Murder in the Frame by Dave Warner

Author:Dave Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ligature Pty Limited
Published: 2021-11-09T02:15:23+00:00

10

It was close to fifty minutes before Fleur wheeled the Mercedes through the police cordon that surrounded Nina Yillow’s apartment block. Her excellent driving would have seen them there ten minutes earlier had not Hilary Paul insisted on being dropped off at the city office block that housed her paper. She had wanted to accompany Zirk to the scene, but had been persuaded that all she would accomplish would be to have him banned as well as her. With that would go her lifeline to exclusive information. That argument and a bottle of Pol Roger had been enough to swing her cooperation. Zirk had absolutely no intention of passing on any critical information to Hilary, but this wasn’t the time for going into that detail.

The burly sergeant who intercepted the Mercedes informed them they would not be able to drive into the car park as various scientific teams were combing the area. Fleur angled the car off the road a few hundred metres down the slope that led up towards the block, and made her own preparations to accompany her boss to the crime scene. He quickly skittled those ambitions, ordering her to wait indefinitely.

‘But that’s not fair. You could be ages,’ she whined.

‘Good opportunity to learn your lines.’ Zirk didn’t even look back as he started up the incline.

It took Zirk two or three minutes to make the car park, where indeed he was able to see the glowing parkas of various police units busying themselves over patches of bitumen. He gave his credentials to the constable guarding the entrance door of the units and walked quickly past a small knot of residents who appeared to be giving statements to other police in the foyer. Zirk noted one of these was Mrs Krantz. She was cradling a poodle, stroking its back soothingly, while speaking volubly to a young detective who appeared to be writing every syllable into a notebook which was impossibly small for such a transcription. Just as the tall one passed, she looked up and their eyes met. Her face was seized by recognition, then colonised in a breath by perplexity. Zirk knew, even as he sidestepped into the alcove that housed the lift, that her fat finger would be pointing him out to the detective as a possible suspect.

There were three floors in the building, four units per floor. Nina Yillow and the late Buzz Shaw’s apartment was on the second floor. Zirk stepped out of the lift to find the door open and Foster just inside in conversation with a uniformed policewoman. As Zirk arrived and stood on the threshold, unsure as to whether he was permitted to enter, she left Foster and made for the lift.

‘It’s all right.’

Foster crooked a finger and Zirk moved in two paces.

‘That was the latest from the hospital. She’s in surgery.’

‘Any idea of her chances?’

‘Too early. The ambulance guys said all her vital signs were okay. That’s all we know.’

The only other policeman still in the apartment was quietly going about the room examining nooks and crannies.

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.