Tastes Like Fear (D.I. Marnie Rome 3) Read Online Free

before easing his hand free from the man’s grip.
    ‘Sorry,’ Calum kept saying, to the nurse, to Noah. ‘I’m sorry.’
    Marnie was in the corridor, waiting.
    ‘He didn’t see a girl,’ Noah said. ‘Do you think Joe Eaton got it wrong?’
    ‘Something made Joe swerve. He wasn’t drunk and it wasn’t raining. Traffic conditions were good. Why invent a girl? Especially a half-dressed girl covered in scratches.’
    She took out her phone. ‘We need to know who else was on that road. DC Tanner’s looking at CCTV. Whether or not she’s May Beswick, this girl’s in trouble.’ She dialled a number, held the phone to her ear. ‘Ed, call me when you get this. I need to pick your brains.’
    Ed Belloc was a victim care officer, one of the best. He and Marnie had been together six months, maybe a little longer.
    ‘Whether or not she’s May Beswick,’ Noah repeated. ‘You think there’s a chance it’s her?’
    ‘I don’t know. I’d like to hope so. At least … This girl was running from someone. Injured by the sound of it. She didn’t stop after causing the crash. I’m wondering whether she’s gone to ground, in a refuge if she was lucky enough to find one. Ed will know the ones around Battersea, how easy or otherwise it is to find a safe place in that part of town when you’re desperate.’
    ‘She could be desperate because she caused the crash. If Logan dies, or Ruth does … She could be scared of us. ’
    Behind them, through the wall, the thin sound of Calum Marsh’s distress.
    ‘Let’s find her,’ Marnie said.

5
    Aimee
    Nails scratched at the door. ‘Food’s ready. He wants you with us.’
    I didn’t want to eat, so I didn’t answer. Ashleigh came into the room, fighting the door. Harm had fitted a weighted hinge; it banged shut if you weren’t careful. ‘You can eat with us, he says.’
    ‘I’m not hungry.’
    ‘Don’t be stupid.’ She looked around. ‘And don’t land me in the shit. Again.’ Her eyes were greedy, going everywhere. I’d got too much stuff.
    Harm was always giving me presents. The hairbrush was the latest, real silver, hallmarked. Ashleigh walked to where it sat on a joke of a dressing table with light bulbs round the mirror like I was the star in a soft porn movie. ‘Nice.’ Her voice was ironed flat. She hated me. She didn’t touch the brush, though. She didn’t dare. The light bulbs gave her a rash.
    ‘You need to come and eat with us.’ She walked to the door. ‘Get up.’
    I lay on the bed a bit longer before I did as I was told. She hated me, but she was right. I couldn’t land her in the shit again, not so soon after the last time.
    Downstairs, the others were waiting around the table. No Gracie, which meant she was in trouble again, confined to her room. Ashleigh had started calling her Dis gracie. It was funny, except it wasn’t. I felt sick for her. Not that I was doing any better. I was worse off than any of them, no amount of silver hairbrushes changed that.
    The kitchen smelt hot and brown and I wanted to puke at the thought of whatever was cooking on the stove. Tins, always out of tins. I’d rather starve, except of course I wouldn’t. I’d spent enough nights starving on the streets. Starving’s for rich kids who’re never more than an arm’s reach from a decent meal. I’d eat this shit, whatever it was, and be grateful for it.
    May smiled at me, sitting very straight in her chair, her hair brushed neat, all of her covered with the school uniform. The tights made her legs itch, like mine. Neither one of us dared to scratch, though, not at the table. Ashleigh took her place, pulling a napkin into her lap, hiding all trace of the bitch she was upstairs.
    At the stove, Harm was serving brown food on to grey plates. He was moving more slowly than usual, as if he needed to remind us how this worked – marking our places. My fingers twitched, until I stopped them. Anything different, any change to the rhythm made me nervous.
    Everything