Magic Lantern. Alex Archer

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СКАЧАТЬ the murder victim. “I saw that poor thing fighting with a proper big bloke. He was huge. Like some kind of gorilla. Shoulders out to here.” She placed her hands about three feet apart and the Popsicle dripped on the neck of the man ahead of her.

       The man cursed and shot her a nasty look. He took a step away.

       “Sorry, love.” Jane licked the Popsicle momentarily dry. “She hardly had time to cry help. I was standing up there.” She pointed at a balcony on the third floor of the nearby building. “I called the police immediately.” She shook her head sadly. “But I knew it was too late.”

       “The man got away?”

       “Of course he did. A man who can stomp in a woman’s head like he’s stepping on a peanut? No one around him is going to stop him. We don’t carry guns like you Yanks.”

       “Do you know who the woman was?”

       Jane shook her head. “Looked like she was a waitress, from the way she was dressed.”

       Feeling ghoulish, Annja surreptitiously took out her sat-phone and brought up her Twitter account. Keeping the phone hidden from the police, she scrolled through the news and didn’t have to go far before she found the first tweets about the dead woman.

       Audrey McClintok. A twenty-seven-year-old waitress at a diner.

       Annja put her phone back in the pocket of her Windbreaker. So far, none of the victims had anything in common except for being women. The ability of the man to kill and disappear was chilling.

       “Well, now here’s something.” Jane sucked on her Popsicle.

       Two uniformed policemen pushed through the crowd, backing people off and heading straight for them. Probably wanted to talk to Jane, since she’d reported the murder, Annja thought.

       They stopped in front of Annja. The oldest of the two was grizzled, and his bleak eyes indicated he’d seen too much over the years. “Ms. Creed.”

       She nodded.

       “DCI Westcox would like a word with you, miss.”

       “Now?” The last thing Annja wanted to do was get involved in the murder investigation.

       “Yes, miss. Now.”

       The two policemen had flanked her and she got the distinct impression turning down the detective chief inspector’s invitation wasn’t an option.

       “This way, miss.” The older policeman waved her forward and the crowd parted once again.

       Along the way, bright flashes from cell phones and cameras temporarily blinded Annja.

      * * *

      “DIDN’T TAKE YOU FOR A looky-loo, Ms. Creed.” DCI Alfred Westcox was a tough, no-nonsense cop. Probably ten pounds underweight, he looked as if the excess had been hammered off him. He wore a trench coat and hat, and the tie clipped to his chest lifted as the wind gusted. His cottony white hair matched his eyebrows and mustache. He wore thick glasses over his watery blue eyes.

       “I’m not.” Annja respected how the chief inspector ran his business, but she wasn’t happy with the way she’d inadvertently ended up on the wrong side of him.

       Westcox didn’t like her any more than he did any of the other media people gathered around for the story. In fact, she didn’t know why he’d singled her out. There were plenty of others on hand.

       “Yet here you are, Ms. Creed. In the middle of my murder investigation.”

       “I came out to see if I could help.”

       “Really?” Westcox cocked a dismissive eyebrow. “You? I don’t know why that idea never crossed my mind.”

       “Your time would be better served solving Audrey McClintok’s murder, than coming down hard on me.”

       Westcox took a deep breath and his nostrils flared. “Who gave you that name?” He glared at the two policemen who had fetched her.

       “Not me, sir.” The grizzled man stood his ground.

       The younger man took a step back. “Nor me.”

       “Brought her here straightaway. Just as you said.”

       Annja didn’t like the two men taking heat for something that wasn’t their fault. “It wasn’t either of them. I got the woman’s name off Twitter.”

       Westcox turned his glare on her.

       “Someone tweeted about the murder. Probably someone in the neighborhood who recognized her.”

       “Or it was the killer.” He raised his voice to call, “Peters!”

       A younger detective in a Windbreaker turned toward his superior.

       “Get your mobile and give the lab a ring. Put one of the computer lads on to the Twitter accounts. Find out who put up posts regarding this unfortunate girl. I want their names, addresses and a chat with them.”

       “Yes, sir.” Peters turned away and pulled out his cell phone.

       Another uniformed policeman trotted up to Westcox. “The coroner is here, sir.”

       At the end of the street, Annja saw a new vehicle with flashing lights.

       “Get him over here so we can shut this circus down.”

       “Yes, sir.” The policeman turned and fled.

       “Now you, Ms. Creed.”

       “I don’t know why you’re taking such issue with me.” Annja met the man’s gaze full measure.

       “I was told this absolutely amazing story about a botched robbery last night. Apparently a few young Asian gang members held up a restaurant not far from here.”

       Annja kept her face devoid of emotion.

       “The restaurateur and his lucky daughter—and even the gang members—all tell the same fabulous story of a red-haired American woman with a sword who interfered with the robbery.”

       “Okay.”

       “Would you happen to know anything about that?”

       Annja didn’t like lying, but in this case the truth wasn’t something she was prepared to tell. “No.”

       “Why would the woman with the sword run off like that?”

       “Perhaps she heard how appreciative you were of anyone trying to help with your investigation.”

       The grizzled officer laughed, then quickly covered it with a coughing fit. “Sorry, sir. It’s this bloody fog.”

       Westcox glared at him, but the man stood with his eyes averted.

       “You’re not here to help me with my investigation, Ms. Creed.” СКАЧАТЬ