Last Breath (Detective Erika Foster, #4)

by Robert Bryndza

She’d been so beautiful, even up until the end,

Her body was no longer needed, by her or him.

Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster watched Detective James Peterson as he towelled flakes of melting snow from his short dreadlocks. He was tall and lean, with just the right mix of arrogance and charm.

DCI Hudson, a small woman with a bob of fine blonde hair,

Superintendent Sparks, a tall thin man with a long, pale face pockmarked with acne scars. His greasy black hair was swept back off his forehead, and his suit was grubby.

The irony wasn’t lost on Erika that this was Friday the thirteenth.

I don’t believe he had the resources or nous to plan an abduction. He was finishing off a long stretch at Pentonville when Janelle’s body was found,

Darryl had decided after Lacey and Janelle that he would stop using the profile he had created with the name Nico.

Social Catfish’s Reverse Image Search. It was a remarkable piece of software, and within a few minutes he had her email address, a list of all the social networks she belonged to, and where she lived.

Alan Leonard, one of the project managers working on the redevelopment at London Bridge, met them on the paved concourse outside the station. He was a fresh-faced young man, rugged up for the cold with a hard hat hanging from his utility belt.

I think there’s enough other crap happening in the media right now.

People are more concerned with who is President of the USA. Will another bogeyman faze them?’

‘She had no one, Janelle. No one in life and no one in death,’

Some people’s lives are so full of family and friends, and others walk through life alone.’

‘If you’re going to die you might as well enjoy yourself in the process,’

‘Isn’t it easier in the long run to be alone? It’s just you, there’s no vulnerabilities, nothing can be taken from you.’

And not only is there the loss to deal with, which threatens to crush you every single day, you’re left with all this life left to lead. Alone. No one really talks about that, do they?’

One person’s monster is another’s friend…’

To stay warm, and wait for death.

Our killer probably didn’t have to leave his house or his bedroom until he was about to grab the victims. He found out everything about them online.

And people don’t realise they’re giving it away. If a stranger came up to you on the street and wanted to know where you were going next, or what kind of films you like, if you’re married or single, where you went to school, or where you work, you’d be a bit freaked out… The same if they wanted to have your phone for a few minutes to scroll through the photos. But the same people blithely stick it all online for everyone to see.’

I think most people find their lives boring, and uploading their achievements, things they’re proud of, it validates them.’

‘Three. We’re going to get the fourth. She’s not going to die,’

If she could manage this, then she might have a chance to escape.

For the rest of her life, Erika would remember the look Darryl Bradley gave her as he was stretchered away. It was as if she had come face to face with pure evil.

You saved lives. Take that home with you tonight. The rest we can worry about later.’

Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.