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

by Rebecca Bradley

  ‘I want to get out of here. I need to be involved in the search for Ruth. I can’t be caged up like this while she’s out there hurt and bleeding and needing me.’

  Claudia choked on the lump in her throat. ‘I’m sorry, Dad. You’re most helpful in here. If you truly believe it has something to do with your current case then we need to look at it and we need you to run us through it and how Ruth got involved in it. I do need to ask you one question though, that I should have asked you earlier.’

  Dominic was on the edge of his seat, all his anxiety propelling him forward. ‘What is it, Claudia?’

  ‘There was a broken glass in your kitchen bin when we searched the house. What do you know about it?’

  He rubbed at his head. ‘I don’t . . . I don’t remember breaking a glass. Unless Ruth did at some point. I imagine it could have got in there at any time. It’s been a few days since that bin was emptied.’

  Claudia shook her head. ‘Even if we fingerprint it, there’s no evidential value if your prints come back on it. After all it’s your house and it’s your glass.’

  ‘I’m telling you, I have no idea why it was in the bin. Accidents happen with glassware all the time.’

  ‘Okay. Let’s go back to the investigation, shall we?’

  While she might have been willing to move on at that point, there was something about the broken glass that niggled at the back her mind.

  Chapter 41

  Dominic

  Four months ago

  Two months had passed and they were no further along in the investigation than they had been at the start. CCTV had drawn a blank on every single murder. House-to-house enquiries near the victims’ homes had not given them a single lead. They had eventually identified the third victim, who was likely to be the first victim, as Molly Jessop, a forty-six-year-old photographer, thanks to the press release.

  Molly lived alone, didn’t engage with her neighbours and worked for herself, so had no workplace to report her missing. Her parents lived abroad in Spain, having moved there in retirement. She was an only child and her friends said they were used to not hearing from her for long periods as she liked to spend time alone. And as the only single woman of their age group the rest of the women had families they spent their time with, was the unsaid part of the statements. Molly had a daughter aged twenty-three who lived in Manchester and who didn’t check in with her mother particularly regularly.

  Her business was doing well and a whole list of clients were contacted and investigated. One was considered as a potential suspect for a couple of weeks but eventually he checked out and the lead went cold.

  There was an ex-boyfriend but he was now married to another woman and his alibis checked out for the times of death for all three murders.

  Dominic had looked at Alex Chapman but though he had no real alibi there was no evidence placing him at the scene of the crime either. Whoever they were looking for was forensically aware. Chapman was a highly intelligent man and perfectly capable of being the person they were looking for. The case frustrated Dominic.

  Again Molly’s mobile phone was missing but friends had said they were aware she was using a dating app on her phone. It was a fairly new thing. She liked her own company, but thought a couple of dates might be fun. It was the same app, Close to Me, that had been mentioned in the first two murders.

  The American company had finally come through with the information they required. The account details of Madeleine and Julie. It had proved hopeless. Whoever they had been connected to had deleted themselves and deleted the chat messages through the account. The company did not save these messages. The team decided the dating app was what linked the women and was how the killer was connecting with them.

  What they were unsure of was how he was choosing his victims. Julie had been a blonde white female, Madeleine was of mixed heritage and Molly was a brunette with dyed red tips. They were all very different women. Aesthetically speaking, he didn’t seem to have a type.

  Dominic was walking back into the incident room when he was met by Kapoor heading in the same direction. He didn’t look happy.

  ‘Just the person I need to speak with.’

  Dominic didn’t like the sound of this.

  ‘Can you go to Rivelin Valley Park? We have another body.’

  Dominic ran a hand through his hair. ‘You’re kidding me, boss. I thought he’d finished. We’ve another? You’re sure it’s the same guy?’

  There was a pause. ‘I’m sure, Dom. Nadira is on her way, if you could meet her there I’d appreciate it.’

  Dominic walked to his desk and picked his keys up out of the top drawer. Kapoor trailed behind him.

  ‘I’m on my way.’ And with that he was out of the station and travelling to another crime scene. The fourth in the space of three months.

  Nadira was climbing out of her car as he pulled up.

  ‘I hear we have another one allocated to the Sheffield Strangler,’ said Nadira when she saw him.

  He grimaced. ‘I’m sick of this guy.’

  ‘You and me both. It’s not a pleasant way for these women to go. They must have been terrified knowing what was coming.’

  Nadira grabbed a Tyvek suit, dropped it to her feet, lifted a leg up and hopped her way into it one leg at a time, struggling as her feet got stuck in the crinkling material and nearly flying backwards onto the ground. It was always more difficult to get into the Tyvek suits in the winter when you were more wrapped up in thicker clothes underneath. You worked a long time in them, you needed to keep warm if you were outside. Eventually she was upright and in the white papery suit, zipping it up to her chin.

  Behind them Paul, Krish and Hayley pulled up. A marked car was some way in front of them with an ambulance in front of that. The scene was getting busy.

  A uniformed officer stood with someone in front of the marked car. Dominic walked over to them. It was a woman. She was sobbing. Her head in her hands, dark hair tumbling over the side of her face. Dominic recognised the officer from the station. He was an older guy with a girth that was straining over the top of his trousers. He couldn’t have much longer left to serve. Dominic looked to the sobbing woman.

  ‘This is Maura Brady. She found the body,’ said the cop. ‘It’s upset her so I called the ambulance.’ There was a paramedic standing off to one side waiting. The cop had his notepad and pen out. He’d be getting a quick first account before he let her go. It was difficult on witnesses and victims, but police often wanted to get the information at all costs. It was vital in investigations if they were to stand any chance of detecting a crime. This old-timer knew the ropes and Dominic was pleased to have him here.

  Dominic waved the paramedic over; the uniformed cop could get his account while the paramedic took care of the witness. It was also important that she was taken care of. That way they would get the best possible evidence from her.

  ‘What can you tell us?’ the old-timer asked gently as the paramedic wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm. His shock of auburn hair was lit up by the lights of the vehicles around them.

  Tears were pouring down the woman’s face. She was ghostly white, her eyes shot through with red. She peered up at Dominic through a long fringe as more tears formed and fell.

  ‘I’ve never seen a dead body,’ she said. She was young. Maybe in her twenties.

  ‘It’s only early, what were you doing this morning?’ he tried again.

  She looked past him to where the crime scene tape was set up. ‘I had a fight with my boyfriend as he was taking me to work so when he stopped the car at some traffic lights I climbed out. I was furious and needed to calm down so thought a bit of a walk would cool my mood. I’m on flexitime so it wouldn’t really affect me if I was later than I usually am.’ She started to sob some more. ‘I’m a bit of a hothead, you see, and knew the fresh air would do me good. I didn’t expect to stumble on a dead body as I cleared my head. It was . . .’ The tears flowed freely. ‘It was so horrific. I’ve never seen any
thing like it. I’ve never even seen a dead body of a relative.’ The young woman was devastated at her early-morning find.

  Dominic quietly thanked her and informed her that they would get her taken care of and then they’d need a statement. They’d do it later that day when she was feeling a little more up to it. The officer would take her details and arrange it with her. A detective would then be in touch.

  She agreed with everything he said, to anything that would get her out of this situation. ‘Why?’ she asked.

  Dominic waited for her.

  ‘Why was she pulled out of the grave? Who did that to her?’

  ‘It’s the animals. They sense the body under the soil and tend to drag it free, I’m afraid.’ It seemed their killer didn’t like to bury the bodies particularly deep.

  She nodded her understanding but grimaced at the thought. Her phone, Dominic noticed, was clamped tight in her hand.

  ‘Can I ask,’ he said before he moved away, ‘that you not discuss the details of this with anyone. Obviously you can get support from a loved one and tell them you found a body, but the details of it, we’d rather them not get out if we can.’

  She nodded. Words seeming to be stuck in her throat. She lifted an arm and with the back of her wrist swiped away at her eyes which were puffy and sore looking.

  ‘Thank you,’ Dominic said again.

  He strode over to his team who were waiting at the vehicles.

  ‘Nadira has gone up to the body,’ Hayley said.

  ‘Thanks. Can one of you give Maura a lift home please? She’s in a bit of a state and I want to make sure she’s okay.’

  Krish said he’d do it.

  Dominic grabbed a Tyvek suit and pulled it on. Once he was set up he walked to the crime scene where Nadira was crouched over the body.

  Standing at the side of her he could see what had got Maura so upset. The brutality that had occurred to this woman was clear to see and she had only just been dumped. The bruising around the neck was vivid with the smear of red lipstick gave the woman a gruesome appearance. Her eyes were open and she looked terrified.

  ‘How old would you put her at?’ asked Nadira from her crouched position.

  Dominic twisted his head to get a better look at the woman. ‘I’d say she was late thirties early forties.’

  Nadira sighed. ‘I think you have your type there, don’t you?’

  ‘You think he goes for a woman of a certain age?’

  ‘It looks that way to me, having had every single one of them on my table.’

  ‘You could be right, Nadira. We’ve been considering their looks, their social circles, but you’re right about their ages. We need to identify this woman and ascertain her age for definite. If she falls in the fortyish age bracket then we have our profile and we can work on that.’

  ‘I think you probably had it before now,’ she said taking fingernail clippings from the woman. ‘You just hadn’t officially named it. You’re not stupid, Dom. Your team isn’t stupid and Adyant Kapoor definitely isn’t stupid.’

  Dominic laughed. ‘You’re right there. He’s one of the most intelligent people I know but he’s under so much pressure and I think it’s getting to him. Not being able to identify this guy, it’s hard. The media will come down on us like a ton of bricks when we release the fact that we have another body and he’ll get it in the neck from above because of that.’

  ‘He’s clever.’

  ‘Our killer?’

  She looked up. ‘Unfortunately, yes. I hate to say that. I really do. But he’s also an intelligent man, but with a violent streak and obviously a bit of a screw loose.’

  ‘That’s the official term I take it.’

  ‘Absolutely.’ She bagged the woman’s hands and taped them up.

  ‘He has a ritual, doesn’t he? There has to be a reason behind it.’

  ‘He’s certainly sticking to the same MO with every murder. From what I can see of this one, he’s not veering from anything he’s done in the past at all. Like you say, it must have meaning for him. In every grave there has been the House of Maven lipstick and I imagine when we move this young woman that we’ll find the same thing again.’ Nadira pulled a large plastic bag out of her medical bag. She gently lifted the woman’s head and placed the bag over, taping it into place just under her chin, making sure to avoid the cut to her throat.

  ‘If people could see this they’d be horrified.’ The sight of the dead woman with hands and head in clear bags was bizarre. Her lipstick-smeared face ghoulish through the plastic.

  ‘I know. But we need to keep all evidence intact on the journey from here to the morgue. We don’t want to lose particulates. It has to be done.’

  ‘I know. It just doesn’t look like we’re taking care of her, does it? It looks like we’re torturing her more.’

  Nadira held the woman’s plastic-sealed hand a moment. ‘It’s because we care about what happened to her that we have to do this. Her loved ones will need closure and she’s the best way to try to find that.’

  ‘You’re preaching to the choir, Nadira.’

  Nadira stood and stretched her arms over her head, straightening out the muscles that had started to seize up from crouching over the body. The CSI who had been at her side photographing her work stepped out of her way. ‘This has to stop, Dom. We need to find a way to identify him. We need to find some trace evidence that links back to him in some way. We can’t keep losing women like this.’

  Chapter 42

  Dominic

  ‘There’s a woman at the front counter waiting for you, Dom,’ said Kapoor when Dominic walked back into the incident room.

  First of all Dominic was surprised to see Kapoor in the incident room and secondly why was a woman waiting to speak to him? He’d only this minute walked back into the station. ‘What’s it about?’

  ‘Word has already leaked that another body has been found and the woman walked in and asked to speak to the officer who had been to the crime scene. Her friend didn’t turn up for work this morning.’

  Dominic swallowed. ‘You mean the woman hasn’t even been reported missing yet?’

  ‘Looks like this is it, the reporting of her being missing. I thought it best she talk to you because you’ll be able to ID her from a photograph and know if we have our victim.’

  Dominic wanted nothing more than to sit down for ten minutes. It had been a long morning and he needed time out to process it. Not long, a few minutes quiet was all he was asking for. ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll grab my notebook and a pen and get myself down there.’

  ‘Want me to get you a coffee, Dom?’ Hayley asked, her voice subdued, obviously aware of how tired he was.

  She was sitting behind her desk, paperwork strewn all over the top of it. She was busy and yet she had managed to read his mind. ‘I’d love a coffee. Thank you, Hayley.’ He smiled and her eyes lit up.

  ‘You’re not going to keep her waiting though, are you?’ worried Kapoor.

  ‘No, boss. I’m not going to keep her. I’ll grab a drink and take it down with me. I’ve just walked in. I need to recharge, if only for a second. That’s okay, yes?’

  Kapoor capitulated. ‘Of course. I’m sure she’s fine for another five minutes.’ He patted Dominic on the shoulder as he walked past him and out of the incident room.

  ‘How long’s he been in here?’ Dominic asked Hayley as she rose from her chair.

  ‘He’s been in and out as long as I’ve been back. I think he’s been waiting for you to return and then the woman walked in and he realised he likely had his ID and he settled a bit more. Though he still looks like he’s walking on hot coals. Must be what it’s like being the boss.’ She crossed the room, the same path Kapoor had just walked. ‘I won’t be a minute with that coffee.’

  He thanked her and sagged into the chair at his desk. Civilians didn’t realise the mental exhaustion this job took out of you. Seeing people desecrated the way this killer was working was soul destroying. No one should have to see another person h
urt in such a way.

  He was in a world of his own for a couple of minutes before Hayley returned with two mugs in her hands. She placed one down on his desk and kept hold of the other. Steam rose from the drink on his desk and he could smell the coffee. It pricked at his brain and the scent alone gradually woke him from his internal thoughts. He picked the coffee up. ‘Thanks for this, Hayley. I suppose I should get downstairs and see if this woman is bringing news of our new victim.’

  ‘Want me to come with you? You’re looking tired, if you don’t mind me saying.’

  ‘Bit late if I do mind, isn’t it?’

  She laughed at him. ‘You can take it. Tough as old boots.’

  ‘You’re full of compliments today, aren’t you?’ He stared at her and she chuckled to herself again. ‘But no thanks, it’s fine. I can manage this one. I’ll give you a call if I need help. Though if it is a friend of our victim I’m going to need a statement so expect to hear from me.’

  Hayley agreed and wandered back over to her desk.

  Dominic made his way downstairs and through to the front waiting area. He stopped in at the front counter and asked for the details of the woman waiting for him. Kalisha Abebe was pointed out to him. He ushered her into a witness interview room and closed the door behind them. She was anxious, her hands intertwined in front of her, fingers twirling and fidgeting.

  ‘How can I help today?’ he asked as he sat in the chair opposite. The small window in the room was throwing light across the table between them, dust motes dancing above the wood.

  ‘I heard another woman was found . . .’ She struggled for words. ‘And I work with my partner . . .’ She’d been staring down at the table but looked up at Dominic now. ‘My business partner, Victoria Ryan, and she didn’t turn up for work this morning. She never fails to come in to work. We both love our floristry business. I thought she must have been really sick or something to not come in so I called her and her phone was dead. I tried the hospitals and she hasn’t been in an accident that I can work out. Then I heard about the woman being found and it’s the only thing I can think of. Please, can you tell me if it’s Vicky or not?’ Her words were rushed as though she were trying to get them all out at once.