Eye Snatcher Read Free Page B

wall.
    “No sign. It looks like the perpetrator used a condom.”
    “Course he did,” Brian said. “Which sick fucker would want to be found guilty of this?”
    “Any prints?” Brad asked.
    Jeeves shook his head. Pulled off his gloves and washed his hands. “No prints yet. And no evidence of tissue under the nails or on the body either. But we’ll see what rears its head over the next few hours.”
    “That all?” Brian asked.
    Jeeves nodded. “All for now.”
    It was strange seeing Jeeves so taken aback, so stunned. He was usually calm and steady even in the sickest of circumstances. Brian always thought he was so controlled that there had to be something weird about him. But today, he wasn’t faking his posh accent that he usually did when he was giving a report. He wasn’t trying to get one up on Brian and Brad.
    He was decidedly human.
    And that was terrifying.
    Brian and Brad left Jeeves’ office in a hurry. Headed down the corridors where officers buzzed by, nodded their heads at Brian. Brian said hi to them in return, but he didn’t know half of their names as it was.
    And after what he’d just seen in Jeeves’ office, he knew even fewer.
    He did his best to inhale the scents of deodorants and aftershaves and coffee as he walked through the corridor, did all he could to get the image of the poor kid on the slab out of his mind, but he wasn’t sure he’d be getting rid of that for the rest of his life.
    Brad pushed open the double doors leading back to the main offices. Faces blurred by. Voices chattered on, rattling in Brian’s ears as the rain bounced off the upper-floor windows of the Preston Police Station. Outside, it was grey, and due to the torrential rain it was impossible to see the view of Preston but for the lights of cars stuck in traffic jams.
    “Need to check on missing persons,” Brad said. “Can’t see a boy that age going missing for a couple of days and no reports being made. Carter, over here.”
    Samantha Carter, who’d recently taken the role of Detective Inspector, walked over from her desk with a coffee in hand. She had gorgeous, chocolate brown hair. A little mole above her plump lips that added to her sexiness. She was a brilliant officer, and one that Brian had to admit he’d had an innocent crush on for quite some time. She walked over with her black blazer and trousers on, white shirt unbuttoned at the collar underneath, and she whistled. “Jesus Christ. You two okay? Got Ebola or something?”
    “The Jonnie Doe,” Brian said, his throat tight and raw.
    Carter’s face dropped into seriousness as she sipped on her coffee. “Ah. I heard about that.”
    “You have any missing persons reports over the last few days? Specifically boys aged around ten, eleven?”
    Brian and Brad followed Carter back to her desk. Carter leaned over. Her workspace smelled of perfume and was filled with origami swans and bundles of elastic bands. Way too messy for Brian’s liking. He liked a clean desk. He liked to know where everything was.
    Sure, he hadn’t quite been that way when he was in a state a few years ago back when his marriage to Vanessa broke down, but times changed.
    “A few from the last couple of weeks but nothing abnormal,” Carter said. “And most of them were resolved before the forty-eight hour window slammed shut anyway.”
    “Great,” Brian said. “A little Jonnie Doe with no identification. Just what we—”
    “Wait, wait—we do have one. Sam Betts. Jean Betts, his mum, she reported him missing two days ago. Went for a walk with his doggie in the evening. Dog showed up on its lead but no sign of Sam.”
    “Do we have a picture?”
    “Hold on,” Carter said, tapping around on the keyboard. “Yep. School photo from last year, so he might’ve changed a little. Here you go.”
    Brian’s stomach tensed when he leaned over to Carter’s screen to take a look. A part of him, a large part of him, begged that he didn’t recognise the kid on the screen.