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Back The Last Drop of Blood
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. INTRODUCINGKATIE MAGUIRE
  3. ALSO BY GRAHAM MASTERTON
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright
  6. Epigraph
  7. Contents
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. 50
  58. 51
  59. About the Author
  60. An Invitation from the Publisher

‘I’m trying to apologize to you, Katie. I’m trying to make you realize that I read you totally wrong. But I can’t help being attracted to you. It’s something I can’t control.’

‘Mother of God, Brendan, you’re such a liar. I caught you out and I don’t believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. But I’m going to make you an offer, God help me. If you swear on your life that you’ll delete those pictures that your miserable gobshite of a pal took around at my house, I won’t take my complaint about rape to the GOSC. It’s not because I think that you don’t thoroughly deserve to have the whistle blown on you. It’s because we’re both experienced and valuable officers and there seems to be no point at all in either of us losing our jobs.’

‘All right. I’m truly sorry that you don’t believe me. I thought you might even be flattered that I feel about you the way that I do. But if that’s how you see it… okay. I’ll delete the pictures, and we’ll call it quits.’

‘There’s one more condition, Brendan.’

Brendan raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, yes? And what’s that?’

‘You never try it on with me again. You never touch me. You never even stand close enough for me to smell your rancid aftershave or feel your breath on my face.’

‘Jesus, Katie. You really know how to lop a man’s mebs off, don’t you?’

*

Katie was preparing a media release about the Zombie Lounge stabbing with Mathew McElvey when Kyna appeared. She had knotted her blonde hair up in a little Tyrolean bun and she was wearing a smart ivy-green suit.

She sat by the window and waited until Mathew had finished taking down all the details that he needed. Then, when he had gone, she held up a blue plastic folder and said, ‘The Lee Pusher.’

‘Oh, yes. What about him?’

‘I couldn’t stop myself thinking about what Dr Power was telling us about serial killers. You know, why they do it, like. I looked up the book we have on the Lee Pusher, with pictures of all of his victims. I thought they might have something in common, do you know, and that was one of the reasons he wanted to kill them. Here – look, I’ve printed their pictures out, all seven of them.’

Katie opened the folder and looked at the victims’ photographs. Five were men and two were women. Two of the men and one of the women were smiling, little knowing that sooner or later after these pictures were taken, they would be drowned.