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

by Rebecca Bradley

  He walked around the room. Moved cushions and throws, a newspaper that was on the table. He shook his head. ‘I can’t see anything that is making me anxious.’

  ‘Kitchen,’ she spat.

  The pedal bin had been emptied. The kitchen looked like anyone else’s kitchen. Items lined the worktops. A toaster, a kettle, a knife block — that had been dusted for prints. There was a knife missing. The block was bound to have Dominic and Ruth’s prints on it. That was only to be expected. This was their house. It was if there were other prints they would get excited. But what if it was Dominic? How would they prove it? These items belonged to him. She needed to ask him about the glass in the pedal bin when they were back in an interview room.

  Dominic scratched at his head. ‘I can’t see anything. I don’t know what you’re expecting here. I don’t get it. I don’t know what I can offer you.’ He was defeated and Claudia wanted to punch him.

  ‘Ruth is out there, you fucking moron. She’s relying on us not to give up. Stop whining like a baby and being defeatist and get your head in the game. You’re a cop. Act like a cop. I don’t give a shit if you’re in handcuffs. Pull it together.’

  The words were harsh, her tone even more brittle.

  Dominic stared at Claudia, his complexion pale, allowing her words to sink in. ‘I want to find my wife.’

  ‘Okay then. We have one last place to check and this one is the hardest, this is the place we found her blood, we need to go into the garage.’

  Dominic’s shoulders slumped. ‘You keep saying it’s her blood, but the results haven’t come back yet, have they?’

  Claudia’s hand was on the door handle. ‘No, they haven’t come back yet. I’ll let you know as soon as they do. Are you ready for this?’ She wasn’t sure what she expected from him as she had no idea what had gone down in this house. If he’d killed her, would he leave the blood to be found like that? It was unlikely. And the garage was a place you didn’t go into every day. It would be easy enough for him not to have seen it and walked into the police station oblivious to its being there.

  Dominic bent over double, placed his hands on his knees — as best he could considering they were still bound together in the cuffs.

  Claudia waited for him. ‘You sure you want to do this?’

  ‘I’ll do anything that could potentially lead to us finding Ruth.’

  She understood his anxiety. Claudia steeled herself to go back into the garage. This had been her idea, she couldn’t blame Sharpe for this. Much as she’d love to. Sharpe knew she would do everything in her power to get to the bottom of the case and to find the truth. To find Ruth and to know Dominic’s part in it. Even if it was difficult for her.

  Back at the door she pushed down on the handle. ‘No putting this off any longer. The quicker we go in here the quicker we get out again. I’m not expecting anything. I imagine it’s going to be the same as the rest of the house. Especially as CSU have paid particular attention in here.’

  The garage was cooler as they entered. It hadn’t changed from this morning. Claudia clenched her jaw. This was a crime scene, she told herself, walk through it like you would any other. You’re a professional, act like one.

  Dominic walked in behind her and the door clicked shut as Kane brought up the rear. The sound was loud in the dusty, cold, grey, concrete space.

  Claudia swallowed. Tension running through her. The hairs on the top of her arms prickled. The blood pooled in front of them where she had last seen it. It would be cleaned up later. All CSU had needed was a swab of the blood to test it.

  Dominic was standing stiff at the side of her, staring forward at the dark red puddle between the walls.

  Claudia laid a hand on his arm. ‘Are you okay?’ Her voice was soft. Quiet.

  He didn’t move.

  She waited him out. Let him get his bearings. Like she had earlier that morning. She’d needed time to bring her head back around, she would give him a minute. She took her hand away and stepped back a little. Kane stepped close to her.

  ‘What about you?’ he asked.

  She nodded. Mute. Her emotions wavering. She had no idea what she was supposed to be feeling never mind what she was actually feeling. No amount of training prepared you for this.

  ‘All this . . .’ said Dominic. ‘They’re saying all this might be Ruth’s?’

  ‘Like you said,’ Claudia responded from behind him. ‘They don’t know yet. It might not be.’

  ‘How could I not know it was here in my house?’

  It was a good question but one she had already answered in her own head. How many people entered their garages every single day? Even if it was attached to the house via an internal door. If there was no reason to go inside, you just didn’t.

  ‘You tell me,’ she said instead. It was her job to get the answers from him, not make them up for him.

  He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I don’t . . . I didn’t . . .’ He turned to her. ‘Claudia?’

  She couldn’t do anything to take the pain away.

  ‘I didn’t do this.’

  He’d been saying this all morning. It’s what Sharpe wanted her to find out.

  Dominic took a step forward and then another. He was searching the garage space with his eyes. The CSU hadn’t taken much. The boxes that had been there before this were still present. The usual crap that was stored in garages remained. But this was where it had happened.

  Claudia watched him. Kane watched them both.

  ‘I see something.’ Dominic turned back to them.

  ‘What is it?’ Kane spoke up.

  Dominic pointed forward with both arms. The finger of his right hand directing their gaze. Down and forward of the pool of blood.

  ‘I don’t see what you’re looking at,’ said Kane. ‘This place is full of crap.’ He looked from the garage floor to Dominic. ‘Sorry, mate. You know what I mean. All garages look like this.’

  Dominic shook the remark off. ‘Over there. In front of the garage door, but pushed half under it, you could miss it if you weren’t paying attention. What is it?’

  Claudia stepped forward, straining her eyes. Whatever Dominic was looking at was black in colour which was why it was not standing out in the shadow of the door. She gingerly stepped around the blood. Dominic stayed where he was knowing this was not his time to move. Kane stepped forward to monitor him while Claudia went to check out the item that was getting Dominic wound up.

  ‘You’re sure it doesn’t belong to you, or in here?’ she asked, trying to figure out what it was.

  ‘No. It might look like the garage is full of shit, but it’s my shit and I know what everything is and where it is. It’s tidy shit. Look at the plastic boxes on the walls. I put things away.’

  Claudia looked at the boxes. She didn’t need to. She’d seen them. But just mentioning them created the need to look again. She really needed to concentrate, though, on the item on the floor, pushed half under the garage door, barely visible. It was no wonder the CSU missed it. Or maybe they believed it belonged in the garage and bore no relation to what they were investigating. After all, they hadn’t emptied the garage of its contents. They didn’t need to remove everything that lived in there naturally. If they believed it was a part of the room then they’d leave it.

  She stepped closer and bent down. She could make it out now. A shiny black cylinder. She turned to Dominic again. ‘It’s definitely not yours? It could be Ruth’s?’ She had to be sure.

  ‘It’s not ours.’ He was adamant.

  Claudia dragged a pair of gloves from her pocket and slipped her hands into them. ‘Do you have a bag, Russ?’

  Russ handed her a plastic evidence bag.

  She bent down and picked up the item Dominic had been pointing to and showed it to the two men. ‘Have you seen this before?’ This question was directed at Dominic.

  ‘No,’ he answered, his voice taking on urgency. ‘What colour is it, Claudia?’

  It was a House of Maven lipstick. She tur
ned it upside down and read the colour from the base, squinting to see the tiny writing. ‘It’s Velvet Berry.’ Her head spun and her mind tried to place where she had heard that before.

  ‘Oh God, no.’ Dominic was backing away from the blood and the garage door and from Claudia. He bumped into Russ who would not let him move further.

  ‘What is it, Dom?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s the same lipstick that the Sheffield Strangler used on his victims and left at the crime scenes. He has Ruth.’

  Of course. She’d heard the lipstick name in the interview with Dominic.

  He was trying to get out of the garage. Russ had hold of him by his arm trying to keep him calm. But Dominic was on the verge of losing it. ‘He has Ruth, we have to do something.’

  Claudia indicated to Russ that they could move out of the garage. She bagged the lipstick and followed them into the kitchen. Dominic was wound up tight.

  ‘If he left the lipstick with the bodies, why leave it here in your garage when there isn’t a body?’ she asked him. ‘Have you known him to do that before?’

  Dominic shook his head, his focus scattered. ‘I don’t know. And no, though we haven’t always known the site where the women have been abducted from so maybe the lipstick is left at the scenes and we haven’t known about it. Maybe he wants to play with me. Let me know he has her.’ He spun on the spot. ‘Jesus, Claudia, what the fuck am I going to do?’

  He was distraught as he contemplated who could have his wife. Claudia couldn’t bear to see him like this. Discomfort clawed in the pit of her stomach as a cold chill shrouded her shoulders and down her arms. Could the Sheffield Strangler really have Ruth? It didn’t bear thinking about.

  Claudia moved closer to him. It was against protocol but nothing could stop her now. He was breaking right in front of her and she had to comfort him. She couldn’t stand by and watch him crumble. The lipstick implied so much. So much that they both feared. They both loved Ruth. Regardless of what Claudia’s role in all this was she had to help him. She reached out and took hold of one of his hands. Held him still. He was shaking and was cool to the touch. She tightened her grip on his hand. She had never seen him like this, in all the years she had known him. It unnerved her a little to see him so fragile. He was always strong, always someone she would look up to, turn to for advice. He had never looked away and now she wouldn’t look away from him.

  She handed the exhibit, the House of Maven Velvet Berry lipstick, to Russ and fished in her pocket for the handcuff keys, pulling them out with her fingertips. Dominic stared at her but didn’t say a word. Their eyes locked. The grief they endured was raw and palpable between them. It was shared and personal.

  Tears filled Dominic’s eyes as he moved his gaze to the keys as Claudia pushed the key into the first lock and the bar came away and his hand dropped free and then did the same with the other hand.

  He stared down at her, bewildered. ‘Claudia . . . I didn’t.’

  Tears filled Claudia’s eyes now. She couldn’t take this anymore. It was too much. She was so scared for Ruth and didn’t know what was happening but how could she believe this man was responsible? How had they got into this position? She should have refused. She should never have had anything to do with this from the start. She should have walked away. No one would have blamed her. But it wasn’t just Dominic, it was Ruth, and she loved Ruth as much as she loved the man in front of her. She made him a promise. One she never issued to anyone else. But this was different. She owed them both so much. ‘We’ll sort it out, I promise. We’ll find Ruth and we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll find out the truth. I don’t know what’s happening, Dad.’

  Chapter 24

  Dominic

  Five months ago

  It was only three weeks until another body turned up. Dominic had been in the office an hour; they had been getting nowhere with the Julie Carver case but the team were still working hard on it. Talking to people, viewing CCTV, running press conferences to jog people’s memories. It was full steam ahead.

  Kapoor walked up behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder. Dominic turned. Kapoor stepped back. This wasn’t good.

  ‘What is it?’ Dominic presumed something was wrong with the case. That maybe Jonathan had put a complaint in because it was going so slow. Jonathan and Helen wanted answers. Answers they hadn’t been able to provide. They had never been able to locate Julie’s phone, never identified the dating app she had been on and no amount of asking the public identified the male she had been on a date with. No one knew where she met him or what he may have looked like. All they had was that he was a Caucasian male. Gender and race. In three weeks. And that had been obtained on the first day.

  Kapoor was starting to look tired. He was getting pressure from above, but right now he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. It was as though he was shrivelling in on himself. ‘There’s another one.’

  Dominic heard him but couldn’t take in what he was saying. ‘What?’

  ‘Another body’s been found, this time in woods at the side of Hathersage Road. From initial reports it looks to be the same MO as Julie Carver.’

  It hit him. ‘Fuck.’

  ‘You went out to Julie, I want you to go out to this one, see if there are any similarities or differences.’

  ‘Fuck. Are we sure?’

  ‘No. That’s why I want you to go, Dom. It’s not great news either way. If it is then we’re on the verge of having a serial killer loose on our streets. If it isn’t then we have two lunatics running free in the city. I’m not sure which of those scenarios is worse.’

  Dominic’s team were great cops and would handle this but no one wanted a serial killer. No one wanted the women of the city to be afraid to go out of their homes.

  He remembered back to the last serial killer. He had only been a young lad, not yet in the police, but he remembered the Yorkshire Ripper. Women being told not to go out at night on their own. His mum holding onto her cross around her neck as she soaked up the news at tea time, clutching it like it would ward off all the badness that was coming through the set. The reporter talking about hammers and violent injuries. Fear had been something once removed for him as a young man, but he remembered the reporting and the general sense of shock in the city. That this could happen so close to them. It hadn’t hit them in Sheffield but it wasn’t far enough away for people to feel like it was just another TV report that they could watch and move on from. This was real to them. They were Yorkshire people. There was a kinship to the women in the cities he was stalking. This felt like their lives. After all, he was the Yorkshire Ripper and they were Yorkshire folk.

  Dominic couldn’t bear to think that they could go through that again. The fear that seeped through the whole city, petrified that the violence and death would be visited upon them.

  And this time, it was. Or it looked like it was heading that way.

  He ran a hand through his hair. ‘I take it everyone else needed has already been alerted?’

  ‘Yes, CSU and the pathologist are on their way.’

  Dominic alerted the team and within five minutes they were out the door and headed to the second crime scene.

  * * *

  It was November now and the day was chilly. There was a slight mist in the air in the woods and it added an eerie feel to the proceedings. Leaves crumpled beneath Dominic’s feet as he approached the scene, some sticking to his shoes as he moved. Once at the perimeter, he placed the shoe guards on and approached the rest of the way on the metal plates placed down by the CSIs, stepping carefully on the damp woodland floor.

  Nadira Azim was already there, standing beside a CSI over the grave. They were deep in discussion as Dominic approached.

  ‘Morning. Please tell me it’s not another of the same?’ He came parallel with the two professionals and looked down at the soil, where a woman was on her side with her face in the dirt. Dominic had no idea of her age.

  Again it was a shallow grave. It didn’t appear that t
he killer was interested in hiding his victims well. It was as though he wanted to be caught, or at least wanted his kills to be found. Was he making a statement? The fact that he didn’t bury the women deeper would indicate he had something to say with their bodies. They were a message. But who to and what was he saying? If only Dominic could answer these questions maybe he would be a step closer to finding out who was behind it.

  ‘Morning, Dom.’ Nadira smiled at him. ‘We can’t say for sure, we haven’t been here long ourselves. But on first look there are a couple of indicators that this could be the same male offender. First, you can see some bruising that goes around her neck.’

  Dominic let out a sigh.

  ‘It’s not what any of us wanted.’ She pointed into the grave the woman had been dragged out of. ‘In there you have a lipstick. It looks to be the same make as last time as well. I don’t know the significance, but that’s not my area of expertise.’

  It was his and he was no further forward with it.

  ‘That says a lot more than the rest of her body, doesn’t it,’ he muttered.

  ‘It does say rather a lot. It’s not something you’ve ever released to the press either so you couldn’t imagine a copycat picking up on this and committing a similar murder. First things first though, this mist is going to tamper with our evidence so we need to get a tent erected as quickly as we can, preserve as much as possible.’

  Just then a couple of CSIs strode up behind him carrying the white contraption that would protect the woman from the damp in the air. Dominic, Nadira and the CSI stood back out of their way and let them get on with their task.

  As the tent was erected Dominic realised he could hear the birds in the trees, their song light and cheerful. The sound of life continuing beautifully around them so at odds with the scene in front of him. The dark damp leaves mulched down on the ground, the livid marks around the woman’s neck giving voice to her violent ending.

  ‘How long do you think she’s been buried here? How long do you think she’s been dead?’ he asked.

  ‘You know I can’t give you a time of death at the side of the body like this. I do wish you wouldn’t ask.’ She wasn’t annoyed but it was a familiar discussion.