Night Vision Read Online Free Page B

be the familiar noises of the house settling down for the night. After a while, she realized that she could hear nothing out of the ordinary. All was quiet, peaceful. Safe. She kicked off her slippers and curled up on the bed, shrinking back against the headboard, instinctively retreating from the bedroom door, and she listened again, then shook herself angrily.
    â€˜Dope. Do something about it!’ The number for the local police station where Alec worked and Naomi once had done too was on speed dial in her phone, and she called it now. Got through to the desk sergeant and was utterly relieved to hear a voice she knew.
    â€˜Donald!’
    â€˜Naomi? Are you all right, love? You know he’s not here, surely?’
    â€˜Yes, don’t fret. He didn’t go without telling me.’ She tried to laugh, but it came out shaky and unconvincing.
    â€˜Naomi?’
    â€˜Don, I wonder if you could get a car to swing by, just take a quick look around. Nothing urgent, but . . .?’
    â€˜Naomi? I mean, course I will, but what is it?’
    â€˜I’ve just had a strange phone call,’ she said, oddly relieved to have said it out loud.
    â€˜A nuisance call?’ His turn to laugh now. ‘What was it, a heavy breather?’
    â€˜If it had been, I wouldn’t be bothering you,’ she said. ‘I’d have got Napoleon to bark down the phone. No, Don, it was something weirder than that. You know that journalist that died?’
    â€˜Dale. That one?’
    â€˜Yes, well someone just called me and played a message from her down the phone. She sounded scared, Don. And whoever it was wanted me scared too.’
    â€˜Sounds like they succeeded. Right, love, I’ll get someone to you. You spoken to Alec yet?’
    â€˜No, I’ll talk to him later. There’s nothing he can do right now. Thanks, Don, I appreciate it.’
    She rang off and sat clutching the mobile as though it was a lifeline, keeping her connected to the sane and ordinary world. Listening again, she could discern no out of the ordinary noises, nothing that should not be there, but the sense of unease grew nonetheless, prowling like some solid, feral thing along the hallway outside of the bedroom door.
    As it happened, the satnav got them to their destination. A lone house set back from a long, empty road.
    â€˜This is it?’
    â€˜Well, there’s nothing else here,’ Alec said. They pulled into the drive and parked up outside the house. Two other cars could be seen, tucked in at the side. The house itself was largely hidden from the road by a tall, unkempt hedge.
    Alec glanced at the front door, illuminated by a small porch light. A sign above the door said Police , in faded letters. A rural police station, then? Though the cracked paint on the door, the faded sign and the general untidiness of the front garden indicated it had been out of use for some time.
    The front door opened as Alec and Travers got out of the car, and a tall, heavily built man stood silhouetted in the doorway.
    â€˜Someone’s got a sense of the dramatic,’ Travers muttered.
    The figure stepped out into the arched porch and his features came into view, illuminated now by the scanty light. Alec noted a flat face and a broken nose.
    â€˜DCI Travers and DI Friedman, I presume? Nick, good to see you again. Good, come along in, apologies for all the mystery, I’ll explain why we’re meeting here if you care to step inside. Good.’
    The word ‘good’ seemed to be a tick, Alec noted. The man’s tone, however, noted no such approbation.
    He turned, and Alec followed him – Travers, Alec noted, pausing to glance around before bringing up the rear. The stranger’s voice was accented, a lilt that was vaguely Scottish, Alec thought, though with a touch of something more angular. Birmingham, perhaps? Alec gave up.
    They were led into what looked as if it had been the front office, uncarpeted and with