Ghost in the Machine (DC Scott Cullen Crime Series Book 1) by Ed James

Author:Ed James [James, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2012-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

forty-five

The Scene of Crime unit was based on the ground floor of Leith Walk station. The floor was split in two by a corridor the length of the building. The community policing section on the side fronting Leith Walk was a mixture of windowed rooms for victims and enclosed interview rooms for suspects. The Scene of Crime team occupied the other half, facing into the lane at the rear of the station.

Due to the nature of the work, the SOC section was protected by a locked security door and Cullen had to wait almost a minute before a weaselly man let him in. "Hey, Jimmy," he said to a colleague. "It's the boaker."

Anderson looked up. He laughed at Cullen as he approached. "Puked all over any other crime scenes lately?"

Cullen smiled, trying to humour him. "Not yet, anyway."

"Lucky for you, you didn't bugger up my search too badly."

Cullen had only been fed scraps by Bain and didn't know the full results of the investigation. "I take it there was nothing?"

"Clean as a bloody whistle," said Anderson. "We're either dealing with a pro or a spawny bastard."

Cullen rubbed his neck. "Did you do Caroline's flat as well?"

"Aye, fat lot of good that was," said Anderson. "We know you were there. What were you up to?"

"Having a look around," said Cullen.

Anderson smoothed down his goatee. "Having a good look in her knicker drawer, you dirty bastard."

"I was checking to see if she'd done a runner." Cullen was aware his face had reddened. "Look, can we not get into this? I'm just here to take a look at her laptop."

Anderson frowned. "Laptop?"

"Aye, an Apple one," said Cullen. "It was in the bedroom."

Anderson picked up a pile of paper from his desk and leafed through, before shaking his head. "No laptop, pal."

"There was a laptop in her flat," said Cullen. "It was on the bed."

Anderson looked up. "Nope, no laptop."

"I saw it," said Cullen. "Are you sure it's not listed?"

"If there was one it would've been upstairs with Dave Watson or Charlie Kidd, one of those boys. They deal with all the computers we get in. They all come through us first, mind."

"Could someone have nicked it?" said Cullen.

"Me and Dave went round," said Anderson. "I did the bedroom."

"And you didn't nick it?" said Cullen.

Anderson scowled. "No, I didn't." He put the papers on the table. The top sheet looked like an inventory of Caroline's flat.

Cullen picked up the list, scanning through it as Anderson huffed. "There's a BT Wi-Fi box on this, don't you think that's enough of a clue there would be a laptop there?"

Anderson stared at him for a few seconds then grabbed the sheet off him. "Shite."

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.