A Darker Shade of Blue Read Online Free Page B

A Darker Shade of Blue
Book: A Darker Shade of Blue Read Online Free
Author: John Harvey
Tags: Mystery
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right? Straight away. Meantime, I’ll go and have a word with him. Okay?’
    Emma smiled uncertainly, nodded thanks and ushered the children away.
    After spending time in various hostels and a spell sleeping rough, Pitcher, with the help of the local housing association, had found a place to rent in Sneinton. A one-room flat with a sink and small cooker in one corner and a shared bathroom and toilet on the floor below. Whitemore sat on the single chair and Pitcher sat on the sagging bed.
    â€˜I know why you’re here,’ Pitcher said. ‘It’s about Emma. What I said.’
    â€˜You frightened her.’
    â€˜I know. I lost me temper, that’s all.’ He shook his head. ‘Being there, her an’ the kids, a family, you know? An’ then her chuckin’ me out. You wouldn’t understand. Why would you? But I felt like shit. A piece of shit. An’ I meant it. What I said. Not the kids, not harmin’ them. I wouldn’t do that. But topping myself …’ He looked at Whitemore despairingly. ‘It’s what I’ll do. I swear it. I will.’
    â€˜Don’t talk like that,’ Whitemore said.
    â€˜Why the hell not?’
    Whitemore leaned towards him and lowered his voice. ‘It’s hard, I know. And I do understand. Really, I do. But you have to keep going. Move on. Look – here – you’ve got this place, right? A flat of your own. It’s a start. A new start. Look at it like that.’
    He went across to Pitcher and rested a hand on his shoulder, not knowing how convincing his half-truths and platitudes had been.
    â€˜Ben Leonard, you talked to him before. I’ll see if I can’t get him to see you again. It might help sort a few things out. Okay? But in the meantime, whatever you do, you’re to keep away from Emma. Right, Darren? Emma and the children.’ Whitemore tightened his grip on Pitcher’s shoulder before stepping clear. ‘Keep right away.’
    It was a little over a week later the call came through, waking Whitemore from his sleep. The voice was brisk, professional, a triage nurse at the Queen’s Medical Centre, accident and emergency. ‘We’ve a young woman here, Emma Laurie, she’s quite badly injured. Some kind of altercation with a partner? She insisted that I contact you, I hope that’s all right. Apparently she’s worried about the children. Three of them?’
    â€˜Are they there with her?’
    â€˜No. At home, apparently.’
    â€˜On their own?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I don’t think so. Maybe a neighbour? I’m afraid she’s not making a lot of sense.’
    Whitemore dropped the phone and finished pulling on his clothes.
    *
    The house was silent: the blood slightly tacky to the touch. One more room to go. The bathroom door was bolted from the inside and Whitemore shouldered it free. Darren Pitcher was sitting on the toilet seat, head slumped forward, one arm trailing over the bath, the other dangling towards the floor. Long, vertical cuts ran down the insides of both arms, almost from elbow to wrist, slicing through the horizontal scars from where he had harmed himself before. Blood had pooled along the bottom of the bath and around his feet. A Stanley knife rested on the bath’s edge alongside an oval of pale green soap.
    Whitemore crouched down. There was a pulse, still beating faintly, at the side of Pitcher’s neck.
    â€˜Darren? Can you hear me?’
    With an effort, Pitcher raised his head. ‘See, I did it. I said I would.’ A ghost of a smile lingered in his eyes.
    â€˜The children,’ Whitemore said. ‘Where are they?’
    Pitcher’s voice was a sour whisper in his face. ‘The shed. Out back. I didn’t want them to see this.’
    As Pitcher’s head slumped forward, Whitemore dialled the emergency number on his mobile phone.
    Downstairs he switched on the kitchen light; there was a

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