Free Left for Dead: A Maeve Kerrigan Novella (Maeve Kerrigan Novels) by Jane Casey Page A

Shift work was breaking my spirit.
    When I hurried into the briefing room I was aware straightaway that something was off. I sat down beside Sam Walters, who gave me a smirk I couldn’t interpret. There was a rumble of conversation too low for me to hear, and I told myself that it was pure arrogance, not to mention paranoia, to assume it was about me. Gary was in the back row, laughing at something one of the other officers had said. He gave me a wave when he noticed me looking at him, and I blushed. Everyone seemed to be watching us and although Gary didn’t look too bothered, I wasn’t pleased to be the centre of attention.
    It didn’t last long. Inspector Saunders hurried in. She seemed to be suppressing her excitement about something, and she hurried through the crewings at top speed. Chris was back at work and the two of us were crewed together. I should have been disappointed not to have a whole night ahead of me with Gary, alone, but I was relieved. Gary made it hard to concentrate on the job.
    The inspector had reached the end of her admin. ‘Just a quick update first. The victim in the sexual assault on Tuesday night is awake and talking, which is obviously a help. She’s given us a description of the attacker that matches the e-fit we’ve been circulating, luckily. She’s going to do one for us when she’s well enough but Mr Godley is proceeding on the basis that it’s the same guy. She’s told us about what she was wearing and carrying on thenight she was attacked, so keep your eyes peeled for the following: one black bra. She said he cut it off her, so you’re looking for scraps of material, basically. Black lace knickers, size ten. An Omega watch with a gold face and a brown leather wristband. The victim was also wearing a small red enamel heart on a gold chain and we haven’t found it, or her phone, which was a pink Motorola Razr. The detectives have checked to see if it’s active on the network but as far as we can tell it’s powered off. He might have discarded all of these things or he might have kept them, or our victim might be mistaken. But be aware that if you come across any of these items you should contact the control room immediately.’
    ‘Are they any closer to finding him?’ I asked.
    ‘They’ve got a couple of leads. Nothing all that useful at the moment, I’m afraid. Mr Godley thinks he lives in Croydon and works near here or lives near here and works in Croydon. His team have been going back through the records to find anything that could be related and everything they can connect with him seems to be somewhere between here and there.’
    ‘That’s a pretty sizeable area,’ Chris commented. ‘Narrows it down to about a million people.’
    ‘I did say it wasn’t that useful,’ the inspector said mildly. ‘But if I know Charles Godley, he’ll get him in the end.’
    I listened to the rest of the briefing, making notes, pretty much on autopilot. I couldn’t stop thinking about Sally-Ann. Afterwards I was slow to get up, writing a last couple of notes about stolen cars. As a result, I was one of the last out of the room, getting stuck behind two officers who were having an argument about which daytime television presenter they would shag if they could only shag one. I headed out of the briefing room with nothing on my mind except where I could find Chris and whether Gary would be there too.
    ‘Can I have a word?’ Andy Styles was right beside me, his face too close to mine. His skin was pale, his freckles standing out like flecks of copper. He’d been waiting beside the door for me to come out.
    I wanted to say no, but I nodded. He looked up and down the corridor, then opened the nearest door, which led to an empty office.
    ‘In here.’
    ‘Can’t we talk here?’
    ‘It won’t take long.’
    I went in, cursing my inability to be rude. For that, I had to wait until I was actually annoyed with him, which shouldn’t take long. Whatever he had to say, I knew I