‘Where’s his mother now?’ asked Claudia.
‘She was his first victim but she had no one to report her missing. He was her only family. He refuses to disclose where her body is.’
There was a loud tut from the chair at the side of her. She couldn’t imagine how her father was feeling. The savagery this man had used, he’d terrified women across the city. All because he was hurt as a child. Though childhood pain, Claudia knew, was processed very differently to adult pain and suffering.
‘You think it’ll affect his sentencing?’ she asked.
Sharpe looked up to the ceiling as though the answer was hiding up there, then back at Claudia. ‘I don’t know. I doubt it. He’s still murdered a lot of women which he’s going to have to pay for. He’s certainly not going to get away with it if that’s what you’re asking. The trigger for him was working in Victim Support and seeing children harmed. It reminded him of his own childhood. He really was quite chatty once he got going.’
Dominic rose from his chair. ‘Thank you for letting us—’
‘Sit down a moment, DS Harrison.’ Sharpe stopped him.
Dominic paused mid-rise then slowly sunk back into his chair watching Sharpe as he did so.
‘That’s not the only reason I brought you both in here. We’ve had a little time to think and assess the situation over the last few weeks while you’ve been off, Dominic, and we’ve decided that we’re going to set up a new task force to focus on more complex crimes. For instance, ones like the Strangler case.’
At the mention of his media-allocated name a violent silence fell over the room. No one moved.
They waited.
‘People have not been happy with how long it took to bring this guy in.’
Dominic bristled.
Sharpe folded her hands on the desk in front of her. ‘Look, we’re not apportioning blame here and even if we were, there’s plenty to go around, let me assure you.’ The way she said it Claudia got the impression Sharpe had been on the pointy end of a ticking-off herself.
Sharpe looked to Claudia. ‘You’re going to lead this task force, Claudia.’
There was a quick intake of air from Dominic.
Sharpe ignored it but turned to him. ‘We also want you on the team, Dominic. You have a wealth of experience hunting a serial killer like Tyler. He connected with you for some reason.’ She paused. ‘I don’t know how you’re feeling about the job after everything that’s happened. Maybe you want to step back and take a more sedate role? We’d fully understand that and be supportive of it.’
Dominic looked to Claudia, whose eyes were like saucers. She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t expected the new task force, to be the DI leading it and she certainly hadn’t expected to have her father as a DS on the team under her. Especially after everything he had gone through. What she did expect was for him to turn this down and for Sharpe to accept that decision.
Dominic cleared his throat. ‘I can manage the position.’
‘You know you’ll be answering to Claudia?’ Sharpe said.
He looked at Claudia. ‘Of course. I’ll do anything to be a part of this team.’
‘Okay, good. I know it’s unconventional. Having father and daughter working together this way, but there’s nothing in the regulations that prevents it, so Connelly has signed off on it. I’ve already outlined why we want both of you on the team. And as well as yourselves, we’ll be bringing people together from various incident room teams, particularly the Strangler team as they know that specific case inside out. But we’re starting afresh. You two are going to work together and stop complex crimes in their tracks before they manage to take hold the way this last one did.’
Claudia smiled, accepting her new position. She was to lead her father, newly grieving, into complex crimes. She only hoped he was not a broken man after what he’d been through. Things were about to get serious and she needed to be able to trust him.
THE END
Acknowledgements
It is my name is on this book cover, but many people have provided their precious time, expertise and enthusiasm to bring Blood Stained to life and I couldn’t have done this without them.
Huge thanks to my editor, Emma Grundy Haigh, for her encouragement, enthusiasm and insight throughout the editorial process. Thanks also to Laurel Sills for editorial input and Anna Harrisson for doing such a great job with the copyedit; Annie Rose for marketing and Jill Burkinshaw for the blog tour; and to all at Joffe Books for such a seamless process, getting this story from rough draft to polished and published book.
I couldn’t have done this without my amazing agent, Hannah Weatherill; so many, many thanks to her. With calm and determination, she brought this book to life. I am thankful for both her editorial vision before submitting to publishers, and in keeping me calm when stress crept in. I am extremely lucky to have her by my side. Thanks also go to Sophie Burdge, marketing assistant, and the rest of the fabulous team at Northbank Talent Management for the support and tireless work they do.
I have to thank Clare Mackintosh for giving me the push to write this story when she confirmed my own recollections on police policy — that there are no specific rules in place to stop you interviewing your own family. Even if it is slightly unusual. The police do not follow the same rules as doctors, which is where some confusion might come from.
Finally, thanks to Graham Bartlett, my police advisor, for answering my questions. Time away from the job has made my memory a little hazy on some subjects.
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GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH USAGE FOR US READERS
A & E: accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetable or flowers
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings
A level: exams taken between 16 and 18
Auld Reekie: Edinburgh
Au pair: live-in childcare helper. Often a young woman.
Barm: bread roll
Barney: argument
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Biscuit: cookie
Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in seaside town
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
Blower: telephone
Blues and twos: emergency vehicles
Bob: money
Bobby: policeman
Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)
Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead
Bun: small cake
Bunk: escape, i.e. ‘do a bunk’
Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant
Buy-to-let: buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit
Charity shop: thrift store
Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket
Care home: an institution where old people are cared for
Car park: parking lot
CBeebies: kids TV
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food
Chips: French fries but thicker
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)
Clock: punch
Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake
Cockney: a native of East London
Common: an area of park land or lower class
Comprehensive school (Comp.): high school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone who looks after children for money
Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
DC: detective constable
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
Deck: hit (verb)
Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character
DI: detective inspector
Digestive biscuit: plain cookie
Digs: student lodgings
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
Donkey’s years: long time
Drum: house
DS: detective sergeant
ED: emergency department of a hospital
Eagle: boys’ comic
Early dart: to leave work early
Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg
Enforcer: police battering ram
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982
Fag: cigarette
Father Christmas: Santa Claus
Filth: police (insulting)
Forces: army, navy and air force
FMO: force medical officer
Fried slice: fried bread
Fuzz: police
Garda: Irish police
Gendarmerie: French national police force
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth, can also mean phlegm or spit
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Gran: grandmother
Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s
Hard nut: tough person
HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Hoover: vacuum cleaner
I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise
Inne: isn’t he
Interpol: international police organisation
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman
ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital
Jane Doe: a person whose identity is unknown/anonymous
JCB: a mechanical excavator
Jerry-built: badly made
Jungle: nickname given to migrant camp near Calais
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.
Lorry: truck
Lovely jubbly: said when someone is pleased
Luftwaffe: German air force
M&S: Marks and Spencer, a food and clothes shop
Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie
MOD: Ministry of Defence
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
MRSA: a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Myra Hindley: famous British serial killer
Naff: lame, not good
Naff all: none
National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nowt: nothing
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
O level: exams taken between 14 and 16
Old bag: old woman (insulting)
Old Bill: police
OTT: over the top
Owt: anything
Pants: noun: underwear adjective: bad/rubbish/terrible
Para: paratrooper
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Pear-shaped: gone wrong
Petrol: gasoline
Pictures: movie
Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence
BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1) Page 29