Nine Lives by Anita Waller (korean novels in english .TXT) 📕

opportunistic abduction? He wouldn’t have been able to lure anyone into his car to escape the rain if they already had a car of their own.

Erica’s mind was buzzing. It felt to her that this was almost the first time she had been able to sit down and view the facts, make some sense of them. The murders had happened seemingly one after the other, and they had only started on investigating each individual one, then another happened. Now she could see the four as a whole, and knew she had seen something new to chase. Starlite Gym. She needed to know whether Tanya had been a member there.

Erica showed her warrant card, as did her colleague Flick Ardern. The receptionist initially said she couldn’t give them the details they wanted, but soon backed down when they talked of closing the gym to facilitate their investigation. Flick knew it wouldn’t happen; the receptionist didn’t.

It appeared that all four girls were registered with the gym, all four living fairly locally to it. She also confirmed that Susie hadn’t attended on the night of her death and hadn’t been for about two weeks prior to that. Clare had last visited on the same night as Susie. She hadn’t shown up on the night of her death. Both Imogen and Tanya had been there on the night they were abducted.

‘There you go.’ Erica smiled. ‘That wasn’t too hard, was it?’ She handed her card to the grumpy-looking receptionist. ‘My email is on that card. I would like the complete membership list, please. Names, addresses and telephone numbers.’

‘But…’

Erica held up a hand. ‘Don’t even begin to say you can’t do it. You can, and I want it by the end of today. I don’t need to remind you this is a quadruple murder investigation. Quadruple so far, that is. And I need to know attendances over the last three months of every member.’

Flick sank into the back seat, alongside Erica. Lee put the car into gear and pulled smoothly away. ‘Phew, that’s why you’re the boss and I’m a lowly DC. Think she’ll do it?’

Erica laughed. ‘Oh, she’ll do it all right. And you’re not a lowly DC, I’m moving you to acting DS until we get Beth back again. That okay with you? It’ll look good on your form when you take your sergeant’s exams.’

20

Erica’s headache was worsening, so she went home early. Flick was only too happy to write up the notes from their trip to Starlite Gym, and everybody said an inward little prayer that there would be no more early-morning call-outs to bodies found near to the River Porter.

Lee dropped Erica off, and seemed quite unhappy at it being the last time he would be needed, but she was adamant.

‘Honestly, Lee, thank you for your chauffeuring skills, but tomorrow I’ll have had a good night’s rest, I hope, and I’ll take my own car.’

She watched him drive away, a smile on her face. Maybe she could ask for him to be put on temporary assignment to her team. Lord knows, they needed all the bodies they could grab with four murders to sort out.

Frannie’s car wasn’t on the drive, so Erica guessed she would be on her own. Take a couple of painkillers to divert the headache from thinking it was migraine material, and close her eyes for an hour. Bliss.

Frannie didn’t wake her. She’d spotted the paracetamol packet on the coffee table, alongside the glass of water, and knew Erica was hurting, so quietly closed the lounge door and headed for the kitchen.

Frannie opened her laptop after making a coffee, and entered the notes from the house she had recently visited before heading home. Things seemed to be on the up for the family since the permanently drunk boyfriend had found some other poor woman to take him in. Frannie was close to adding them to her six-monthly visiting list, and made a note to that effect. She would visit in a month’s time, and if the level of cleanliness in the home and with the children continued to improve she would make the list transfer.

She closed her laptop and sat back with a sigh. Her thoughts spiralled as she sipped at her coffee, and she let them travel where they would. Meeting Erica had saved her, of that she had no doubt. She had been going through a deeply black period a few years earlier when the woman with the beautiful smile that could light up a room had lit up her life. Frannie had tried to hide her sexuality, but with Erica’s arrival it had been a natural progression.

Moving in together, marrying, the blackness had lifted and her life had changed for ever.

Frannie looked up as the kitchen door handle clicked, and she smiled as Erica appeared.

‘Feeling better?’

Erica walked across and stood behind Frannie, wrapping her arms around her, and kissing the top of her head. ‘Much better, thank you. Headache only an ache now, and I’ve caught up a bit on sleep. This case is bloody harrowing, Fran. Can we have something light tonight?’

‘Eggs on toast?’

‘Perfect.’

‘You need to work?’

‘It depends on whether that receptionist at the gym has pulled out all the stops and done what I asked of her. If she hasn’t, I might watch TV.’

Frannie laughed. ‘Let’s watch TV. Have some time for us. What could be better than poached eggs on a tray in front of the telly, and the two of us.’

‘You’re right. I’ll put up with the guilt tomorrow.’

Frannie felt better as she climbed into bed, and she knew it was all down to Erica lifting her spirits. They had watched QI and laughed for the entire show, opened a bottle of wine, although only having one glass each, and talked. Generally a good night all round. Maybe she could get through this without having to seek help for the stress related melancholy she was beginning to recognise, maybe Erica was all the medication she needed.

Erica remained downstairs reading. Her