Killing State by Jude O'Reilly

Author:Jude O'Reilly [O’Reilly, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788548922
Publisher: Head of Zeus

42

Newcastle

7.40pm. Wednesday, 8th November

Detective Chief Inspector Slim Hardman’s hands rested on the steel desk – the wedding band cutting into the pink flesh. The fat man had an open attitude, a triple-chinned smile that said “Try me – I’ll understand, my friend.”

They’d taken North’s clothes for forensic testing. The white paper suit was cheap and noisy against his legs, his feet sweating in the tight white plimsolls. Under the desk, he rubbed at the ink from his fingertips.

Much good would the fingerprints do them – there was no sign of him on any criminal, or indeed military, database. Michael North worked as a hedge-fund manager for Chalfont Securities. There was a head and shoulders shot of him on the corporate website. He was very well qualified. After all, he had an MBA from Harvard and there were Harvard academics willing to attest to his qualifications. He was pretty sure a Harvard man wouldn’t slit the throat of anyone but a Yale man.

And, bizarrely, he was innocent. Bannerman was dead but Michael North hadn’t killed him. North was working it out in his head. Bannerman had to have been involved. When North showed him Peggy’s notebook, he’d barely been able to control himself. Then again, if he were working with the Board, if he were useful to them, surely he’d still be alive?

North’s mind turned to the man at the quayside. The figure in the riding coat. Standing waiting for the lifeboat to bring in the body of the young banker. Hunkered down. His face grim.

“I already told you, Inspector, I’m an old friend of Peggy Boland. I went to Peggy’s office – as I said I’ve known her for years and I’ve been to her office before.”

He had never been to her office, but try proving it.

“Bannerman was working there. He said she’d left but he didn’t have a contact number for her, so I asked the secretary if she knew where Peggy’s young student lived.”

When you tell a lie, you stick as close to the truth as you can. Snivelling, Mrs Craggs described the stranger who came looking for Peggy’s Chinese prodigy that morning. Tall. Very tall. Broad. Muscled. Close-cropped hair. Hard face. Good-looking if you liked that kind of thing. Which she didn’t. But mean – despite the smile. Dangerous, if you asked her.

And in the chaos of her filing, despite her snot and gulping misery, she found Fangfang’s address – the Oriental Dragon in the worst part of town.

Hardman sent two patrol cars into the city’s West End – prompted by the ear-to-ear slash across the corpse’s throat rather than Mrs Craggs’ instincts. They picked North up a quarter of a mile from the takeaway.

“I’ve never met Professor Bannerman before today, Inspector.” North’s tone was that of a law-abiding citizen shocked by the distasteful business of violent death. “He wasn’t helpful and I may have pointed out that fact, but when I left his office he was alive.”

“You’re a witness then – like a Jehovah’s Witness?” Hardman smoothed his tie over his belly, enjoying his own joke.

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