Missing (The Cass Lehman Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

pulled up to the boom gate at the entry to the dump, but there was no one in the booth. Dave rolled down his window and pressed the button on a small intercom box. Fetid air wafted through his window, making them screw up their faces. Ed switched to breathing through his mouth.
    A tinny voice answered and Dave gave their details. The boom lifted and they followed the road around to the large tin shed where they’d been directed. A cluster of vehicles, marked and unmarked, announced the crime scene. A single figure bathed in bright sunlight stood next to the cars, waiting for them. Her short cropped hair glowed like a red halo. She was wearing jeans, army boots and a plain white t-shirt.
    ‘Check her out. Looks like they sent out a welcoming party,’ Dave said.
    A smile tugged at the corners of Ed’s mouth. Things were about to get interesting. ‘That’s Phil.’
    ‘Phil … as in your old partner Phil?’
    ‘The same.’
    ‘You didn’t tell me she was hot in a GI Jane kind of way.’
    ‘Don’t even think about going there.’
    ‘What, I’m not good enough for her?’ Dave said it with a smile but Ed could hear the edge that had crept into his voice.
    ‘No, you have the wrong tackle.’
    ‘She’s a dyke? Really? You never told me.’
    ‘I didn’t think it was relevant.’

    Dave parked the car next to the rest of the vehicles and they climbed out.
    ‘Well, look what the cat dragged in,’ Phil said. ‘Do we have to find a body for you to show your ugly mug around these parts?’
    ‘Looks like it.’
    ‘You’d be Dave. Hope you brought a change of clothes. This isn’t really the place for Armani’s summer collection.’
    ‘Nice to finally meet you.’ Dave held out his hand but Phil ignored it.
    ‘You’ll want these, and some gloves.’ She threw some paper masks at them.
    Dave fumbled but managed to catch his before it hit the dust.
    ‘This way.’ She strode off, leaving them to scurry behind.
    ‘Wow, I think she hates me,’ Dave said.
    ‘Phil hates anyone from MCIB.’
    ‘She doesn’t hate you .’
    ‘No, she loves me, but sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.’
    They followed Phil inside the compacting shed, a huge structure made of corrugated iron. Open windows just below the roofline let the heat and stink out, or at least tried to. To one side was a towering mound of rubbish. A large tractor with impressive spiked rollers sat on top of it, like a sleeping dragon. Crime scene techs were also on top, clustered just in front of the tractor’s front roller. A group of uniformed officers and men in Hi-Vis gear stood at the base, talking in low voices. Two front-end loaders stood off to one side. More sleeping monsters.

    ‘The remains are up there,’ Phil pointed to the group on top of the mound. ‘My new partner Steve’s up there too. I’ll introduce you. He’s like a younger, less fucked-up version of you, Ed.’
    ‘So you’re not missing me?’ Ed said.
    ‘Not a chance.’ Phil snorted and began to climb up a ramp that had been flattened into one end of the mound to give the tractors access.
    ‘Watch your footing. It’s pretty solid but sometimes a bit sticks up and snags your legs.’
    They walked up the incline, picking their way over compacted rubbish that seemed to consist of everything from bagged junk to broken furniture and old clothing.
    ‘This is where the household rubbish trucks come to unload during the week. Private dumpers come here on the weekend. The front-end loaders over there push it all into a mound and then the big boy up there compacts it. This shed sits over huge underground passages. There are trapdoors under this mound. Every so often they open them up and drop the compacted stuff into trucks below. When the trucks are full, they take the load to other parts of the dump for landfill.’
    ‘Wow, sounds like you know a lot about waste disposal.’ Dave gave her his Prince Charming smile, flashing a set of teeth straight out of a toothpaste