Looking Good Dead by Peter James

Author:Peter James
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense, Fiction
ISBN: 9780330462594
Publisher: Pan Books
Published: 2008-04-09T04:00:00+00:00

He took a long drag on his cigarette, then blew the smoke out. It tasted so damned good.

Frowning, Cleo asked, ‘Her handbag and her car? Were either of them ever found?’

‘Her car was found the next evening in the short-term car park at Gatwick Airport. But she never used any of her credit cards. The last transactions were on the morning she disappeared, one at Boots for £7.50, one for £16.42 from the local Tesco garage.’

‘She didn’t take anything else? No clothes, no other belongings?’

‘Nothing.’

‘What about CCTV?’

‘There weren’t so many around then; the only footage we got was on the forecourt at the Tesco garage – she was alone and she looked fine. The cashier was an old boy; he said he remembered her because he always noticed the pretty ones and he’d had a bit of a laugh with her. Said she didn’t seem under any duress.’

‘I don’t think a woman would just walk out of her life, leaving everything behind,’ Cleo said. ‘Unless . . .’ She hesitated.

‘Unless?’ he prompted.

Fixing her eyes on him she replied, ‘Unless she was running away from a wife-beater.’ Then she smiled and said gently, ‘You don’t look like a wife-beater to me.’

‘I think her parents still harbour a sneaking suspicion that I’ve got her buried under the cellar floor.’

‘Seriously?’

He drained his glass. ‘I suppose they figure every other avenue has been exhausted.’

‘They actually accused you?’

‘No, they’re sweet people; they wouldn’t do that. But I see it in their faces. They invite me over for the odd drink or Sunday lunch to keep in touch, but what they really want is an update. There’s never much to tell them, and I can see they are looking at me strangely, as if they’re wondering, How much longer can he keep up these lies about Sandy?’

‘That’s terrible,’ Cleo said.

Grace stared at the cluster of gleaming bracelets around Cleo’s wrist, thinking what great taste she had in everything. ‘She was their only child; their lives have been destroyed by her disappearance. I’ve seen it in other situations, from work. People need something to cling to, something to focus their emotions on.’ He took another drag on his cigarette and tapped the ash into the ashtray beside the price tag of his jacket. ‘So, enough about me. I want to know about you. Tell me about the other Cleo Morey.’

‘The other Cleo Morey?’

‘The one you change into when you clock off from the mortuary.’

‘Not yet,’ she teased. ‘I haven’t finished with you yet, not by a long way.’

He saw she had finished her drink also, and hailed the waiter, ordering another for each of them. Then he turned to Cleo. ‘I’m sorry, it’s your turn to answer a question.’

She pulled a face, which made him grin. ‘I want to know,’ he said, ‘why the most beautiful woman in the world is working in a mortuary, doing the most horrible job in the world.’

‘I was a nurse – I did a degree at Southampton University. I wasn’t a very good nurse.

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