Free Blood Line by Lynda La Plante Page B

ex-detective and now runs a private investigation company. He’s got a lot of enemies—unpleasant bloke, but nobody deserves to come back to his home to be confronted by such horror. He’s under sedation.’
    ‘You have suspects though?’
    ‘Yes. He’s been doing some work for a couple of nasty bastards, collecting their debts. Unbelievable! Works as a copperall his adult life then gets out and works for the other side.’
    Langton patted Anna’s file with the flat of his hand. ‘You want to call it quits on this and hand it back to Mispers?’
    ‘Yes, I think so. It’s just been me and Paul Simms working it.’
    ‘Ah, the gay cavalero. Good detective though.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You get along with him?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Very monosyllabic tonight, aren’t you?’
    She shrugged.
    ‘You want a bite to eat?’
    ‘No, thanks. I’m actually on my way home. Just dropped that in so you can see that I have been doing as requested.’
    ‘I talked to his father yesterday,’ Langton said quietly.
    ‘I’ve been to his home, met his wife, his son’s friends. He appears as you could see from the report, an all-out nice man.’
    ‘Any buts?’
    ‘Only that I have a bad reaction to Alan’s girlfriend, Tina Brooks, but I think that’s just personal.’
    ‘What about neighbours? You talk to any of them?’
    ‘No, but we talked to his place of work, his gym—it’s all in the report.’
    Langton chewed hard on his nicotine gum, staring at her. ‘You want to start on another enquiry?’
    ‘Yes.’
    He stood up and took the gum out of his mouth, tossing it into the rubbish bin.
    ‘Okay. Tell you what I want you to do. Tomorrow, go and visit the neighbours and see if they have anything to add to the mix. Something in me doesn’t quite accept your view that Alan Rawlins has just taken off.’
    ‘Like what?’
    Langton opened another piece of gum, walking round the desk to sit on the edge close to her.
    ‘First his Merc. He spends months doing it up, ordering spare parts, bought it with his father to make money reselling it. Why not take the car if he was doing a runner. You now know his passport is missing; there’s no movement in any of his bank accounts or credit cards, and from your interviews he appears to be a nice upright guy, loving family, good mates, he’s not into drugs, he doesn’t drink bar the odd glass of wine, and nobody has a hint of any extra lady friend on the side. Correct?’
    Anna nodded. He never ceased to amaze her. Although he had appeared merely to skim her report, he had somehow acquired the gist of it, and this became even clearer when he picked up the file and passed it back to her.
    ‘The fiancée also asked how long you’d be digging around if there was no body—right?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Does that sound like a distressed lady? Her fiancé disappears and all she seems interested in is how long it will be before she gets her hands on the savings.’
    ‘It’s a joint bank account and doesn’t need his signature.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘His life insurance is only fifty thousand, so I don’t think that would be a motive.’
    ‘People have been killed for less.’
    ‘Listen, he was a nice man, one who hated any kind of confrontation. I think, judging from what everyone has said about him, he seems to fit the profile of someone who would just walk away rather than get into any kind of emotional row.’
    ‘Has he ever done anything like it before?’
    ‘Well, no, not that I’ve been told.’
    Langton chewed hard on his gum. Then he got up from the desk and yawned.
    ‘Give it one more day then I’ll get onto allocating you the next murder enquiry.’
    Anna stood up and stiffened as he reached for her hand and drew close.
    ‘You sleeping?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I miss not having you around on a case.’
    ‘Well, you could have me if you wanted.’
    He laughed. ‘In the literal term, I gather.’
    She released her hand from his, saying, ‘I’ll be in touch. I’ll still use