Blood Loss by Kerena Swan (good beach reads .txt) 📕

to? All he knew was that she’d left the M6 after Manchester and then taken country roads.

He looked at her possessions flitting across the screen and wondered what sort of person she was. Did she have a quick temper or did she build up slowly to this act of violence? Did Robert Nash provoke a sudden flash of anger from her or was it a culmination of many things that stretched her like an elastic band until she finally snapped?

What did she value? What was her favourite food, television programme, music? Did she feel the cold? Did she like animals? He now knew she had dry hair from the type of shampoo she used. He knew she liked brown sauce and the smell of vanilla air freshener. He knew she liked the Homes and Gardens magazine so probably aspired to live in a beautiful house. A picture of a mug appeared with I love MK on one side with a big red heart in the middle. The next photo showed a cow painted on the mug’s other side.

‘Wait,’ Paton said, holding up a hand. ‘What or who’s MK? A pop star?’

‘Milton Keynes,’ Olivia said. ‘That’s a picture of a concrete cow. Haven’t you heard that Milton Keynes is famous for them?’

Even if the woman didn’t love Milton Keynes she might have connections there. Paton didn’t hang around to chat after the evidence had been discussed. He went into the corridor and called Mitchell. ‘I need you to check the third Fiesta that drove past Manchester on the ANPR cameras again. Widen the search period to include anything up to the present day. Read the number plate out to me again.’

Paton listened carefully as Mitchell gave him the details. The plate contained a 9 and an F. ‘Good God! They’re easily disguised,’ Paton said. ‘Why didn’t we think of this before? Check out all similar numbers as well. She may have given us the slip for a while, and I know this is a slim chance, but I’ve a hunch she’ll surface again in Milton Keynes.’

Chapter 48

March | Sarah

I’m about to get out of the car to knock on Mark’s door when what looks like a small fridge on wheels trundles along the path nearby. It has little headlights and a pole with a pennant flag on top. What the hell is it? I look around for someone with a remote control. To my surprise the fridge comes towards me and speaks.

‘Excuse me.’

I jump aside in shock and it thanks me. It actually thanks me. A moment later it turns up the path to Mark’s house and the front door opens. Mark looks down at the white box on wheels then notices me on the pavement, staring.

‘Hi, Sarah! This is a nice surprise. Have you eaten?’ Mark looks at his phone and taps the screen. He leans down and opens the lid and the box speaks again.

‘Here is your delivery.’

Mark lifts out a carrier bag, closes the lid and the little machine thanks him before rumbling down the path again. Mark laughs at the expression on my face. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t seen a robot before.’

‘No. Whose is it?’

‘That one belongs to the local Co-op but Tesco sends them out too. It’s only a pound for a delivery.’ He holds up the bag. ‘I’ve got some ready meals here and a bottle of coke to go with my Bacardi. I would have ordered wine but they don’t deliver alcohol.’

‘A Bacardi and coke sounds lovely, thanks, and I am quite hungry. Mum was out for the count when I got home from work and there’s no food in the house. There are only so many kebabs one can eat.’ I laugh. Not at my attempt at cracking a joke but at the thought of the grim discovery Derek is about to make. I’ll switch my phone to silent for a bit to give me time to eat before I take his call.

‘Why don’t we have robots on Netherfield?’ I ask Mark as he places food on plates and puts them one at a time in the microwave.

‘Starship, the company that makes them, only trialled them in a couple of areas in Milton Keynes but I think they’re rolling them out to other areas. I’m not sure about Netherfield, though.’ He pulls a face and I can tell what he’s thinking. They’d be stolen or vandalised around there.

‘They’re incredible.’

‘We’re lucky to have them. We’re one of the first places in Britain – chosen because of our network of redway footpaths connecting different estate and dropped kerbs everywhere. They initially started up to deliver parcels that people had missed while they were out.’

We chat amiably as we eat and I’m surprised at how little emotion I feel about the death of the woman who brought me up. But it’s her fault if there’s something missing in me because she gave me a totally shit life. She deserves to be dead. Like Robert deserves to be dead. She was on a path of self-destruction anyway so it could be said that I’ve saved the state a lot of money for her medical and nursing care.

When we’ve cleared the plates, I glance at my phone. There are no missed calls from Derek. Is he going round there or has he forgotten? I don’t want to text him a reminder because it might look suspicious. I switch the volume back on then settle on the sofa with Mark to watch a film on Netflix. I’m not keen on the idea of ‘discovering’ the body in the morning. If Derek doesn’t call, I think I’ll stay here for a couple of days, if Mark will let me.

The film has only been on twenty minutes when my phone rings. The sound makes Mark jump and jolts me from my relaxed state.

‘Jesus. That’s loud.’

He clutches his chest and I laugh then look at the screen. At last, it’s Derek.

I answer in a light tone of voice then make