Chapters (130)
- Cover
- FIND THEM DEAD
- Dedication page
- Maps
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- FOUR MONTHS LATER
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- GLOSSARY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- NOW A MAJOR ITV SERIES
- I FOLLOW YOU
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- DISCOVER THE ROY GRACE BOOKS
- FIND THEM DEAD
- The Detective Superintendent Roy Grace books in order
- Also by Peter James
‘Hey, come on, darling, you’re always telling people a dog is not just for Christmas, it’s for life. We’ll watch him and, if we need to, we can separate them. I’m sure it’s nothing.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ she said, flatly.
‘I hear what you’re saying, OK. Come on, let’s not get annoyed about something that hasn’t even happened! I’ll be all over Humphrey, watching him like a hawk, and he won’t do anything to any of the children. I promise. Remember, I’m a detective, so you have to believe me!’ he said, trying to lighten up the conversation a little.
‘Good. OK, detective, how was the rest of your day?’ she asked.
‘I’ve been going through the paperwork for Dr Crisp’s trial with Glenn and our legal team.’
‘Slippery Dr Crisp. Who nearly blew your leg off. But it’s not personal, is it, for you?’
He grinned. ‘Personal, moi? A nice, kind family doctor who has a penchant for raping and killing young women and who shot me in the leg with a twelve-bore, so I’m still limping a little eighteen months on – why should it be personal?’ He grinned again. ‘He was just doing his job and I was doing mine.’
Cleo gave him a strange look, as if unsure for an instant whether he was joking or not.
‘The bastard is scheming to escape, I know it, and I want extra security – hospitals are easy for a man of Crisp’s ingenuity, but idiot Pewe won’t hear of it. He refuses to liaise with the Met Police on this, because of costs coming back to us. Can you believe it?’
‘How did Pewe ever get to be where he is?’ she asked. ‘Who on earth promoted him in the first place?’
‘The Peter Principle,’ Grace replied.
‘The what?’
‘A guy back in the 1960s – I think he was a sociologist called Peter something – came up with the theory that in every organization, sooner or later people get promoted to the level of their incompetence.’
‘That fits,’ she replied. ‘Guess you’d better make sure you don’t get promoted again.’ She grinned.
‘Thanks a lot!’ He gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder then shook his head. ‘The problem with Pewe is no one ever knows where they are with him. I’m only just back from the Met and I’ve seen him a couple of times and he’s been fine, almost friendly. In fact, he’s going to support my application for the Chief Superintendent process in Sussex. But this Crisp business is taking him back to his old self.’ He shook his head. ‘You know, I’m almost wishing that he would bloody escape, just to piss off Pewe!’
His job phone rang, interrupting him. It was Norman Potting.
Roy Grace got his wish. Crisp had escaped.