Read Dancing With the Virgins for Free Online Page A

fine.'
    ‘ You're probably suffering from shock. We ought to get a doctor to look at you.'
    ‘ No. I'll be all right, Owen. ’
    The briefing centre was empty, but warm. The black board on the far wall contained white chalk scrawl that gleamed in the sudden light. The words meant nothing to Mark now. In the corner, the assistant's desk was scattered with papers — reports and forms, the encroaching paperwork of the modern Peak Park Ranger. Soon, a computer would arrive, even here .
    Mark needed no encouragement to collapse into a chair near the electric heater. Owen watched him, his face creased with concern, then turned to switch on the kettle.
    ‘ Plenty of sugar in your tea, for the shock. ’
    Sugar, and a reassuring voice, thought Mark. The things that people needed were simple, really — such as stability and their own part to play in life. But it was Owen he had learned to look to for stability. Now he had an inexplicable fear that it would be snatched from his life again.
    ‘ The things people leave on the moor,' said Owen. 'Litter and rubbish. You'd think they'd at least take their dead bodies home with them. ’
    This time Mark couldn't smile .
    Owen looked at him. 'I did tell you to keep in touch, Mark,' he said.
    ‘ I tried, Owen. But I couldn't get an answer.' Owen grimaced. 'Those radios. ’
    I mustn't make him feel guilty, thought Mark. Don't make him take this burden on himself as well as every thing else. Mark was aware that there were things he didn't know about Owen, that in their relationship he only saw the surface of the older man. But there was one thing he did know. Owen needed no more burdens .
    *
    Ben Cooper jumped at the hand on his shoulder and tensed his body for trouble. He cursed himself for having allowed someone to find him on his own in a vulnerable position .
    The hand felt like a great weight. The tall student was massively built, with a red, sweaty face and a squashed nose. He leaned down and spoke into Cooper's ear with a voice that growled like a boulder in a landslide. At first, Cooper had no idea what he was saying. He thought the noise in the bar must have damaged his hearing permanently. He shook his head. The student leaned closer, breathing beer fumes on his neck.
    ‘ You are Constable Cooper, aren't you?'
    ‘ Yes.'
    ‘ I said there's someone on the phone for you. Some daft bastard who wants to know when it rained last. ’
     
    *
    Ten minutes later, Cooper slid into the passenger seat of a Ford Mondeo as it scattered gravel on the sports ground car park.
    ‘ It's a what, Todd?'
    ‘ A cyclist from Sheffield,' said Weenink. 'She was found in the middle of the stones on Ringham Moor. ’
    ‘ You mean the Nine Virgins?'
    ‘ That's the place. You got it in one. I can see why the DCI loves you.'
    ‘ Everybody knows the Nine Virgins,' said Cooper.
    ‘ I wish you'd introduce me, then. I can't find even one virgin where I live. ’
    Cooper could detect the sweet smell of beer in the car. He wondered if Weenink was fit to drive. It would be ironic if they got stopped by a Traffic patrol. Todd could lose his job, if he was breathalysed.
    ‘ Is Mr Tailby in charge up there?'
    ‘ He's SIO until they manage to pull a superintendent in from somewhere,' said Weenink. 'He's not a happy man. He's got a wide-open scene, public access, SOCOs scattered over a space as big as four football pitches. Also, he has a temper on him as foul as my breath on a Saturday night. But we have to report to DI Hitchens. And let me tell you, we're bloody lucky Hitchens arrived.'
    ‘ Yeah?'
    ‘ Earlier on, it was DI Armstrong at the scene. The Wicked Witch of West Street.'
    ‘ Don't say that.'
    ‘ The Bitch of Buxton, then.'
    ‘ Shut up, Todd. ’
    Weenink stopped at the junction of the A6, and seemed to spend a long time waiting for distant traffic to pass on the main road. Finally, he pulled out behind a tanker carrying milk for Hartington Stilton.
    ‘ You don't understand, Ben,' he said.