Read Blood Whispers for Free Online Page B

minutes’ walk from Glasgow’s city centre. Keira was killing time till her 10 a.m. appointment. It was still only 9.50 and she was already on her third cigarette: if she kept smoking at this rate she’d be all out of tobacco before lunch.
    Keira was habitually early for appointments. It was a trait she found irritating in herself, but she couldn’t help it. This morning, however, it had worked to her advantage: given her some more time to think.
    The conversation with Jay-Go the night before had been unsettling. She was trying to figure out whose best interests would be served by making this knowledge public, but so far she had drawn a blank.
    Then there was the death threat against Kaltrina. Jay-Go couldn’t possibly have known the importance of this girl’s co-operation in the case that was being built against Fisnik Abazi, but someone did; and that someone had passed the information on to Jay-Go in the knowledge that it would find its way back to her. It was this train of thought that had kept Keira up for most of the night. As soon as she was back from visiting her grandmother in Dumfries she would track Jay-Go down and find out who he’d been hanging out with. In the meantime she would have to be even more careful. If nothing else, it had made Keira more determined than ever that no more harm would come to the girl.
    A voice behind her made her jump.
    ‘Your office have just called and asked if you could get in touch. Sounded serious.’
    Advocate Depute Patrick Sellar appeared over her shoulder. He was a short wiry man in his mid fifties, with a ratty face and a ghoulish complexion. Long strands of greying hair were swept across his balding pate and there was a faint odour of decay if he stood too close. He gave Keira the creeps. She’d come across him in court a few times, so she was aware that – despite appearances – he was sharp to the touch, and liked nothing better than a good scrap. If you took him on, your defence was likely to bleed to death through a thousand tiny, painful incisions.
    The slimeball was not to be underestimated.
    ‘Lost your mobile?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Battery dead?’
    ‘Brain tumours.’
    Sellar made a face. ‘The frequency they transmit microwaves at isn’t in the same bandwidth as the ones that cause cancer.’
    Arsehole! thought Keira.
    ‘So you don’t use one.’
    ‘I do. I just don’t let them use me. I’m not quite as reliant on one as everybody else seems to be. If anything, I find life a little more tolerable without them.’
    He still wasn’t convinced.
    ‘What about emergencies?’
    ‘Depends what you define as an emergency.’
    ‘Do you want to use mine?’
    ‘I’ll head straight back there at the end of our meeting, but thank you. And thanks for seeing me today instead of tomorrow. I’m sorry to muck you about,’ she said, following him through the small lobby.
    ‘Not at all. Your secretary gave the impression you were jetting off somewhere. Business or pleasure?’
    ‘Neither. A family matter. And not exactly “jetting off”: driving to Dumfries.’
    As they reached the stairs, Sellar announced, ‘There is a lift, but it’s only two storeys. I prefer to walk,’ as though his was the only opinion that mattered. He indicated for Keira to go first.
    Keira walked up the red-carpeted stairs ahead of him, conscious of his eyes on her backside.
    Nether of them spoke again until they were inside his office.
    ‘You were probably surprised I agreed to see you at all,’ said Sellar as he eased himself into the large swivel chair behind his glass-topped desk, ‘given that I’m not known for doing deals.’
    ‘It did cross my mind,’ replied Keira taking her place on the other side of the desk.
    ‘I keep hearing good things about you. Wanted to see for myself how you operate. Would it be fair to say you’re a promising up-and-comer?’
    ‘I’ve never really assessed my career, or the path it’s taking. I just do what I do.’ She uncrossed her