Imperfect Killing Read Online Free Page A

goldmine. The sooner we have him in the better chance we have of preserving the evidence that’ll convict the bastard. I’m beginning to smell an early result people, so let’s get on it.’ He rubbed his hands together with glee. ‘As soon as he’s nicked let me know.’
    Sean nodded and turned to Benton. ‘Grab four people you trust – full body armour, just in case. You never can tell which ones want to go out in a blaze of glory.’
    ***
    Sean and Benton sat in the unmarked car parked in Tiverton Street on the Rockingham Estate in Southwark – a sprawling, brown brick monstrosity built in the 1950s to replace bombed-out housing from the war. They were far enough away from Thurlby’s fourth floor flat so as not to be too obvious, but close enough to be able to see him if he came out of his front door and onto the communal balcony-walkway that led to the stairs and lifts. Several of the local youths had already clocked them as police – keeping a watch on them from a distance like a group of meerkats tracking a snake in the grass. Sean hoped that Thurlby’s learning difficulties meant he wouldn’t be as alert as the local neighbourhood police watch
.
But even they hadn’t noticed the nondescript satellite-dish installation van and another disguised as a self-drive rental. Each contained half a dozen heavily armed SO19 officers who were just waiting for the word that the target was
out and in the open
from the observation point in an empty flat in the block opposite Thurlby’s. As soon as that happened all hell would break loose.
    ‘D’you think he’s our man?’ Benton asked.
    ‘Looks about right,’ Sean shrugged, ‘but I won’t know for sure until I see him – until I speak to him.’
    ‘You mean until we interview him?’ Benton thought he’d corrected him.
    ‘Yeah, sure,’ Sean lied. ‘Until we interview him.’
    ‘You were a DC on an MIT too weren’t you?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Sean answered sounding uninterested.
    ‘Were you on any decent cases?’ Benton continued.
    ‘No,’ Sean lied again, not keen to discuss the past. ‘Just the usual run-of-the-mill stuff.’
    ‘Oh,’ Benton replied looking disappointed, before perking up. ‘This is my first murder case.’
    ‘You don’t say,’ Sean mocked him.
    ‘Yeah,’ Benton missed it. ‘Quite an interesting one, I suppose. Not your usual domestic is it?’
    ‘I guess there’s more to it than most,’ he consented, ‘or at least there appears to be.’
    ‘Only appears to be?’ Benton asked.
    ‘Assume nothing.’
    Benton pulled a face, but didn’t argue. ‘I hate surveillance,’ he confessed.
    ‘Better get used to it,’ Sean warned him.
    ‘Christ. Why don’t SO19 just sneak up the stairs and kick his door in?’
    ‘Too tight,’ Sean explained. ‘If he hears or sees them coming he could do some serious damage to them in the stairwell or the flat itself – not the sort of place you want to be searching for an armed suspect. Better to catch him in the open. Get as many guns as possible on him at the same time.’
    ‘I guess,’ Benton shrugged and tried to stretch the stiffness from his neck and shoulders, ‘but anything’s better than …’
    ‘Quiet,’ Sean suddenly told him, automatically stretching a protective arm across Benton’s body and pushing back into his seat. ‘He’s coming out.’
    ‘Fuck,’ Benton cursed. ‘D’you think SO19 have seen him?’
    ‘If we have, they have,’ Sean reassured him. ‘Just stay back in your seat and let them take him down. Best thing we can do is stay out of the way until he’s face down on the floor and cuffed.’
    ‘If you say so,’ Benton agreed a little jumpily.
    They watched the large man dressed in green and black combat clothes head towards the stairwell. Even from their position they could clearly recognize him from the intelligence photos they’d seen of Ruben Thurlby. He disappeared into the stairwell that dog-legged one way then another, becoming partially visible