by Sara Dalton
“I see he’s gone back to his ignoring Addison phase.” Addison said.
“That’s his personality, it’s kind of mysterious in a way.” Nora chimed. Addison glanced at her as Nora moved closer to the body to examine the crime scene around the body. She watched as Nora kept peeking a glance at Robert who was still talking to Dowell, he looked their way a few times.
Fletcher came back and saw Addison standing on her own, glancing around.
“You look lost,” he said to her.
“There is something between Nora and Robert,” she gossiped. Fletcher looked at her. “You already know,” she started.
“I’ll tell you later.” Fletcher smiled and ruffled her hair.
“Did you need to do that?” Addison pouted as she untied her hair to re-do it. She glanced back at Robert, who now had his back to them and Nora had joined the conversation.
“Nice to keep us in the loop,” Addison sighed.
“Let him flirt for now, he will fill us in at his office later. No doubt he will send us out to do the notifications.” Fletcher shrugged his shoulders. Addison knew he was right, that was the one thing Robert didn’t like, was notifying a death in a family.
“By the way, who’s the newbie?” Addison nodded her head in the direction of the man she’s never seen before still standing in the same spot. He had a large pad in his hand as he crouched examining the crime scene.
“Oh that, he’s our sketch artist. It’s another way of scanning the scene for any evidence and also a sketch of the body,” Fletcher told her.
“But we have the photographer here.”
“Yeah, we do, but we can never have to many images of the scene, it can be photo or sketch form. It will always come in handy for the crime scene, if we ever need to look at it again.” Fletcher explained. Addison nodded her head as she watched the man sketching away. She noticed he looked very young, maybe teenage years. He was still baby faced. Maybe his looks can be deceiving.
Addison and Fletcher both stood and watched Dr Richards team take down the body and gently placing him onto the ground on top of a black bag. Before they closed him up, Charlie Richards took one last look over him. Addison came up behind him.
“How can you tell that he didn’t commit suicide?” Addison asked.
“Did you see the way his fingers looped on the rope under his neck, I assume he was fighting for his life.” He explained. “Also, the slash, the way it curves here,” he pointed at the neck, Addison leaned down and saw.
“It could be that he might have been left handed?”
“I thought that too, but this side is deeper which suggests to me that the person who did this is actually left handed, Luke here is right handed.” Charlie told her. She nodded along with his theory. “We won’t know much more until I get him on the table, but I am ninty six percent sure he was murdered.” He finished and zipped up the black bag. Addison could no longer see Luke Stephans face.
“McCain.” Robert bellowed. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to face him. He called her over with his index finger. She rolled her eyes, but at least he called her name right.
“Yes sir,” she huffed.
“What’s with that? Actually, it doesn’t matter! You and Fletcher can head back to the station and find out the next of kin to notify of the death.” Robert demanded. Addison glanced round to see Fletcher hovering behind her, a small smile appeared on his lips.
Typical Robert, Addison was glad to be back.
Chapter
Two
21st July 2016
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Addison slumped into her chair at the desk. Fletcher dragged a chair up beside her.
“We better get some work done.” Fletcher said as he leaned forward and typed Luke Stephans into the system. Addison sat back and watched as Fletcher used her computer to find the next of kin of the deceased. “Ah, here she is, Mary Stephans, his wife.” He said as Addison started to jot down the home address.
“Are there any records for Mary Stephans?”
“She was arrested back in 1992 for theft, but that is the only thing that’s on here.” Fletcher replied.
“What about Luke Stephans?”
“Already checking,” Fletcher started typing in the name. “He’s got a few, public nudity twice, oh, he was arrested four years ago for attending an illegal underground gay party.” Fletcher looked at Addison.
“A gay party?”
“Yep, that’s what it says here.” Fletcher confirmed.
“Do you think…”
“That is a possibility, there is only one way to find out.” Fletcher said as he got up from the seat, Addison followed him out of the department and into the car park.
“Your car or mine?” Addison asked. Fletcher glanced at her old ford escort, and then back to his black audi a5.
“Mine, everytime.” Fletcher laughed.
“I think it’s time for me to upgrade.” Addison huffed as she got into Fletchers car.
“I can’t believe that thing still works.” Fletcher started the engine and reversed out of his normal space.
“That car has lasted me a long time, leave Ethel alone.”
“Wow, the name is as old as the car.”
“Oi,” Addison typed in the postcode of the address they headed for. “How is Alicia?”
“She is good, funny enough, she asked about you this morning! You will have to come over and see her at some point.” Fletcher offered.
“I may take you up on that offer, if Alicia doesn’t mind that is?”
“Don’t be silly, she would love to see you.”
“In that case, I will pop by and see her.” Addison smiled. Alicia is a lucky girl, Addison thought.
“Here we are,”
“That was quick, it’s not far from the bridge.” Addison mentioned.
“It’s almost walking distance.”
Addison and Fletcher headed up the pathway to the front door, Fletcher knocked on the door before it opened. He flashed his badge as well as Addison as they introduced themselves, a woman who they assumed was Mary.
“I’m DI Andrew Fletcher and this is my partner DCS Addison McCain, we are looking for Mary Stephans?” Fletcher told her. The woman looked at their badges and invited them inside, she didn’t say a word to them. They followed her inside and she disappeared into a different room. Addison and Fletcher found their way into the living room until another woman appeared. She looked older, blonde but almost grey hair. She had lipstick on, dark, it was dried out. Addison noticed she looked upset.
“What can I do for you detectives?” She asked.
“Are you Mary Stephans?”
“Yes, I am, that was my sister Emily. I’ve just recived bad news,”
“Do you mind if I ask what bad news?” Fletcher asked, taking small steps.
“My husband, I have found out he’s been cheating on me.” She told them. Addison bit her bottom lip and glanced to the floor. She avoided eye contact.
“I’m sorry Mrs Stephans, but we’ve come to tell you some news regarding your husband.” Fletcher started. Addison watched Fletcher as he began to tell her the news.
“What’s he done now?”
“We found his body this morning, he was murdered in the early hours of last night.”
“Dead? He’s dead?” Mary sat down on the sofa as she took in the news. Addison felt sorry for her, bad news followed by a death notification. “How did he die?”
“I can’t give you any details until we solve the case, but it’s not a very nice one. I wanted to ask you, did he ever come home last night?”
“Yes, he was home last night. He sneaked off in the middle of the night, I thought he was meeting his bit on the side.” Mary explained.
“What time was this roughly?”
“I remember looking at the clock, it was around five am.”
“Did Luke have a job and where?”
“Yeah, he worked at the bank. He’s been working t
here for over 15 years, he’s the floor manager. He helps customers to the right area. It’s in Halifax.” Told them. Addison jotted it down in her notebook as Fletcher carried on. She finally decided to stroll around the house, looking at the photos that were on the mantel piece. Luke Stephans had children, two boys, boys who had just lost their father.
Addison looked at a photo of Luke Stephans, he was a very good-looking man.
“You mentioned that you found out that Luke was cheating on you. Do you mind if I asked how?” Addison asked as she carried on looking at the photos. She turned to look at Mary every now and then.
“I found out this morning. His laptop had been beeping, so I opened it to turn it off. I found messages on there, dirty ones.” Mary told them.
Fletcher glanced back at Addison as she peeked out of the window into the back garden. She came back around the sofa and sat beside Fletcher.
“How did it make you feel?” Addison asked.
“Upset, angry, how could he do this to me and the children.” Mary sobbed. She pulled out a tissue from her inside her sleeve and dabbed her eyes with it. Addison watched her, there was something that about Mary that she didn’t like.
“Do you mind if I ask, was he cheating with a man or a woman?” Addison asked abruptly. Mary’s eyes widened and her eyesbrows knitted together.
“How dare you, how dare you come into my home and ask me something so absurd.” Mary jumped up from her seat. Fletcher followed her knowing what was coming next.
“I want you out, now,” Mary ushered them out the front door and slammed it beind them.
“Did you really need to ask that?” Fletcher sighed.
“What, I was curious.”
“You didn’t need to bring it up like that.”
“It’s been playing on my mind, since we saw on his record that he had been arrested at a gay party and then seeing those photos of him, I don’t want this to sound horrible, but he does look gay.” Addison voiced her opinion. Fletcher shoved his hand into his pocket fishing out the car keys. “You know, you’re right, I was insensitive. But it was on your mind too,”
“Yes, it was on my mind but there are nicer ways to bring it up.”
“Oh yeah, by the way, my husband is gay. As if she was going to tell us,”
“Fine, whatever, just get your butt in the car and let’s get back to the station. We’ve got some reports to go through.”
“Oh, the cold shoulder, is that what we are doing now,”
“Addison, stop it. It’s done and over with, let’s crack on.” Fletcher finished. She pouted as they both got into the car. Fletcher gave her one last look before driving away from the side road and both were silent the whole journey back to the station.
About the Author
Sara Dalton was born in London, Leytonstone. She has studied Performing Arts for 7 years, at Harlow College and Portsmouth Univesity. She had a break from studying to start a family. And she now lives in Essex.
She went back to Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge for another year studying Performing Arts. She had plans to become a teacher, but because of certain health conditions, she couldn't finish her dream.
Sara has been a fan of writing books since she was little. Her favourite authors are Lynda La Plante and Karin Slaughter, they inspired her to write books and to take it up as a career.
www.saradalton.co.uk
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank so many people for making this book possible. I couldn’t have done it alone. So, I want to start by thanking Kelly Pugh, without you, this book wouldn’t have been possible at all. You’ve shown me great insight and helped me improve as I go along. And thank you for your professional help, it’s been amazing working with you and learning new things. I hope to carry on in the future, your knowledge is valuable.
I want to thank my proof readers, you’ve helped me with ideas on how to improve my writing style and any corrections within the book. It’s always good to have an extra set of eyes, Aidan Kelly, Kaz Karter, Chloe Dyson, Jade Bowden and Megan Dittrich. Thank you for taking the time to read it, I really appreciate it.
Lastly, I want to thank my family and closest friends. I’ve always needed an extra push to carry on and you’ve given me that.