Read No Reason To Die for Free Online

sort of protection from the elements with his body’s bulk.
    ‘Allow me,’ said Kelly, stepping smartly forward and cupping his hands around the pathologist’s cigarette end.
    ‘What the fuck are you doing here, Kelly?’ asked the doctor conversationally, his small Hitler-likemoustache bristling as he spoke. He and Kelly went back a long way. Kelly respected Audley Richards because of his reputation for professionalism, and was prepared to overlook his perennial grumpiness. Dr Richards, on the other hand, had always made it quite clear to Kelly that he saw no use whatsoever for journalists in general, and that he was particularly incensed merely by Kelly’s presence on earth. This did not, however, prevent him from gratefully taking advantage of the shelter provided by Kelly’s cupped hands in order to finally light up.
    ‘Just driving by,’ said Kelly. ‘Or trying to.’
    Richards grunted around his cigarette, which had finally begun to burn surprisingly well under the circumstances.
    ‘I think I may know the victim,’ Kelly continued.
    ‘Poor sod,’ said Audley Richards. Kelly eyed him quizzically. Poor sod because he was dead, or poor sod because he had been unlucky enough even to have met Kelly in passing? Kelly wasn’t at all sure. But while he was still working it out, Sergeant Smythe approached and touched him lightly on one arm.
    ‘Right, you can have a look now, if you wish.’ Sergeant Smythe turned to the pathologist. ‘Unless you have any objections, Dr Richards? Unorthodox, I know, but the lad doesn’t seem to have any identification papers on him at all, and we do need to find out who he is.’
    ‘No objections, Sergeant. Nothing more I can do. The whole thing’s perfectly straightforward, if you ask me. One word of warning.’ Audley Richards extended a thumb in the general direction of Kelly. ‘It won’t be if he gets involved.’
    ‘You know this man, Doctor?’
    ‘Oh, yes, I know him, Sergeant. Just make sure his coat button isn’t a camera, that’s all.’
    The sergeant looked puzzled. Kelly stepped past him before he had time to change his mind and approached the paramedics who were now loading their stretcher into the ambulance.
    ‘The sergeant says I can have a look,’ he began.
    The older of the two paramedics looked towards Sergeant Smythe, who nodded his assent, albeit a little uncertainly.
    The body on the stretcher was entirely covered by a blanket. The second paramedic pulled it back, exposing the face of the dead young man.
    There didn’t seem to be a mark on him. Kelly had mentally prepared himself for a gruesome sight. But this lad just looked as if he were in a deep sleep. Whatever injuries he had sustained must have been solely to his body. His face remained untouched and Kelly had no problem at all identifying him.
    Sergeant Smythe had followed him over to the ambulance. Kelly turned round to face him.
    ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes. It is the lad I met in the pub.’
    ‘Right,’ responded Smythe. ‘You and I had better have a chat then, hadn’t we, Mr Kelly.’
    He led Kelly over to his patrol car and gestured to one of the paramedics to follow them. The interior light snapped on as the sergeant opened the nearside rear passenger door. There was already a man sitting in the back seat, and Kelly registered at once that this must be the lorry driver. He had a wide, plumpish face, etched with laughter lines around his eyes and mouth, indicating that he was probably a jovial good-humoured sort. At that moment, however, he appeared anything but jovial. His skin was so pale itlooked almost as if all the blood had been drained from him, his eyes were red-rimmed and bright with shock, and he was trembling.
    ‘OK, mate,’ said the sergeant quite gently. ‘The ambulance boys are going to look after you now. All right?’
    Obediently, the lorry driver climbed out of the car. His legs buckled slightly as he tried to stand up. The paramedic put a supportive arm around him