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Back The Last Drop of Blood Save as PDF
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

‘Anyway, he was pure accommodating and gave me this USB from his CCTV.’ She opened up her purse and held up a 64GB memory stick. ‘It covers the whole of the past month, at least. He had an alarm installed already but he added the camera after he found that some burglar had tried to force open their kitchen window.’

‘That’s fantastic, Padragain. If you can take it upstairs and ask Sergeant Murphy to run through it for us. He’s been going back over all the CCTV footage that might relate to Justice Quinn’s last movements, so he has a fair idea of what we’re looking for.’

‘What are we looking for? I mean, anything specific?’

‘I’m not at all totally sure, to be honest with you. Anything that might tell us why he drove up to White’s Cross, instead of heading directly for the law courts. There could have been any number of reasons. Maybe there was somebody up near White’s Cross that he’d arranged to visit, although there’s no evidence of that in his phone records. Maybe he was tricked into going there. Maybe he just decided that he wanted to drive around the countryside to clear his mind.’

‘I know how that feels,’ said Detective Scanlan.

‘You’re all right, are you? I know I’ve been overworking everybody but right now there’s so much to cope with and we’re so short-staffed.’

‘I’ve been having some boyfriend trouble, that’s all. Nothing serious. It’s mostly the crowd he mixes with.’

Katie thought of her late husband, Paul, and how he had become involved in so many shady building-supply contracts, such as lorryloads of bricks that were sold twice over, and hundreds of bags of cement that never were. Even if she hadn’t been a senior police officer his scams would have troubled her, so she could understand why Detective Scanlan was feeling so stressed.

‘If you need to talk about it—’ she began.

‘Thanks a million, ma’am, but I’m sure you’ve enough troubles of your own to be getting on with.’

She left, and Katie stood up and went to the window. It wasn’t raining, but it was already beginning to grow dark, as if God had drawn the curtains early because the world was giving Him a migraine. Not only that, but the hooded crows were clustered on the rooftop opposite – so many of them that they were fighting with each other for footing on the ridge tiles. If that wasn’t a sinister omen, she didn’t know what was.

Her iPhone played Mo Ghille Mear and her eyes filled with tears.

For some short time I was a gentle maiden,

Now I am a spent, worn-out widow,

My darling has crossed the wild waves,

Gone far away.

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