Ricky-Lee turned and swiftly walked to the door.
‘Oh, and Ricky-Lee,’ she said. Hand on the door handle he turned. ‘Don’t forget I’m watching your every move; you are walking a very thin line.’ The phone was answered at the other end. ‘Winnie,’ the detective constable heard her say as he left the room, ‘Can I come round, say in twenty minutes?’
All this time, Charley mused, Lily had known the secret that Josie had yearned for, if only Lily had sought her out and made amends for a childish mistake. It wasn’t the fault of either of them that Josie was taken away, and they were denied contact. Most probably the decision to have her adopted was to protect Josie from Connor O’Doherty, after her grandparents had died.
When Charley arrived at Winnie’s house, she was surprised to see Lily Pritchard sitting in an armchair drinking tea out of a china cup. There were cookies on the sidetable. ‘A gift from Tattie,’ Winnie said nodding at the sweet treats. There were tears in Winnie’s eyes, but a sense of peace too. Winnie reached for Charley’s hand. ‘She knew, Charley, she knew… Josie knew, Lily went to see her before she died.’
‘I know, you took her a posy of winter flowers, didn’t you? I understand now, Josie was one of “them” that you spoke of, wasn’t she?’ said Charley.
Lily nodded. ‘The other was Dinah Hayfield, Catherine’s daughter, who I am going to speak to,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry Inspector, that I didn’t tell you the whole truth, but I never lied to you. I swore on the Bible not to tell, but after our meeting at the police station, I knew I had to put things right, even if I were to be struck by lightning for breaking my promise. You’ve saved me a journey, I was coming to see you. I understand that you’ll need a further statement from me.’
Charley smile was kind. ‘There’s no rush, I appreciate how hard this is for you.’
* * *
Charley sat in her car and inhaled deeply. She could, after all these weeks, feel her body relaxing. Murder investigations were exhausting. ‘There is nothing stranger than fact,’ her grandpa would say, and once again, that saying had proved to be true. Her only hope was that now Crownest had been demolished, all the demons had been put to rest, and God forbid that there would be the proverbial phoenix rising out of the ashes…
The sound of her phone ringing made her sit up as she set off back to the office.
‘Where are you, boss?’
‘Heading back to the office. I’ll be there in a few minutes.’
With that Mike made to hang up, ‘I’ll speak with you then.’
When she arrived back at the station, Mike was waiting for her in the corridor to the CID office. He followed Charley into her office. ‘You’d better sit down, boss.’
‘Don’t tell me we have another body?’
‘No,’ he smiled, taking his seat opposite her. ‘It’s good news. Hussain’s DNA wasn’t on the gun found in Thomas’s locker. Apparently the gun had been wiped, but his DNA was on the bullets in the weapon.’
Charley’s face was aglow. ‘That’s brilliant news!’
Mike was eager to tell her more. ‘Ballistics say that the weapon we found is linked to a shooting in Birmingham. The victim lived, but suffered life-changing injuries.’
Charley made a fist. ‘I just knew there was more to this.’
‘Well, James Thomas might not have come to the attention of the police before, but he certainly has now. A number of police officers are lining up to speak to him about their enquires. He is clearly linked to Hussain and the drug organisation. But, I still wonder why he kept the weapon, especially in his locker?’
‘Maybe to use again?’ suggested Mike.
‘Yeah, maybe… Perhaps we will never know, like we will never know exactly what happened that fateful night at Crownest?’
As he was leaving, Mike turned. ‘The team are wondering if we should have a bit of a celebratory drink tonight?’
‘It seems like a good idea. Everyone has worked hard on this double murder, but unlike the general public believe, a case isn’t over for us when we apprehend and charge a criminal – there are still the files to be prepared.’
All of a sudden there was a lot of noise in the main office, then there was laughter. Charley followed Mike to the doorway.
Annie was the centre of attention. ‘As I drove past the university, this twat wearing hoodie ran straight into the road like a bloody greyhound. I just missed him, the fucking dickhead.’
The young detective stopped as soon as she realised that Charley Mann was stood at her office door watching, and listening to her outburst.
‘Sorry, boss. I’ve just had the scariest moment since I started driving. The idiot didn’t stop at all. He never even looked at me. He’d been up to no good, you can bet on that.’ Annie put her arms out to show Charley her trembling hands. ‘I need a drink,’ Annie said, sitting down.
Charley laughed and nodded once. It was indeed time for that well-deserved drink. The present enquiry was far from over, but Charley knew there would only be a limited amount of time before she got the next ultimate-adrenaline-inducing call; ‘Boss, we’ve a body…’
Acknowledgements
Our special thanks to our publishers, Michael Bhaskar, Kit Nevile and everyone at Canelo for their hard work and commitment to making this Detective Inspector Charley Mann novel the best it can possibly be.
To our literary agent David H. Headley at DHH Literary Agency, who ‘found us’ and continues to support us, believes in us as writers, and is as passionate about our storytelling as we are about writing him stories.
To David’s PA Emily Glenister – always at the end of the phone with a cheery voice, and the boss’s ear!
To Elizabeth Woabank for her detailed job on the edit.
Thanks also to Gemma Beckwith, Judith Kay and Pamela McNulty whose contribution to Condemned we are very grateful for.
We couldn’t have done it without you!
DI Charley Mann Crime Thrillers
Payback
Condemned
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About the Author
RC Bridgestock is the name that husband and wife co-authors Robert (Bob) and Carol Bridgestock write under. Between them they have nearly 50 years of police experience, offering an authentic edge to their stories. The writing duo created the character DI Jack Dylan, a down-to-earth detective, written with warmth and humour.
Bob was a highly commended career detective of 30 years, retiring at the rank of Detective Superintendent. He was also a trained hostage negotiator dealing with suicide interventions, kidnap, terrorism and extortion. As a police civilian supervisor Carol also received a Chief Constable’s commendation for outstanding work.
Also by R.C. Bridgestock
Poetic Justice
DI Jack Dylan Crime Thrillers
Deadly Focus
Consequences
White Lilies
Snow Kills
Reprobates
Killer Smile
DI Charley Mann Crime Thrillers
Payback
Condemned
First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Canelo
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
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Oxford OX2 0DF
United Kingdom
Copyright © R.C. Bridgestock, 2021
The moral right of R.C. Bridgestock to be identified as the creator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Ebook ISBN 9781800323230
Print ISBN 9781800324305
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are eit
her the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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