Free A Winter Kill by Vicki Delany Page B

goes to Prince Edward District High.”
    â€œName?”
    I shrugged. “Don’t know it.”
    â€œOkay. Let’s seal this area off. Johnstone, park your vehicle up the road a couple hundred yards. Patterson, watch the intersection. No one in or out other than police. Log everyone who comes by.”
    â€œGot it,” Larry Johnstone grunted. He was also a new officer. He’d been on the force for about two years. I took one last look at the young woman on the ground. Her blond hair was long and straight. It shone in the headlights from the ambulance. She had been pretty, I remembered.
    She was pretty no more.

CHAPTER TWO
    â€œP atterson, you’re with me.” “Yes, sir. Uh, where are we going?”
    Sergeant Malan had walked through the snow to the road where I’d spent the past few hours keeping the curious away. “The girl has id in her pocket. School card. I’m going to her house and need a ride. You can drive me.”
    â€œYes, sir,” I said. The forensic officers had arrived before the sun began to rise. Guys in white suits sifting through the snow and debris of the field. Looking for clues. For evidence. The paramedics had been allowed to take the body away. Yellow crime-scene tape protected the area. A few people had gathered to watch. They stood beside their cars on the opposite side of County Road 22. They were dressed in winter coats, scarves and heavy gloves. We got into my cruiser. Malan fastened his seat belt.
    â€œThis won’t be easy,” he said. “Never is.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    She’d lived in a run-down part of town, at the bottom of the hill where the abandoned airfield was. The houses were old. Some of them were neat and tidy, but many were badly looked after. Thin, scruffy trees lined the street. Snow was piled in dirty banks. All the lights were off. It was very quiet.
    The driveway hadn’t been shoveled. I parked in the street. “I’ve been here before,” I said.
    â€œWe’ve all been to this house before,” Malan said. “Noise complaints, drunk and disorderly, fights. One time Grey couldn’t be bothered to go inside to take a leak. He pissed on his neighbor’s front lawn. Won’t make it any easier to tell him his daughter’s dead though.” We got out of the car. As we walked up the cracked and broken cement steps, a dog started to bark.
    A piece of masking tape was stuck over the doorbell. Malan knocked. I shifted in my boots. It was very cold. Our breath formed little puffs in the air.
    Malan knocked again. And again. Louder each time. Then a light came on at the back of the house. The barking dog got closer.
    The front door opened a crack. “What the fuck do you want?” a man said. His hair was thin and unwashed. His eyes were small and very red. He blinked away sleep. He smelled of unbrushed teeth and stale beer.
    â€œMr. Grey,” Malan said. “May we come in?”
    â€œNot without a warrant, you can’t.”
    â€œYou’re not in any trouble. Do you have a daughter by the name of Maureen?”
    â€œWhat the fuck’s she done now?”
    â€œMr. Grey, is Maureen at home?”
    â€œWhat business is that of yours?”
    â€œWhat is it?” asked another voice from inside the house. It was a woman’s voice, low and frightened.
    â€œMrs. Grey, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m afraid I have some very bad news. It would be better if we discussed this inside.”
    For the first time, Grey looked at me. I tried to keep my face still. He looked me up and down, and I felt very uncomfortable.
    â€œLet the officers in,” the woman said. “If they have news about Maureen.”
    Grey hesitated, and then he shrugged and opened the door.
    The dog lunged for us. Grey laughed as I jumped backward with a frightened cry.
    It was a big dog. Traces of German shepherd. Half its right ear was missing and its teeth were