Bloodstream Read Free

been missing for over three weeks. Vanished, one Thursday night. Into thin air and everything that went with it. Murphy and Rossi had been helping the short-staffed F Division in Liverpool South investigate Amy’s disappearance. Their division in North Liverpool had been almost overstaffed at that point. The newly created Major Crime Unit now in existence, following a few years of increasingly high-profile cases. Higher command hadn’t spread resources widely or anything as logical as that. Instead, they had simply bulked up the numbers in Liverpool North.
    The Amy Maguire case might have fallen through the cracks if it wasn’t for the fact nothing major had come through their doors in almost a month. Liverpool South had a multitude of other cases to deal with, so the investigation had been shifted north and Murphy was about to hand it off to a detective constable to handle, when he’d seen something in the file which piqued his interest.
    Amy’s mother, Stacey. A name and an address he remembered well.
    A few days after she had disappeared, Murphy and Rossi had gone down to the shop where she’d worked. Rain had been coming in bursts, threatening to soak the ground and anyone in its way. Rossi had struggled to hold an umbrella over them both while Murphy looked towards the shuttered-up shop as they stood in the last place CCTV had caught Amy’s image. The camera only caught the area immediately outside the shop entrance. Amy had left the edge of the frame and disappeared into darkness. Police tape strewn almost randomly across the street, as uniformed constables struggled to keep order. A small number of angry voices with nothing better to do, snarling at the plain-clothed detectives, screaming for a justice the country didn’t provide.
    Murphy blinked and was back in the interview room.
    ‘Interview terminated at ten fifteen a.m.’
    Amy Maguire was still alive. She had to be.
    Murphy walked ahead of Rossi as they left the quiet of the room and stepped out into the corridor. He pushed through into the stretch of corridor that led towards the main incident room, making an effort to keep the door open for Rossi, before letting it swing shut behind him. Calm to cacophony in a single walk.
    ‘How long have we worked together for now? And don’t you dare say “too long”.’
    ‘Must be over three years. Why?’
    ‘Have we ever had someone come in and confess to a murder they haven’t committed?’
    ‘A few times. Usually they don’t get this far though. Uniforms downstairs tend to see them coming. Obviously slipped through the cracks this time.’
    ‘It’s not like I’m averse to people confessing crimes to me – I’ve heard enough of them in the past – but it doesn’t half piss me off when someone confesses to something that hasn’t happened.’
    ‘Wait up, will you . . .
Mannaggia.
’
    Murphy slowed a little to allow Rossi to match his step, then carried on towards the new office near the back of the building. Their old incident room was now used by the Matrix team who focused on drugs and gangs, leaving domestic violence, trafficking and the occasional murder for Murphy and his team. He wasn’t sure which was worse.
    He threw open the door and walked to his desk at the back of the room past the array of staff now technically under his supervision. In his peripheral vision he saw his boss through the glass of her internal office, but he kept his gaze forward, unwilling to be beckoned within just yet.
    Murphy slammed his fist into the back of his chair, instantly regretting it as it spun away and into the wall.
    ‘I’ve told you not to hit it so hard,’ Rossi said, sitting down at the desk opposite Murphy’s. ‘You’ll end up breaking a bone. We’ll have to get you a punchbag in here or something, if you’re going to spit your dummy out every time you don’t get your own way.’
    Murphy made some sort of guttural noise at her and dragged his chair back. He sat down, shaking his right hand