Read A Deadly Imperfection: Calladine & Bayliss 3 for Free Online

with you working then you’ll have to sleep in the spare room,’ she whined,
    ‘I thought this was my house,’ he said, rubbing his stubbly face.  ‘So shouldn’t that be you in the spare room?’
    ‘Come on Detective, you don’t really mean that, do you?’  She ran her hand provocatively over his naked chest down to his navel.  ‘You’d be far too lonely,’ she said, slapping his belly.
    Minx that she was, but she right, he would be lonely without her and not just in bed either.  Calladine picked up his mobile from the table – Ruth.  What now, he wondered, calling her back.
    ‘We’ve got another one, Guv,’ she said at once.  ‘And it’s not good.  One of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen, and I’m not kidding you.  I’m on the common, near the small copse of trees opposite the bus stop.  You need to get down here fast.  You need to see this because we need to get the body moved quickly.’
    ‘Another one,’ he queried?  His brain wasn’t functioning on all cylinders yet.
    ‘Another ‘ tarot card murder’ ,’ Ruth enlightened him patiently.
    ‘So that’s what we’re calling it now?’
    ‘It’s what the press will call it if we don’t get our act together,’ she told him before his handset went dead.
    ‘Got to go,’ he told Lydia as he jumped out of bed.  ‘Nasty case shaping up – could be gone all day.’
    ‘You haven’t forgotten I’m seeing your cousin later – visiting him in Strangeways.’
    ‘No,’ he lied.  ‘But why you’re still chasing after that thug Fallon is beyond me.’
    ‘Because he has a story to tell, Tom and he’s going to tell it to me – exclusively.  And when he does it’ll blast my career to the sky,’ she enthused rolling onto her back and stretching out her long limbs.
    ‘Waste of time, he’s using you.  He’ll have an angle, take my word for it.’
    ‘Don’t care,’ she sniffed.  ‘I need this, and I won’t be put off.’
    ‘The man tried to kill me.’
    ‘And I saved you, so don’t cross me on this, it won’t go down well.’
    Once he’d showered and dressed he went back into the bedroom and kissed her mouth gently.  She’d gone back to sleep – okay for some.
    The sun was just rising as he arrived at Leesdon Common.  He parked by the road and walked towards the taped off area.  There was a smell pervading the entire area, the unmistakable smell of burnt flesh.  He shivered, poor bugger, whoever he’d been.  Ruth and Rocco were on the scene and had things organised.
    ‘Guv,’ Rocco shouted to him.  ‘Think we’ve got an ID.’
    Calladine nodded a brief greeting as the young DC spoke but it was the sight of Albert North’s body, still sat on the bench that had his full attention.  His lower body and clothing looked practically intact but the upper half was a mess.  How could anyone ID that?
    ‘He must have been walking his dog,’ Rocco explained.  ‘Eventually it took itself off home, and his nephew,’ he said, nodding at the corpse, ‘came looking for him.  He’s Albert North, lived on the Hobfield.’
    Calladine knew North alright, and where he lived.  He’d spent a great deal of his time as a rookie cop chasing after the reprobate. He’d been a bad lot back then and from the look of him, he was still upsetting people today.
    ‘Can the nephew say for sure that this is North?’  He asked doubtfully.
    ‘He recognises his clothing, what’s left of it and the dog certainly knew him.  Don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog more distraught.’
    ‘How long ago?’  Calladine asked, turning to Doc. Hoyle who was with the ambulance people.
    ‘Last night, I’d say,’ he confirmed.
    ‘So what links it to the other case?’
    ‘This, Inspector,’ Julian Batho offered, showing him the tarot card found in Albert’s pocket, now secured in an evidence bag.  ‘We’ve got an empty fuel can too.  I’ll get it back to the lab and see what’s what.  I’ll be in touch.’
    Calladine