Read Left for Dead: A Maeve Kerrigan Novella (Maeve Kerrigan Novels) for Free Online Page A

almost out of sight at the top I ran up to join him, two at a time.
    ‘I used to be able to do ‘em like that,’ he said sadly. ‘Youth is wasted on the young.’
    I was brisk. ‘I’m sure you made the most of it at the time. In here?’
    ‘Yeah.’ He went first, without switching on the light. ‘Mind the things on the floor. Just for your own sake, really. It’s not valuable, any of it, but you might come to harm.’
    There was no bed in the room but that was because there was no space for it. Boxes were piled high on all sides, and indefinable clutter filled the floor. Two steps in I had become entangled with a clothes-drying rack that was splayed across my path. I freed myself with some difficulty, avoided a loop of electrical cable and joined the man in his bay window.
    ‘Wow. That is a grandstand view.’ I was looking straight down the side of the main building on the site, straight at the bins. I tried to imagine how the scene had looked when the car had been parked where we found it originally. ‘What did you see? Where did you see him?’
    ‘He was walking around there.’ Number Thirty-Seven pointed, his expression vague, then scratched his belly. ‘By the garage.’
    ‘And how tall would you say he was?’
    ‘No idea.’
    ‘As tall as the man with grey hair standing by the garage door?’ Also known as Charles Godley, God for short.
    ‘Not that tall.’ He squinted. ‘More his size.’
    He was pointing at Andy Styles. I groaned inwardly at the thought of asking Andy how tall he was. He would take it the wrong way, somehow. He would turn it into an opportunity to pick on me about my height.
    ‘Where did he go after he’d walked past the garage?’
    ‘Near the bins. He tried to lift the lid up but they’re locked. Then he walked away.’
    ‘Which direction?’
    ‘I didn’t stay to look. I only watched him for a bit. It was weird that he was wearing his hood up, that’s all I thought. I didn’t know it would be important.’
    ‘You’ve done really well.’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘Definitely.’
    ‘What about a kiss to say thank you?’ He was leaning in as he said it, his wet lips pursed as he aimed for my mouth. I turned my head away and stumbled backwards, hitting the windowsill with a thud.
    ‘Stay back,’ I snapped.
    ‘Don’t be shy.’
    I could have arrested him, if I’d wanted to spend the rest of the shift at the police station processing him into custody. Not appealing. The main thing on my mind was making sure no one found out he’d tried it on with me. I could imagine the comments I’d get.
    ‘I will kick you in the testicles if you so much as breathe on me again,’ I said icily, one hand braced against his chest so he couldn’t get any closer even if he wanted to. I wasn’t even looking at him as I said it. I was looking at the office building, noting that it had a single-storey extension around the back. From this angle, I could see that something waslying on the roof of the extension, but the streetlights weren’t bright enough for me to be able to guess what it was. I started towards the door.
    ‘Hey! Where are you going?’
    ‘Thanks for your help.’
    ‘Come back,’ he called after me, but I was already halfway down the stairs. I banged the front door behind me, wishing I could lock it from the outside to keep him in there indefinitely. I could still feel his eyes on me as I strode across the road to the yards.
    ‘Where are you off to in such a hurry?’ Gary Lovell fell into step beside me. ‘You look a bit flustered. Feeling all right?’
    ‘Never better.’ I skirted the area that the crime-scene officers had sectioned off. ‘Come with me.’
    He did as I asked, all the way to the extension at the back of the main building. He didn’t even ask any questions when I took another pair of gloves out of my pocket and put them on. I looked up at the roof, trying to gauge the height.
    ‘Give me a leg up.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I’m not sure yet.’ I put