turned the music up. She loved her little Renault. It was quick, it was fun. Come to think of it, it was more comfortable than
her flat. Quicker to warm up than her flat, too. And it was paid for. She could play music as loud as she liked without the neighbours complaining, and the view from the windows was ever-changing. There was no one to tell her that heavy metal was rubbish. If
Led Zeppelin was rubbish, then fine, she liked rubbish. Mind you, there was no one at home to tell her it was rubbish either. Not since ‘the break-up’, and that was years ago now.
Before the flat and before the Renault. Why aren’t we all living in cars? she wondered. She’d probably still be with Paul if they were. Just meet from time to time, park up next to each
other for a while, then drive through your own life until you felt like parking up again. She’d hung on to the name, another thing her mother couldn’t forgive her; the first had been
marrying Paul in the first place. Somehow DI Kat Fairfield seemed an easier name to work with on the force than Katarina Vasiliou. What’s wrong with Vasiliou, Rina? It’s a fine Greek
name! And all her own fault for not marrying a nice Greek boy with prospects in the first place. Unfortunately she’d never been completely one hundred per cent sure about the boy
thing either. But opportunities for the girl thing seemed even rarer than the other.
    She liked driving, especially on these back roads, but it was getting quite misty and would be dark soon. And the trip out to Yatton had been a complete waste of time. She’d gone to
re-interview the victim herself, hoping to get a handle on a violent reoffender, aka the