Blood Symmetry by Kate Rhodes Page A

stress.’
    â€˜She gives me the creeps, but her alibi checks out and so does her husband’s. They were at her mum’s care home early on the morning of the abduction. Their names are in the visitors’ book, and a nurse saw them arrive.’
    â€˜I’m more concerned about Sam Travers.’
    â€˜Pete’s team are doing an extended search at his house. He was lying about not seeing much of Clare; one of her neighbours says his car was outside her house several times a week. His documentary on the health service put him in contact with loads of medics. He was tracking staff at five different hospitals.’
    â€˜So he could have met Mendez and Stuart?’
    â€˜If he did, there’s no record.’
    â€˜Let me interview him again,’ I said. ‘If Clare rejected him, he’s got the biggest motive.’
    â€˜I’ll set it up.’ Burns rubbed his hand across his jaw. ‘So far our earliest sighting of the kid is from a CCTV camera on Walworth Road at midday, staggering like he was drunk.’
    â€˜Or drugged?’
    â€˜Whatever they gave him had cleared his system by the time he was examined.’ He pushed his plate away. ‘Can we take a break, just for half an hour?’
    â€˜You want to make small talk with all this going on?’
    â€˜Work doesn’t stop when we down tools,’ he said firmly. ‘My team are going flat out.’
    â€˜Have you always been so rational?’
    â€˜I’m a dour Scot, remember? Tell me your secrets, Alice.’
    â€˜You know them all.’
    â€˜I don’t have a clue about your relationships before me.’
    â€˜And that bothers you?’ I took a sip of wine. ‘You want details.’
    â€˜I’m trying to understand you.’
    â€˜Why don’t you go first?’
    His smile reappeared. ‘Lorraine Salmond asked me out in year seven, then broke my heart a month later. I dated a girl at sixth-form college, but that ended in tears when I left for art school. After a few years of short flings Julie came along, when I was a newly qualified cop.’
    â€˜She’s the first girl you fell for?’
    â€˜I met her at a party, she had the loudest laugh in the room.’ He stared down at his empty plate. ‘Twelve good years, then it fell apart.’
    â€˜Did Lorraine Salmond leave a mark?’
    â€˜God, yeah. The little cow dumped me on my twelfth birthday.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘Your turn, Alice, stop evading.’
    I rolled my eyes. ‘Nothing serious until med school, then a doctor, dentist and a surgeon in quick succession. I spent a while alone, then there was a dance teacher and a defrocked priest. The rest you know.’ I put down my wine glass. ‘How did I let the surgeon get away? He had navy blue eyes and played the piano beautifully.’
    â€˜No one has navy blue eyes.’
    â€˜He did.’
    â€˜Did he break your heart?’
    I shook my head. ‘It’s still intact.’
    He gaped at me. ‘You’ve never been in love?’
    I leant back in my chair. ‘How much do you know about relationship psychology?’
    â€˜Bugger all, obviously.’ He leaned closer, eyes tracing my mouth.
    â€˜Our intimacy patterns are fixed by age seven. If the blueprint’s faulty, it takes work to correct it.’
    â€˜Your parents had a bad marriage?’
    â€˜With bells on.’
    His fingers settled on my wrist. ‘But you’re different. You like mending people.’
    â€˜Patterns repeat themselves, don’t they?’
    â€˜Not if you work at it.’
    â€˜Why not read the warning signs, Don? I’m not a great bet.’
    â€˜That’s for me to decide. I’d settle for a night with you in my bed instead of watching you leave.’
    I bit my lip. ‘It’s not deliberate, but you’re right. Sex is the easy part.’
    â€˜How long was your last