BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book by Rebecca Bradley (rooftoppers .TXT) 📕

shot up towards Claudia who hadn’t moved. She was still standing in the middle of the room, still facing him, watching his reaction. ‘You have to believe me. No. It’s not me. I didn’t do this. Why would I come here knowing there was blood at the house? I’ve been framed. Claudia?’

Her mind tumbled. She’d thought the same thing herself. It didn’t make sense.

‘We have to take you to the custody suite before we can talk about this, Dominic. Then you can tell me what you think has happened.’

‘Tell me you believe me, Claudia. Please, you have to believe I didn’t do this.’

Her bones were leaden, like she was glued to the spot. Or like something heavy was weighing her down. But she had to move. She had to transport him to custody. She had promised Sharpe she would work the case and she would. Now she was involved she would do this to the best of her ability and find out what had really happened.

Whether Dominic was guilty or not.

For Ruth.

‘Claudia, you have to believe me. Of all people, you have to know I didn’t do this.’ His voice was so quiet she had to strain to hear him.

With leaden limbs she pulled her cuffs out of her back pocket where she had pushed them before entering the room. ‘I need to put these on you to travel to the custody suite.’ She clenched her jaw tight to hold back tears that threatened to tumble from her eyes. This case was just too emotional for her. She had to draw on some real reserves of strength to get through it.

Harrison’s eyes were on the floor. He looked up at her and at the rigid cuffs in her hands. His eyes darkened and he placed his wrists out for her to cuff him, gaze locked on hers.

‘Take your jacket off,’ she instructed.

‘My jacket?’

‘Take it off.’

He slipped the jacket off and threw it over the back of the chair, then put his hands back in front of him so Claudia could cuff him.

She clipped the first cuff into place, the metal teeth grinding into the locked position around his wrist and then she pushed the second cuff over his other wrist and he was secured. She picked up his jacket and draped it over his hands, covering his cuffed wrists, so anyone who saw him walking out of the station with her would see him carrying his jacket rather than the handcuffs underneath. Though the rumour mill would be working overtime soon enough, she didn’t want him to feel all eyes on him as he walked out of there. If he had done what it looked like he’d done, then he would pay for it.

‘You ready?’ she asked. As much for herself as it was for him.

He took a deep breath in. ‘Claudia . . .’

‘I asked if you were ready?’ She had to steel herself, as much as she hated to do it. What if he was responsible? It was all such a goddamn mess.

‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.’

Chapter 9

Claudia

Shepcote Lane custody suite was a fairly new one for Sheffield and heralded the closure of the other suites scattered around the force area. The fifty-cell suite was state of the art and had dedicated rooms for drug and mental health teams.

Claudia walked Dominic up to the custody desk and in front of the custody sergeant. Claudia knew the sergeant, Kirsty Greene.

‘Well, good morning, you two reprobates. What have you brought me in this morning?’ she asked with a smile, a mug in hand, halfway up to her mouth.

Harrison looked down, all blood drained from his face.

Claudia’s stomach plummeted to the floor. ‘Kirsty, it’s Dominic.’ She kept her voice as low as she could while still getting the sergeant to hear her over the high desk.

‘I can see it’s Dominic. What’s he done, brought me in an offender who’s going to be vomiting all over my nice clean cell?’

‘No . . . it’s . . .’

Harrison lifted his hands up and rested them on the desk, jiggled them from side to side so the jacket slipped off slightly and the cuffs could be seen. Kirsty stared at him in disbelief. Her hand holding the mug sank down to the desktop and she let it go.

‘Oh.’

Harrison pulled his arms down and shook his head apologetically at Kirsty. ‘I didn’t do it, Kirsty.’

She shook herself. ‘You can’t say that to me, Dominic. Whatever it is. You can’t talk to me about it. You know that.’ She tapped her computer awake. She turned to Claudia. ‘You’re the arresting officer?’ She looked around the custody suite to see who was paying attention but so far no one had noticed what was happening at her section of the large desk.

Claudia let out a sigh. ‘I am. Take it up with Sharpe and Connelly. It’s their decision. I’m just following orders. You know me, a rule-follower to the end. Even with this.’

Dominic frowned. ‘I’m sorry, Claudia.’

‘Prove to me you didn’t do this and that will be apology enough.’ She was tired already and she had a long day ahead of her. Hours and hours in an interview room with Harrison as well as directing a team of officers who were working the investigation. It was one of the reasons she hated that so many of the custody suites had closed. You were never in the same station as your team when you were interviewing an offender. It made the process difficult to say the least. But costs had had to be cut and, in this case, custody suites were the victims.

‘Okay,’ said Kirsty. ‘Reason and grounds for arrest, Claudia?’

Harrison looked back down to the floor. Claudia rubbed her face with her hands. She had to do this. The quicker