Читать книгу At Your Door - J. P. Carter - Страница 7

Anna was glad that nobody in the office had realised it was her birthday. The last thing she wanted was any kind of fuss.

It was depressing enough knowing that she was another year older. She didn’t want to be teased about reaching the ripe old age of forty-three.

It was scary how quickly the time had passed, and how many milestones she had clocked up. A lot of tears had been shed during those four decades, and she didn’t feel inclined to celebrate the fact that September the sixth had come around again.

The only reason she was going out for dinner tonight was because Tom had insisted.

‘You’ve had a tough year, Anna,’ he’d said this morning just before they left her house and went their separate ways. ‘And I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I let your birthday pass without making it at least a little different to every other day.’

He was right about it having been a tough year, especially on the work front. She and her colleagues in the Major Investigation Team had been swamped by the biggest tidal wave of serious crime ever to hit South London. The murder rate was up, along with knife attacks, shootings, robberies and gang violence. The last case they’d dealt with had been the most challenging, though. It had involved the abduction of nine small children from a nursery school in Rotherhithe, and the murder of one of their teachers.

The investigation had ended dramatically two weeks ago, but the paperwork was still piled up on the desk in front of her. She’d been wading through it all afternoon and her eyes were tired from reading the case notes, interview transcripts, forensics reports and briefing documents that were being prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Still, in another forty-five minutes it’d be five o’clock and that was when she’d decided to call it a day. It was only a short drive from the Wandsworth HQ to her home in Vauxhall so she’d have plenty of time to shower and get dressed before Tom arrived.

He was getting ready at his own flat, which was only a mile away, and coming over by taxi. He’d booked a table at their favourite Italian restaurant for seven-thirty and she was hoping he hadn’t done something daft like ordered a cake or arranged for someone to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.

The more she thought about tonight the less she felt like going. But if she cried off without having a really good excuse it would upset Tom and give him another reason to believe that she was no longer committed to their relationship. The issue had taken root in his mind and she’d been struggling to convince him that it wasn’t true.

But she knew it would take more than just words to banish his insecurities. The main thing he wanted was for them to live together and she simply wasn’t ready for that.

A burst of activity out in the main office seized her attention suddenly. She watched through the open door as several detectives gathered around the desk of DI Max Walker, who was holding a phone to his ear with one hand while scribbling frantically on a notepad with the other.

Instinct told Anna that something had happened and that Walker was being fed the details by an operator at central control. If so then it could well be the start of a new investigation.

That was usually how it began. A single phone call that prompted a collective rush of adrenalin and then a dash to the scene of whatever crime had been committed.

Anna was on her feet and out of her tiny office in a flash. By the time she reached Walker’s desk he’d finished the call and was tearing a page from his notebook. He looked up at her but when he spoke it was loud enough so that everyone could hear.

‘A body has been found on the edge of Barnes Common,’ he said. ‘A young woman. She’s naked and has a stab wound to the throat. And it seems she hasn’t been there very long. Uniform have just arrived and a forensics team are only minutes away.’