The Careless Word (#8 - The Craig Crime Series) Read Online Free Page A

city-centre. You know, the one called ‘Never leave me.’ ”
    Katy nodded. She knew the shop and from what she’d seen of the dresses it sold, it would be more a case of ‘Bye-bye’ than ‘Never leave me’ for most bridegrooms. She reached into her U.N. peacekeeper’s toolkit and made a tentative suggestion.
    “What if…”
    Natalie blue eyes swivelled round like a hawk. “What if what?”
    “Well… the ceremony’s being held on the beach. Yes?”
    Natalie nodded suspiciously. “Yes… so?”
    “So it’s going to be absolutely roasting and do you really want to spend the happiest day of your life feeling like a cooked chicken?”
    “But…”
    Katy pushed on. “Because I know a shop where we can find something absolutely perfect for you. Light and floaty, a dress that will suit you to a tee.” And one for her too, she hoped.
    Natalie’s tone was sceptical; she’d trailed round a dozen shops already. “Really?”
    Katy fixed an earnest expression on her face, keeping an image of Craig gazing admiringly at her in her bridesmaid’s dress firmly in her sights.
    “Yes, really. It’s called ‘Forever Bridal’; I know the lady who runs it and she’s lovely. Look, what do you have to lose? ‘Never leave me’ is going nowhere so you always have that option. Let’s just go and have a look. If you don’t like any of the dresses then you’ve lost nothing.”
    Natalie considered the suggestion and finally uttered a grudging “Well…”
    It was the opening Katy needed. She phoned ‘Forever Bridal’ to book an appointment, praying that it had both their sizes in stock.
    ***
    Gresham Street, Smithfield. 5.30 p.m.

    Craig stood in the doorway of the erstwhile bookshop and scanned the debris in silence. All that was left of ‘Papyrus’ was a heap of paper and wood partially swept into one corner by the army forensics team, and the remnants of shattered shelving gripping the walls for dear life.
    The bookshop had been small; cosy, Craig imagined the owner had called it, with leaded-glass windows onto Gresham Street and a musty old-book smell that had survived the blast. He could just make out the remnants of a wooden banquette on one side, where prospective buyers would have been encouraged to sit and browse amidst the dusty quiet. Shreds of dark-red leather lay in the corner revealing the banquette’s past covering, and shards of smooth brown wood lay everywhere, its joists and grooves saying that it had once formed bookshelves that stood tall and strong, supporting the written word. It was the sort of shop that Craig loved and had often longed for, as a place to spend the endless hours waiting while girlfriends shopped in town.
    Liam watched his boss, smiling quietly and reading his thoughts. He’d longed for a place to hide when Danni dragged him into the city-centre too, but his ideal venue had beer on tap and a football match on the box. He broke the shrine’s silence reluctantly, but one of them had to or they’d be there all night.
    “They fairly hammered it, didn’t they?”
    Craig dragged his eyes away from an aged leather-bound volume with barely three pages left inside, wondering whose first effort it had been. He stared at Liam in the fading afternoon light.
    “The shop might have been incidental. A casualty of war.”
    Liam glanced at him curiously. “You mean they were after the people? I thought you said earlier…”
    Craig nodded, remembering what he’d said. “I’ve reconsidered. If you just want to destroy a building, you do it when it’s empty. This was aimed at someone or something in the shop.”
    Liam’s curiosity turned to puzzle. “But if it’s one man you’re after, why kill everyone else in the process? Bit indiscriminate, wasn’t it?”
    Craig glanced up sharply. “Good point. One man could have been taken out anywhere; at home or perhaps even shot in the street. It would have been a lot less messy than this. You know what that means?”
    Liam didn’t know