BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1)

by Rebecca Bradley

  Dominic reached out and took the bag from Nadira. ‘What’s his thing with the lipstick?’

  ‘I don’t know, it’s obviously important to him. It has some meaning, I imagine.’

  Dominic stalked over to Krish and took the pen out of his hand. Krish glared at him. Dominic signed the exhibit label then handed the bag over to Krish to add to the exhibit list.

  ‘Pen.’ Krish held out his hand.

  Dominic dropped the pen into his palm. ‘Thanks, mate.’ He stared at the lipstick in the clear bag. If they were lucky the killer had been sloppy, and they could get some fingerprints from the outside casing. But Dominic knew they’d need more than luck to catch this guy.

  Chapter 19

  Dominic

  They returned to the station and booked all the exhibits into the secure area ready to be submitted for forensic examination.

  A couple of hours later they were back at the hospital.

  Jonathan and Helen were already waiting for them. It didn’t look as though they had slept at all. Their eyes were sunken. Dark shadows were smudged underneath, making their pallid complexions look even more sallow.

  Dominic held out his hand to Jonathan. ‘Thank you for coming.’

  Jonathan took his hand, his grip weak and limp. ‘I need to see my sister.’

  ‘Of course. This way.’ Dominic led them down the corridor and took the elevator down to the viewing room. ‘I’m afraid you can’t be in there with her. There may need to be another post-mortem at a later date should we arrest her killer, so we have to be really careful not to contaminate any evidence. I’m sorry.’

  ‘You’re going to do this to her all over again?’ A sob escaped from deep inside Jonathan.

  Something quivered inside Dominic’s guts. He hated dealing with the grief of the loved ones. He rolled back his shoulders and steeled himself. ‘It’s part of the process. When we catch them, they’re entitled to a defence post-mortem. Much as you might hate it. She will still be treated with dignity.’ He opened the door to the viewing room. A small room, carpeted, with a couple of sofas pushed against two of the walls. Floral wallpaper and a potted plant in the corner gave the sense of being somewhere else other than a hospital.

  The wall opposite the door had a large window and on the other side of the glass were a set of curtains which were drawn across so that they were unable to see through to whatever was beyond.

  Dominic ushered everyone into the room and they stood silently in the wallpapered room a moment, the reality of where they were sinking in.

  ‘Let me know when you’re ready to see her,’ Dominic said. ‘And once the curtain is drawn back you need to verbally let us know if this is Julie or not.’

  Jonathan’s lips drew back into a thin line. Helen clung to his hand. She hadn’t uttered a word yet. Jonathan turned to her. Helen squeezed his hand a little tighter. A sign that they were ready for this. They were in this together and they could do this. He’d seen this many times in the past. Words were rarely used — it was usually a squeeze, a look, something intimate that one loved one gave to another to say they were ready for the worst moment in their lives.

  And he was a part of that moment.

  ‘You’re ready?’ Dominic clarified.

  ‘As I can be,’ Jonathan said.

  Dominic pressed the button on the wall at the side of the window and spoke into the intercom, informing whoever was beyond the wall that they were ready for the viewing.

  Slowly the curtain moved. Helen sucked in air. The hand grasp tightened even more, both of them clutching the other.

  Hayley stood silently behind the couple, ready if one of them needed to escape the room at speed.

  The room beyond was gradually revealed. There was a trolley with a body covered in a white sheet being exposed as the curtains drew back. The Butlers leaned forward to get a closer look, to see if it was Julie, but the curtains were still blocking the view.

  Their faces were practically pushed up against the glass. The curtains finished their slow painful journey across the window and the trolley and its occupant were in full view. Jonathon’s chest was heaving up and down.

  Behind the trolley stood a short male in scrubs and with a raised finger from Dominic he stepped forward and gently lifted the sheet from the head of the person on the trolley and laid it down over their chest.

  ‘No!’ Jonathan’s hands went up to the window and tears streamed down his face. ‘No. No. No. Julie. No. Oh God. Julie. Oh God. No. Julie.’ His forehead tipped forward and also touched the glass. It looked as though he wanted to push himself through the glass and be with his sister.

  Quietly Dominic asked, ‘Is this Julie Carver?’

  ‘Yes,’ whispered Helen. ‘It’s Julie.’

  Chapter 20

  Dominic

  It was Friday and it had been a couple of days since Julie Carver’s body had been found in the woods. When Dominic walked into the incident room, the atmosphere was still upbeat. No one was feeling like this was a slog yet. People were raring for the day ahead even though it was early and they’d had another late shift the previous evening.

  Dominic sat in his chair, shifted the paperwork he’d left in a puddle in the middle of his desk to the side and switched on his computer. He needed to sort out this paperwork and file it today. He had been exhausted when he walked out of the office last night.

  ‘How’s the chest today?’ asked Hayley.

  Dominic patted his chest with his hand as though you could feel from tapping what was going on inside. ‘All good now. Healthiest human there is.’

  ‘So you’re now in better shape than before you ran into a burning building?’ Rhys laughed at him and Hayley smirked at the joke.

  ‘Glad you’re doing better,’ she said.

  ‘You’re a funny guy, Rhys. I’m surprised you don’t cut yourself with that tongue.’ Dominic threw a paperclip at him. It landed wide on the floor somewhere.

  He turned back to his work. His emails, when he checked them, included a couple of thoughts from Kapoor late in the evening. He must have messaged him from home. Rubbish from HR about the new online payment system. There had been a glitch with the software and IT would repair it as soon as possible. Dominic didn’t care so long as the money went in his bank every month. And an email from someone on the incident team requesting money because one of the civilian staff had delivered a bouncing baby boy. The funds would buy her a basket of baby goodies and a pamper gift for herself. He had no issue with this and put his hand in his pocket and found his wallet, fished out a twenty-pound note and put it on his desk ready to give to the collector in a minute.

  The last unread email was from Jonathan Butler. Sent at one thirty-seven this morning. He was asking if they had identified the dating app that Julie had used. Dominic shook his head.

  ‘What is it, Sarge?’ Hayley was behind him. ‘That shake of the head doesn’t look like a good start to the day.’

  ‘It’s Jonathan Butler. He wants to know if we’ve tracked down the dating app his sister used. This is what his FLO is for. To provide him updates. For him to talk to about the things he’s anxious about.’ He looked back down at his email. ‘But this came in the early hours of the morning when, I imagine, he will have been brooding about the case and Lizzy isn’t due there until this morning.’

  Hayley stepped closer. She was right behind his left shoulder peering at the email he was reading. She was so close he could smell the perfume she was wearing, soft and floral. It tickled his nose and he found he liked it.

  ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘He’ll know you won’t respond, but it probably helps him to send it anyway. Makes him feel like he’s taking some kind of action.’

  Kapoor walked into the incident room and Hayley moved back to her own desk. Dominic closed down his screen. He would reply to Jonathan as soon as the briefing was over. They hadn’t identified the app. They didn’t have her phone and the computer tech guys were still examining her laptop. It wasn’t an overni
ght job as often indicated on television shows.

  Kapoor clapped his hands together. He was the epitome of smart preparedness. ‘Morning, team, glad to see everyone here and in good spirits still. Let’s have a look at what we have so far and where we’re going from here, shall we?’

  Dominic picked up the twenty pound note off his desk and waved it at Sofie who put her thumb up and smiled. He would make sure he handed it to her straight after the briefing.

  ‘So,’ said Kapoor. ‘We’re at that stage in the investigation where there’s a lot of waiting around. The exhibits have been sent to forensics so we have to wait on those. As we know, different item results will come in at different times so let’s hope we can get something from them. Christie is on CCTV viewing. That’s another slow and tedious job, but one that needs to be done. Every car that passed near the woods within the timeframe we’ve set is going to be tracked down and the owner spoken to and a statement obtained. If you get anything hinky from any of those visits — which will keep many of you occupied for a good couple of weeks — then let your supervisor know straight away.

  ‘Tim, how’s your team going on the house-to-house around Julie’s address?’

  Tim Eaton pulled a sheet of paper closer to his eyeline and peered down at it. ‘We’ve got some statements providing last sightings of Julie, but nothing of note for who she might have been seeing. We’ve still got a couple of addresses to do but they don’t seem the nosiest people I’ve come across.’

  Kapoor looked at Dominic. ‘How has the dog walker fared?’

  ‘Everything is coming back clean for him so far. He’s a family man, seems to go to work, go home, walks his dog and returns to his family. Not much time for extracurricular activity like brutally murdering women.’

  ‘And anything on the dating app yet?’

  Dominic scratched his head. There was so much to do but so little reward coming in at the moment. ‘Not yet, sir. We still don’t have her phone and her laptop is being examined. We’ve searched her house for paper bills for her phone provider but no luck. It appears she either shreds them or she’s paperless. Because if we know who her provider is we can put in a request for her data and see if it comes up on that. But I’m not sure app use does.’

  Kapoor shook his head and let out a sigh. ‘We won’t let that slow us down, even if it is one of the biggest lines of enquiry. Fingers crossed forensics pull something out of the bag. I’m doing a press conference later today and I want you to be there, Dom, as you’re the one who has had first contact with the family. They know you and are used to you. It will be good for them to see a friendly face.’

  ‘Are you getting them up on the table as well?’ Dominic asked, knowing full well that if he did it was to see how they reacted to the situation. Close relatives were never ruled out of a murder enquiry and because Julie had died at night and Jonathan only had Helen as his alibi — they had been at home together — there was nothing to say they hadn’t been in this together. You only had to look at history to see couples who worked in pairs to murder strangers or even family members. It was not out of the realms of possibility.

  ‘Yes, I asked through Lizzy last night if both the Butlers can be present. They’re anxious about doing it but they’ve agreed. They said that if it has any possibility of bringing Julie’s killer closer to justice then they’ll do anything to help.’

  Dominic rolled his eyes but made sure he had turned away from Kapoor. He felt for the Butlers, he did, but his copper’s instinct told him not to rule them out. So any mention of catching the killer made him that little bit twitchy. The team had an open mind. They couldn’t have anything else. If they closed up and made a mental decision about something then any evidence they found would be forced to fit the narrative they had decided upon. It had been seen to happen time and again. So for this reason, they didn’t rule anything out or rule any set decision in until all avenues had been checked and double checked.

  ‘You’ve all got a lot to be getting on with. We’ll gather again later towards the end of the day and debrief the press conference, see what has come out of it. If someone can set up a tip line and get it manned sufficiently, please, that would be a real help.’ And with that he strode out of the room.

  The phone on Dominic’s desk rang. He picked it up.

  It was the front counter — there was someone here to see him. Said he wanted to talk about the investigation.

  Dominic probed a little more — you didn’t engage with anyone who just wandered in off the street and decided they wanted to talk to one of the team members involved in the investigation. It could be press wanting an exclusive, or a member of the public wanting to insert themselves into the investigation. But this guy wanted to talk to the officer who had dealt with Julie Carver’s family at the start of the investigation. He was adamant.

  This specific request needled Dominic’s curiosity and he wandered through the station to the front desk and met the man, who introduced himself as Samuel Tyler.

  Samuel shook Dominic’s hand, his grasp firm and strong, his eyes bright and piercing. His face shielded by a pepper pot, dark-grey beard. He looked to be about thirty-four, but the beard was off-putting, as it was for many people who chose to go that route nowadays. It made aging a person more difficult.

  ‘How can I help?’ asked Dominic.

  ‘I’m sorry, did the receptionist not explain?’ Samuel looked back towards the front counter confused. ‘I’m a victim support officer and I’ve been assigned to the Butler family.’

  While the FLO was the family’s main point of contact during the investigation, the victim support officer was an extra resource for them. The FLO was there for the investigation team, whereas he would be there for the Butlers.

  ‘I’d like to get some information on the family before I make the approach so I don’t go putting my foot in any sensitive areas.’

  That made sense. Dominic checked his ID and led him through the secure double doors, pressing the pin code that allowed access, to an interview room. ‘Grab a seat, let’s see what we can do for you.’

  Dominic pulled out one of the chairs and sat. He had a lot of time for the civilian staff of Victim Support. They gave their time to victims of crime when they needed someone to talk to, to lean on.

  Samuel pulled out the opposite chair and fished out a notepad from a satchel he was carrying. He laid it out with a pen on the table in front of him, burn scars covering the entirety of his left hand, bright and livid.

  ‘An accident when I was a child.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.’ Dominic shook his head, ashamed of himself for looking and for being caught so obviously staring.

  Samuel laughed. ‘I was expecting it. When you live with disfigurement as long as I have you learn to get used to people and their reactions. I tried to fry bacon in a lot of oil as a child and ended up tipping it all over myself. My mum had left me alone and this was the result.’ He lifted his hand up and showed the pink rippled skin that stretched over the skeleton of his left hand.

  ‘Must have been painful.’ Dominic winced.

  ‘I’ll admit that it’s the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. I wouldn’t like to go through it again in a hurry.’ He laughed again. ‘I soon learned how not to cook bacon.’

  Dominic leaned back in his chair. ‘I’m sorry you had to go through that. Let me know how I can help you today.’

  Samuel opened his notepad, pressed down onto the middle creasing and clicked his pen on. ‘Like I said, I don’t want to put my foot in it with the family. Anything you can tell me that isn’t on the crime report that I should take note of, or should avoid, would be a real help.’

  Dominic thought of Jonathan and Helen Butler. ‘I’m not sure what to tell you, to be honest. They are, as you’d expect, devastated by Julie’s murder. Julie had a son and they’ve taken him in as there’s no dad in the picture.’

  ‘They’re a good family for him?’ Samuel asked as he scribbled in his pa
d.

  ‘Yes. Yes, they seem to be. They offer him stability and comfort and love at a difficult time.’

  Samuel gave a small smile. ‘They’re the basics a child needs. It’s good to hear he’s in good hands.’

  Dominic rubbed his forehead. ‘He should be getting the love he needs from his mother though, not from other members of his family.’

  ‘Of course he should. But in the circumstances he finds himself in, is what I was talking about, DS Harrison. It would be awful to lose one’s mother and then be left out in the cold. I’m glad he has the support he has.’ Samuel made another note. ‘They’ve engaged well with the investigation?’

  Dominic relaxed a little and leaned back in his chair. ‘It’s still early days but everything we’ve asked of them they’ve provided no matter how difficult it’s been for them. We couldn’t have asked for more. Her brother gets a little upset from time to time, he’s impatient for an arrest. I think he presumes that will help him come to terms with her loss.’

  Samuel stopped writing. ‘I’m not sure anything will help them come to terms with their loss. Not as much as they think it will.’

  ‘You’re right, but they have a perception and because the case is not following that perception it’s causing some issues.’

  ‘I’ll bear that in mind when I speak with them. That’s really helpful. Thank you.’ Samuel closed his notepad, clicked his pen off and packed them both away into his satchel. ‘And thank you again for seeing me today. I know you’re busy.’

  Dominic rose. ‘Anything I can do to help.’ He held out his hand again and Samuel shook it.

  ‘You have a difficult task ahead of you, Detective, I wish you all the best with it.’ He pulled a small card from his pocket. ‘If you need to get in touch.’ He handed the card to Dominic who took it.

  Back in the incident room Dominic returned to his desk. He was glad the Butlers were going to get the support they needed.

  His computer monitor gave a quiet ping as another email slipped into his inbox. He hated his email inbox. He could never get on top of it. He tried to prioritise it and dealt with the important stuff, but there was so much crap that came through. Mundane stuff from different departments providing updates on this and that. Stuff he didn’t care about.