Next Of Kin (Unnatural Selection #3) Read Online Free

me around lunchtime, and I’d replied,
but he hadn’t sent another message about working late. Not that
this was unusual, if something had blown up suddenly in the area. There was nothing on
the news but being with Nick all this time had taught me how
selective the reporting was on police matters. He would tell me
when I saw him, or it would be on the late night news.
    He still
hadn’t come home by eleven, and there was little point in waiting
up for him. I sent him a text saying “ILU” and expected to find him
asleep beside me when I woke.
    But he wasn’t.
I checked the London news to see if something was happening in
Richmond. I found a report of a body being found in the river, and
traffic congestion causing problems in the park. Nothing to warrant
Nick being asked to work an extra shift.
    I ate
breakfast and sent him another text. No reply to that or the one
I’d sent the night before. An hour later, I tried his mobile, but
it went to his voicemail.
    He was
probably super busy. I forced myself to concentrate on the response
to a research proposal I’d promised to send that morning, and even
managed to finish it, but Nick’s lack of contact was still at the
back of my mind. At noon, I gave in to temptation and called
Richmond station. I was told that Sergeant Guthrie wasn’t
available. “Could I speak to DI Thorpe, please?”
    I was put
through.
    “DI
Thorpe.”
    “Inspector,
it’s Anton Marber. Nick Guthrie’s partner.”
    “Oh really.
Finally getting around to calling in sick, is he?”
    This was the
first time I’d spoken to the man, so I wasn’t sure if the derision
in his voice was habitual, but it put my back up immediately.
“Sorry, what? I was calling you because he hasn’t come home.”
    “Guthrie
hasn’t turned up today, Mr Marber. When you see him, perhaps you
could ask him to contact the station.”
    “But...inspector, that means he’s missing. I want to put a report
in.”
    “He left
the station at eight last night, so he’s only been out of contact
just over twelve hours. Sounds more like he’s skyving.”
    “But he’s a
police officer.”
    “He’s gay.
Maybe he found himself a playmate cottaging down by the river.
Anyway, I’m flat out here because one of my sergeants is absent
without permission. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work I need to
be doing.”
    He hung
up. I stared at my phone, shaking slightly from shock and anger. I
considered calling the station again and speaking to Thorpe’s
higher-ups, but for all I knew, his homophobia was SOP down there.
No point in pushing things if it was.
    Nick wasn’t
the kind of man to ditch work for sex, even if I wasn’t in the
picture. That Thorpe thought he was capable of that, told me that
Thorpe was utterly incompetent. Therefore I needed a competent
police officer to deal with this.
    I called
Andy McDiamond at Islington, and as I hoped, he grasped the
seriousness of the situation immediately. “Thorpe didn’t take you
seriously?”
    “I don’t think
he could hear what I was saying over the gay bashing he was
doing.”
    “I’m sorry you
had to experience that, Anton. Let me get all the details, and then
I’ll pass it to your local station. Someone from there should come
and see you this afternoon.”
    “Can you
contact Chris Stevens? He was based at Battersea and Nick knows him
pretty well.”
    “I’ll see what
I can do. Now, when did you last have definite contact with
Nick?”
    Andy took down
a thorough set of details, and gave me a report number. “Anton, are
you all right? You’re welcome to come over.”
    “Thank you,
but I, um...want to be here in case he calls. Or comes home.”
    “Of
course. I understand.”
    “Can you trace
him by his cell phone?”
    “I’ll do
my best, and track his credit card, that kind of thing. I won’t be
sitting on my arse, I promise you.”
    “Thanks.
Uh...do you have any ideas where he might be?”
    “Not a one,
Anton. Every time I speak to him he’s either bitching