Riven Read Online Free

lovebirds?’
    He shrugged. ‘Problem’s with him.’
    ‘How’s that?’
    ‘PB.’
    ‘Sorry?’
    ‘He’s Plymouth Brethren. No drinking, whoring or swearing.’
    ‘Christ, really? No swearing?’
    ‘’Fraid so. Fuckin nightmare.’
    She could imagine Robertson’s welcome at the station. ‘Just another bloody division in the team,’ she muttered.
    He straightened to his full six foot three, looked hurt. ‘The rest of us are okay.’
    ‘You think?’
    He shrugged.
    ‘Well then, let’s refocus: the two boys walked in through the back door intent on robbing the place, instead they found the body and, rather than scarper, they did the concerned citizen bit and called it in?’
    ‘Sounds about right,’ said Ross.
    ‘Let’s go see it then.’ She walked ahead of him, careful of her steps, keeping to the tread plates, conscious that there may be evidence still to be collected, some tiny piece that may help them find the killer.
    She was first through the door. Boots and muddy wellingtons were piled inside and an old wooden coat stand held a good-quality Berghaus outdoor jacket. A camera tripod was propped against the wall. Four oak doors led off from the hall, all open. Through the nearest she could see the body laid out on a tarpaulin and kneeling beside it a stout man with a goatee beard. Professor Callum Fraser.
    She stood in the doorway. ‘Smells like rancid meat in here.’
    Fraser turned from the body, looked her up and down and grinned, ‘DI Wheeler, how very lovely to see you but I thought DCI Stewart might have shown a face.’
    ‘Stewart’s on leave.’ Ross tried not to look at the corpse. Held his breath, turned red in the face.
    ‘Ah. Lucky man being on leave; wish I were off doing something nice.’
    Her mobile rang; she checked the number before answering and instinctively turned away from the body as she spoke briefly to the caller.
    ‘Stewart
was
on two days’ leave,’ Wheeler corrected Ross as she clicked off the phone. ‘He’s on his way into the station. Says he’ll meet us there.’ She turned to face the body.
    ‘Watch your feet please, detectives, there’s still a lot of evidence to be collected.’
    ‘This much blood, Callum, tell me there’s a decent set of footprints?’ Wheeler sounded hopeful.
    ‘Not your lucky day I’m afraid; there are no crisp outlines. Looks like the killer bound his or her feet with something to distort their prints. Towels maybe? The splatter’s been soaked up in places. The footprints are quite indistinct. Except for those excellent specimens.’ He pointed to two sets of fresh, clear prints a short way from the body. ‘But apparently they belong to the two boys who discovered the body.’
    Wheeler moved carefully towards the corpse. Close up she could see the dead man’s face was a mass of pulp, the skin broken and raw. ‘He certainly annoyed somebody.’
    The pathologist nodded. ‘He did that. He was already dead by the time the killer hung him up. A lot of extra effort – a dead weight like this would take a considerable amount of strength. Either that or the killer was bloody angry; the adrenaline in anger can give us almost inhuman strength.’
    ‘Somebody wanted to make a point.’ Ross glanced at the body and away again. ‘A warning maybe?’
    Callum nodded. ‘Could be.’
    ‘What ETD do you have?’ Wheeler could smell stale blood and cupped her hand around her mouth before coughing discreetly into it.
    ‘Well, decomposition’s beginning and rigor’s advanced, so I’d say we’re talking about some time last night. Can’t be more specific at this time; I’ll know more when I get him back to the mortuary.’
    ‘He hardly looks human,’ she sighed. ‘So we’ve got his name and where he worked. Bit strange though, an educational psychologist ending up like this.’
    ‘Usually more gang-related,’ Ross said, ‘this kind of thing.’
    Wheeler peered at the body. Dark eyes bulged back at her. ‘You think he got on the