Free Next Of Kin (Unnatural Selection #3) by Ann Somerville Page A

hairbrush, perhaps?” I shook
my head. “You didn’t know your partner was in Brazil?”
    “Not until a
few days ago. I’ve been looking for him.”
    I
described, with help from Gabriel and Paul Reynolds, the weeks of
searching for Nick and how little we had found until I discovered
the credit card transactions in Rio. The inspector showed little
interest, and appeared to find my conjectures about a stand-in,
amateurish and of no importance to the case in hand. The only thing
he found useful I’d passed on the previous day.
    “Oh, and one
more thing that is odd. He’s ISH-positive.” The inspector gave me a
blank look. “A vee.” I pointed to my canine teeth. Gabriel
explained a little further.
    “What of
it?”

    “Well,
he has a very limited diet. He can drink certain things, eat a very
limited number of foods, but he must have haem replacement fluid to survive. The hotel said he
checked in with a single small pack and no other luggage. HRF is
reasonably bulky, so if he didn’t bring it, he had to obtain it
while he was staying there. He ordered no food or drink while
staying there. We asked the local drogaria —he didn’t buy any there either.”
    “So he bought
it somewhere else. Now—”
    “And the other
thing....”
    The
inspector exhaled in exasperation. “Yes?”
    “He can drink
coffee but he doesn’t like it. He drinks tea exclusively at home.
But several places we visited said he had ordered coffee. Never
tea.”
    The
inspector sighed. “On vacation, people’s habits change, Senhor Marber. Our coffee is the best
in the world, after all. Now, to confirm—you have had no actual
contact with him at all?”
    “Nothing
except that one text message. Inspector, what do you think has
happened?”
    He
glanced at Reynolds before answering. “It’s difficult to say. If
the blood is Senhor Guthrie’s, then he must have suffered a very severe
wound.”
    “Fatal?”
    “Not
definitely. There is a gash in the shirt which appears to be made
by a knife, and there is no money in the wallet. It could be a
simple robbery gone wrong.”
    Gabriel
asked the inspector something, and the man answered somewhat
impatiently, Paul translating word for word as he had done from the
start. “Yes, it could be an attack because he was gay.” The
inspector had actually used the word ‘ viado ’ which I knew not to be a very nice word for
homosexuals. I chose to pretend I didn’t know that.
    “But where is
he? Or his body?”
    “We
believe that the victim may have been put in a vehicle, as the
trail of blood stops very suddenly. We are still investigating
this. However, we simply needed you to verify that these are Senhor Guthrie’s possessions. Unless
you have further information regarding his whereabouts or
movements, then I will have to ask you to be patient until our
investigations bear fruit.”
    “How
long?”
    The
inspector rolled his eyes before composing his face in a more
tactful expression. “ Senhor Marber, there are many things we have to work on in this
case, and we have many cases. I suggest you return to England,
and Senhor Reynolds
can keep you informed. For now, I thank you for your help and bid
you good day.”
    I let
Paul guide me out of the room. Gabriel was fuming.
“ Filho da
puta! Why did he have to
be so rude?”
    “Leave
it be, Gabriel,” I said. “Paul, are they taking this seriously? Or
is he just another dead gay man to them?”
    “They’re
taking it as seriously as they would any other case involving a
foreigner. Whether that’s enough, I don’t know. He’s right
though—you should go home. There’s nothing you can do here, and you
could just get in the way.”
    “How am I in
the way when I’ve just given them more than twice the information
they already had?”
    He held
up his hands. “I’m sorry, Anton. You’ve been very helpful, of
course, and I’m sure Inspector Ferreira realizes that. But what can you do now? We don’t
even know the blood is