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

Jonathan scratched at his nose. ‘We are.’

‘I know this is difficult, but you’re doing us a huge favour by being here today. If you see anything you don’t recognise, let myself or Hayley know. Or if you see something out of place, let either one of us know. Whatever you do, do not touch, pick up or move anything inside that house. Clear again?’

Jonathan looked to Helen before answering. She grabbed his hand and offered him a weak smile which he reciprocated in kind. ‘Yes.’ It was as though they were trying the smile on for size and it didn’t fit properly because it quickly slid off their faces. It would be a long time before either of them were comfortable with that feeling again. Their lives had been torn apart and here Dominic was pushing them into an emotional storm that was their sister’s house. The place she called home. Her safe place. A place she would never be coming back to again.

They trooped up the narrow pathway down the side of the house to the small garden at the back, Dominic in the lead, with the key in his hand, Hayley bringing up the rear. He placed the key in the lock of the back door, the one Julie used, and heard a sharp intake of breath.

‘Jonathan, are you sure you’re okay to do this?’

Jonathan was bent over, hands on his knees. ‘Yes, yes. I’m fine.’ He straightened himself up. ‘I’m sorry. It hit me as soon as you pushed the key in that she wouldn’t be doing this again.’ Helen again soothed him by holding onto his arm. It was probably as much for her own comfort as it was for his.

‘We can leave it to the search team if you’d like?’ Dominic said, though the reality was he didn’t want to. He desperately wanted this couple to go through the house. They might be able to help. They might offer some insight that they might not otherwise get. But it had to be on their terms.

‘I’m good, let’s go.’

Dominic wanted him to be okay with this. ‘You’re sure?’

Jonathan took a deep breath. ‘Yes. This is for Julie.’ A tear slid down his face but Dominic could live with a tear, if it was going to get him a line of enquiry. They had to move forward and do it before the search team arrived at the premises.

He turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open.

It was dark inside. As it was outside. And there was a chill to the property. That chill that told you no one had lived there for a week or more. That feeling when you’ve been away on holiday and return.

‘Oh Julie,’ Jonathan stammered behind him.

They had walked into the kitchen. On the sink drainer was an upside-down glass. Long dry. On the kitchen sides were clean bowls not yet put away. Left for another time. A time that would no longer come.

‘Notice anything out of place, or anything you don’t recognise in here?’ Dominic asked.

Jonathan shook his head. His face pale in the shadow of the Tyvek hood.

On the side of the fridge was a list, stuck with a magnetic red blob.

Tomatoes.

Bread.

Onions.

Tampax.

Oranges.

To the side of that was another piece of paper, ragged, torn from a bigger sheet. Taxi and a number.

Below another scruffy piece of her life jotted down and magnetised to the fridge. Keeping her life in order one jotted-down note at a time. Christian 30 Sept.

Four days ago.

‘Who’s Christian?’ Dominic asked.

Jonathan stared at the side of the fridge. Lost in a memory of his sister.

‘Jonathan,’ Dominic prompted.

Jonathan shook himself. ‘I think that was the name of the guy from the website she was seeing. I can’t be sure. She didn’t say a lot about him. She was very coy about it. Her love life left a lot to be desired. After her marriage broke down she thought she would never find love again and the dating sites confirmed that for her, so she kept most of it to herself. Said she’d tell us more when she was sure she had something to tell us. Said she was too old to be doing this. She wasn’t some little kid who was easily swayed by a pretty boy picture, this was all too hard for her.’

‘Why do it then?’ Dominic asked.

Jonathan stared at him for a long time. ‘Because she needed someone in her life. Have you never had that feeling? Where you feel so alone, no matter who you are with?’

He kept quiet. It wasn’t the time to talk.

‘Christian,’ Jonathan continued, ‘was the guy, I think.’ He looked to Helen for confirmation.

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know, love. I really don’t. It could be. All I saw was a photo.’

Dominic rounded on her. ‘You saw a photograph of him?’

She took a step back. Her grip on Jonathan released.

Hayley stared at him. Her eyes telling him he had gone too far.

He lowered his voice. ‘When did you see a photo?’

Helen looked to the floor. ‘Before she went missing. She was at our house and Jonathan was upstairs in the shower. She whispered that she was seeing this new guy and did I want to see him. Of course I did. She showed me his website profile.’ Her eyes lifted to Dominic. ‘There was nothing there. He was blotted out by the sun which was streaming in from behind him and blurring out the camera lens. Of course I told her he looked nice. How she could even tell I have no idea. You couldn’t make anything out from that photo. You would be lucky to even tell his ethnicity