Read A Limited Justice (#1 - The Craig Modern Thriller Series) for Free Online

and Jessie knew that it must be sore for her, remembering her own wisdom teeth. But this beautiful baby never cried. Perhaps she knew how much she was loved.
    Tears of injustice pricked Jessie’s eyes suddenly. Her children had done nothing wrong but they had suffered so much. And regardless of who or how many she killed, she couldn’t stop that.
    But her killings would keep them safe in the years ahead, and no matter what her conscience said, she had to finish what she’d started. And as soon as possible, time was running out.
    ***
    Meg McCandless had unfolded herself from her foetal position when they’d entered, sitting bolt upright at the edge of the black leather chair, her coffee untouched. She held up her head, and the only signs of grief were in her hands. They were knotted together on her lap, wringing hard at a white handkerchief. As if all the pain and loss she felt could be squeezed out by her constant twisting and pulling of the small square. The neon light in the windowless room threw every line on her face into harsh relief, each one etched deeper by her grief.
    Joey sat beside her, watching her dry eyes anxiously, his own tears falling freely in compensation. Her eyes were closed tight, shutting out the world and the reality that opening them would force on her. She hadn’t moved except to straighten up, since they’d entered thirty minutes before, despite her son’s touch and Annette’s kind words. So they all sat, matching her silence. Until finally she opened first one eye and then the other, staring at her son vacantly.
    Craig reached over and touched her hand gently. She stared down at his long tanned fingers, her eyes moving slowly from his hand to his face. Then to Annette’s and finally to her son’s again, expressionless and uncomprehending. Annette had seen the reaction before and she motioned Craig outside the room.
    “She needs a doctor, sir. She hasn’t said a word since the I.D. this morning, and if anything she’s blanker now than she was then.”
    Craig nodded. Any hope of getting information from Meg McCandless had left him five minutes after they’d entered the room. He raked his hand down his face tiredly.
    “OK, Annette. Call the medical examiner to see her. Then see what you can get from Joey. Anything he can give us.”
    She nodded and re-entered the room. Leaving Craig to drive to the labs, angrier by the minute at the destruction of a whole family, probably for the rest of their lives.
    ***
    The newly built pathology labs were set in a secure science park on the Saintfield Road, two miles from Belfast city centre. They shared the park with valuable research facilities, whose high security and alarms were a condition of the huge grants they received. Craig abandoned his black Audi in the nearest free space and pushed through the double PVC doors into the pathology lab, heading straight for John Winter’s corner office. The door was lying open, the office unexpectedly empty, so he helped himself to a coffee with the rude familiarity of a long-time friend. John’s percolator produced seven types of coffee with bastardised Italian names, but only espresso had the hit he needed after that interview.
    He was sitting at the desk flicking through an old newspaper when John clattered in, dropping an armful of papers onto the desk and knocking Craig’s drink flying. They watched silently as the dark brown liquid spread across the floor, and then laughed simultaneously, as John frantically grabbed towels to stop the patch spreading. He’d dropped, spilled and ripped everything he touched since they’d been at school; it had cost his parents a small fortune.
    “At least I missed the notes this time. I didn’t yesterday. Fancy another one?”
    Craig jumped up with a parental look. “I’ll get it.”
    They settled into an amiable silence, John knowing from the darkness in his friend’s expression not to speak until Craig broke it. Eventually he did.
    “Sorry to rush you John,