Mercy Killing Read Free Page A

more.’
    ‘Yeah, well,’ said Harry. ‘You may want to hold up on that “poor sod” attitude. Control room have already been on to me about this. It’s why I haven’t
left here yet. I’ve spent a couple of minutes taking a look at his warning signs and he’s on the Sex Offenders’ Register. Albie Woodville had a thing for children, especially
those he looked after in children’s homes, plus he hasn’t long come out of prison.’
    ‘Well that narrows it down to only about three-quarters of the country’s population wanting to kill him,’ said Josh. ‘I’ll take a quick look around his place to
make sure there’s nothing obvious jumping out at me at the moment and then wait for you to get here. I’ll have to go soon. I think that firearms have arrived. As usual, I’ve got
fuck-all patrols and I’ve had to call them here, even though they were about fifty miles away propping up another department stripped bare in the cuts.’
    Josh moved to the far side of the room to make way for the CSI who had just arrived. Conscious that he wasn’t supposed to touch anything, despite the rubber gloves he wore, he pushed open
the thin living-room curtains with the back of his hand.
    ‘Give me a few minutes,’ said Harry on the other end of the line. ‘I’m on my way.’
    ‘You can’t miss the address,’ answered Josh, shaking his head at the sight that greeted him from the other side of the window. It was weirdly comforting to know that even after
all the things he had seen and the calls he had been to over the years, he could still be disgusted by the behaviour of others. It meant his job hadn’t yet torn his soul out. He could make
out the outline in the glow given off by the street lights of the neighbouring infant school, its playground running the length of the block of flats.
    Something on the windowsill caught his eye. He was a father of three, a police officer and a man with no sexual interest in children: the large tub of K-Y Jelly pushed behind the curtain did
little to change his attitude towards the dead man. Especially as the top was unscrewed and what looked like a collection of pubic hairs rested around the rim.
    Josh still had a job to do but he was only human. He muttered something into the phone before he hung up that sounded very much to Harry Powell like the words, ‘You dirty, dirty
bastard.’

Chapter 6
    Harry Powell grabbed his electronic notebook and made his way to the main door of the incident room that led to the rest of the police station. Being the last person in the
office, he was about to set the internal burglar alarm when a familiar face greeted him at the entrance to the Major Crime Department.
    ‘Detective Constable Laura Ward,’ he said to her as he shook her hand. ‘This is an unexpected pleasure. What can I do for you?’
    ‘That’s a very formal greeting, boss. I think you’ll find it’s a case of what I can do for you.’
    ‘I’d love to stay and chat, ask about your baby. What is she – six months? A year? But I’ve got to rush out.’
    Laura smiled at him. ‘I doubt you’re the slightest bit interested in how she’s doing but thanks for asking and she’s now thirteen months. I guess you’re on your way
out to Albie Woodville’s?’
    The remark stopped Harry in his tracks. It wasn’t that he was surprised that the news had travelled so fast, but rather that it now dawned on him exactly what role Laura had chosen to take
on at the end of her maternity leave. She was now a ViSOR officer, which meant spending large parts of her day visiting those on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
    It was one of the few times that Harry was reluctant to say what he really felt about someone else’s choice of career.
    ‘I hope you’re not another of those who thought I shouldn’t be doing a job like that after having a baby,’ she said, leaning against the door frame, arms now crossed.
    He winked at her and said, ‘It’s up to you what you want to do,