Mercy Killing Read Free Page B

Laura. I’m not about to warn you of the perils of bringing up a baby and working with nonces day in, day
out.’
    She laughed and uncrossed her arms. ‘I always had you down as a bit of a dinosaur. It’s refreshing to hear.’
    ‘There’s no place in the modern police service for antiquated or misogynist views.’
    ‘I’m impressed, Harry. About both your views and the fact that you used a couple of long words there.’
    ‘So,’ he said, ‘I’ll ignore that if you’ve dropped by to tell me all about Albert Woodville and his perverted ways.’
    ‘Now you’re in danger of flirting,’ she said. ‘Want me to come out to the scene with you and I’ll fill you in as we go?’
    ‘That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.’
    Once in Harry’s car, Laura said, ‘I’ll tell you everything I can about Woodville but I don’t think it’s going to really help you narrow the search
down all that much. He wasn’t very well liked by quite a number of people.’
    ‘Most sex offenders aren’t though, are they?’ said Harry as he looked across at her, taking in the dark circles under her eyes, probably accentuated by her fair skin and blonde
hair. It crossed his mind how difficult she might be finding the combination of being a single parent and working full-time, especially in such a responsible position. For a second, he almost asked
her but wondered if he’d come across as a little creepy: older man, detective inspector, with a younger, very attractive woman in his car, late at night, all alone. He thought better of it,
and of his pension, so he waited for her reply to his work-related question as he drove up to the security barrier of the police station rear yard.
    ‘No, they’re not on most people’s Christmas card lists,’ she agreed and paused before she added, ‘Some of them don’t continue to reoffend, but out of the
sixty-six sex offenders I manage, Woodville was one of the most worrying.’
    ‘You fucking what?’ said Harry, hitting the brake as he drove through the exit. He stared across at her. ‘Did you just say that you manage sixty-fucking-six sex
offenders?’
    ‘Oh yeah. We’ve got one hundred and thirty-three of them living in our district. Myself and the other DC split them down the middle. The odd one fell to him because we flipped a coin
to see who’d end up with the extra one. He lost so I’ve only got sixty-six and he’s got sixty-seven.’
    ‘And how often do you see them?’
    ‘Woodville was considered high risk so I visited him every three months, kept an eye on him when I could, but with dozens more I did my best to stop him reoffending.’
    Harry approached a junction and once again glanced across at his colleague. ‘You make it sound like you failed. He didn’t reoffend. He was murdered.’
    She moved in her seat and said, ‘Perhaps you’re right but I was keeping a particular eye on him because all the warning signs were there.’ She let out a sigh.
    ‘And?’ said Harry.
    ‘He’d only been out of prison for ten months. In that time, he’d moved to a flat with a school near by. There weren’t many places in the area that he could afford to rent
and were available. Unfortunately, this one came up and even though we didn’t like the idea of him living so close to a school, he had to live somewhere. I was on maternity leave at the time
but know that we managed that by giving him licence conditions not to go to the roads around the schools.’
    ‘That’s a start, a bloody poor one, but a start.’
    From the corner of his eye, Harry saw Laura’s head snap in his direction.
    ‘We do the best we can, you know,’ she said quietly.
    ‘It wasn’t a go at you.’
    ‘They kept promising us another member of staff,’ Laura said. ‘It didn’t happen. In the meantime, Woodville befriended a younger woman, a widow. She’s got two
children, an eight-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy. He probably played on her vulnerability. Paedophiles are usually