Blood Loss by Alex Barclay

Author:Alex Barclay [Barclay, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-14T06:00:00+00:00

36

Ren grabbed a coffee and pulled out a magazine she had stolen from reception. It was promoting Summit County, and each town had its own section. It was made up mostly of advertorials, with columns or pages of relevant ads beside them. She saw one ad for The Merlin, then a general article for luxury holiday home lets, and beside that an ad for a company called York Property Management. One of the employees was a fit-looking cheery man with a strong, chiseled face, who by virtue of his age, and unusual surname, appeared to have spawned a most unlikely child.

‘Bob,’ said Ren. ‘Could I pick your tiny mind?’

Bob came over. ‘Sure. Go ahead.’

‘I was flicking through these ads masquerading as a magazine, and came across a gentleman by the name of Gabriel Labati.’ She pointed to the picture. ‘Is the ungainly Jared Labati the offspring of this rugged specimen?’

‘Yes, he is,’ said Bob.

‘So, Gabriel Labati works for York Property Management. Do they manage any of the homes on Wildcard Drive?’

‘Yes. I got Mike’s report here. Two.’

‘Has anyone taken a look around them?’ said Ren. ‘We still don’t know where the girls were kept.’

‘Mike and a few of the other detectives had a look around the outside and there were no signs of a break-in anywhere,’ said Bob. ‘We don’t have probable cause to go inside. The owners won’t give us permission because they’re deferring to York and obviously York is maintaining that no-one could have gotten into the houses because they had the keys, and they’re such an outstanding management company that there was no way anyone could have gotten their hands on them.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Do you know is York where Jared Labati did the work experience Tom Olson mentioned?’

‘I presume so,’ said Bob. ‘Gabriel Labati only has one job.’

‘So Jared would have had access to keys for a lot of houses …’

‘What are you saying?’ said Bob.

‘Just that sometimes people have things that we don’t expect them to have.’

‘Deep,’ said Bob. He glanced down at her mug. ‘You need to slow down on the coffee, missy.’

Ren grabbed the empty mug and stood up. ‘Coffee anyone?’

Bob shook his head. ‘You’ll have a stroke.’

‘I’ll have a coffee, thanks,’ said Cliff.

‘Yeah, me too,’ said Colin.

No thanks.

Ben shouted yes from Gary’s desk at the back of the room. Gary had left him with a stack of statements and was walking toward the door.

Ren stood up.

Whoa. I do not feel right.

She took a few more steps.

Whoa. Something is … I’m going to …

She reached out for the desk.

My head. I need to … zzzzzzzzzzz …

Ren slumped to the floor, landing hard on her side, striking her head off the ground.

‘Jesus Christ,’ said Bob. He bent down beside her and rolled her onto her back. He started to loosen her shirt collar. Gary rushed over and knelt at Ren’s feet, lifting them onto his lap. ‘Cliff, grab me a cushion or something to prop her feet up.’

‘Do you think maybe her belt is too tight?’ said Bob.

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