The Burning Read Online Free Page A

into a space in the hospital car park, leaving it without bothering to straighten up.
    ‘You know me. Full of get up and go.’
    ‘Yeah, right. How’s Ian?’
    I hesitated slightly before I answered; I really didn’t want to share the details of my domestic squabbles with my colleagues, but there was no point in pretending. Rob had met Ian a couple of times and formed his own opinion of him.
    ‘He was just delighted about being woken up.’
    ‘Sorry about that. I’m sure he understood it was important.’
    I let one eyebrow rise up slowly, expressively, as I took another sip of coffee.
    Rob snorted. ‘Like that, is it?’
    ‘What we should actually be discussing,’ I said quickly, ‘is what’s going on with the case. Where’s the boss?’
    He jerked his head towards the double doors behind him. ‘In there, somewhere. He’s doctor-bothering.’
    ‘They still won’t let us speak to the victim?’
    ‘Not much of a victim. I feel more sorry for poor old Vic. He’s in recovery. Three hours of surgery, and apparently it was touch and go.’
    ‘My heart bleeds for him.’
    ‘Yeah, well, he could use the extra blood if you’re offering. He nearly died on the way to hospital. She really did a number on him.’
    ‘Which is why she’s alive to tell us about it,’ I pointed out.
    Rob grinned at me. ‘Getting into the right frame of mind, Maeve? Starting to identify with her? Best mates by ten o’clock, is that the plan?’
    ‘So what?’ My coffee had cooled down enough so that I could gulp it. The caffeine was beginning to kick in. I wanted to be ready when they let us talk to the girl. I wanted to be on my toes. I wanted to get the answers we needed and bring them to my boss, Charles Godley, like a cat bringing in a dead bird as a loving present for its owner. I didn’t mind the long hours, the total commitment that he demanded from his team. I knew how lucky I was to be in the inner circle. Sixty officers on Operation Mandrake, and most of them would never get to speak to Godley face-to-face. He had his system: orders cascaded down from the top, delivered by the police he trusted to their fellow officers who were allocated tasks and the manpower to achieve them and turned loose, not to return until they’d done it. He was running the investigation that had become the media story of the year, if not the decade, and he spent far too much of his time dealing with reporters to be able to manage every aspect of the case himself. He’d picked me out of the borough and added me to his squad, and I still didn’t know why, but I was determined not to let him down.
    ‘So nothing.’ Rob had lost interest in teasing me. He took out his phone and started scrolling through messages, yawning as he did so. I left him to it, happy to sit in silence for a minute or two. Waiting for a break in the case had been agonising, heart-scalding. Now that it was here, I could afford to be patient.
    But I couldn’t help fidgeting, all the same.
    I didn’t have to wait too long, because after a couple of minutes, one of the big double doors that led to the ICU opened. Rob and I both turned to see a nurse leaning out. She was young, with honey-coloured highlights through her hair and fake-tanned skin. I had to admire her commitment to glamour at that hour of the morning. She ignored me after one quick, assessing look that took in my damp hair and make-up-free face, then smiled warmly at Rob. Here’s one you charmed earlier …
    ‘Your boss wants you.’
    We both stood at the same time. Rob was a shade above average height and I was tall in my heels; we were eye-to-eye. Rob frowned.
    ‘He wants to talk to me, not you.’
    ‘He doesn’t know I’m here,’ I said sweetly. ‘He’d want to speak to me if he did.’
    ‘I’ll tell him you’re waiting.’
    ‘I’ll tell him myself.’
    There it was. No matter how much I liked Rob, no matter how well we got on, when it came to competing for the attention of our boss, we were as