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

raised. She was obviously nosey enough to be paying some attention. If this guy, Christian maybe, came to the house to pick her up, he may have been seen and they might be able to obtain a description.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t see anyone with Julie. She’s a lovely woman but kind of keeps to herself, if you know what I mean. Comes and goes but doesn’t talk to the neighbours much. I’m not sure anyone knows much about Julie. Even I only know her name, that she has that great boy and that Jonathan is her brother — and that was because I was in the garden one summer morning as he was visiting. Lovely chap he is — and his wife as well. Seem a close family.’ She stopped for a minute then realised she had missed something. ‘What about Ed? Where’s Ed?’

‘He’s fine. He’s with his uncle and aunt at the minute being looked after.’

She sighed, her relief obvious. She wasn’t any help but wanted to stay and get the inside track on what the police were doing.

‘I’ll get someone to come around and get a quick statement from you at some point, maybe tomorrow. Just to say when you last saw Julie, if you don’t mind?’ Dominic said.

The dog tugged on the lead — he was bored standing on the pavement. Dominic couldn’t say he blamed him. Headlights appeared behind the woman and started to slow down as they got closer. It was the CSU. Dominic pulled out his notebook. ‘It’s Mrs . . . ?’

‘Hughes, from next door.’

Dominic scribbled it down and closed his book. ‘Thank you for your time, Mrs Hughes. We appreciate it. I have to go and talk to these officers now. But we’ll be in touch.’

Her lips pursed but she smiled tightly and turned around back the way she had come from. ‘Come along, Walter, we can finish listening to that book.’

‘DS Harrison?’ A tall slender man climbed out of the CSU van.

Dominic held out his hand. ‘Dominic.’

The man took his hand, his grip firm and strong. ‘Andrew Greaves. I’ll be in charge of processing the house this evening. Is there anything you are looking for in particular?’

Dominic let out a breath. ‘I’m sorry, no. She went missing and was found in a shallow grave earlier today. Any signs of struggle, the usual electronic equipment to be seized. We don’t have her phone. I don’t know if it’s in the house. It wasn’t with the body.’

Greaves acknowledged Dominic’s needs then turned away; they had a job to do and it was getting late. He wanted to get on. Dominic walked to the car with Hayley in tow behind him.

‘Time to send everyone home. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow,’ he said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘This doesn’t feel like it’s going to be one of those cases where we close it in a day or two. You know the odds. The longer the killer is left out there, the more likely it is he stays out there, free.’

Chapter 16

Dominic

The drive home was one of those where Dominic couldn’t remember the specifics of the journey. That was until the woman ran in front of his car, her hands waving for Dominic to stop. There was no need to wave, the fact that there was suddenly a human in front of him pretty much assured the woman that the brakes would be applied.

Dominic hadn’t been travelling at any speed and easily glided to a halt, then climbed out the car.

The woman was on him immediately, her voice high-pitched and panicky. ‘Quick. Help. Help me. She’s inside. It’s burning.’

It was at the mention of burning that Dominic turned in the direction the woman had run from. The semi-detached house was mostly in darkness, other than a light in an upstairs window. It was the blackened smoke that was twisting out of the open doorway that made his heart stop.

The woman grabbed his jacket in her fists, balling the cloth under his chin. ‘Help her.’

Under the street light Dominic could see the woman’s eyes were wild, her pupils dilated, filling her irises. Her face was streaked with soot.

‘Someone’s in there?’ He gently took hold of her wrists, ready to pull them away.

‘My daughter. My daughter . . . her bedroom.’ Tears streaked through the ash on her face. ‘Please . . .’

People were starting to gather on the pavement. Staring alternatively between the burning house and the stricken woman in front of Dominic.

‘Call the fire brigade,’ Dominic shouted at them. Hoping it had already been done and he hadn’t needed to actually remind the people watching to do the simplest of jobs. ‘Which bedroom?’ he asked the woman.

The woman paused. Stumped by the question.

‘Front, back?’ He tried to clarify.

‘Front.’ She leapt away from him, urging him forward.

Dominic ran towards the house, pushed his way through a group of neighbours, nearly tripped over a pair of huge feet, but steadied himself and headed towards the door.

He could feel the heat as soon as he approached. The fire was well under way. A primal urge stopped him in his tracks as the blaze bore down on him. No one was heading into the death trap that was the house in front of him. What was he thinking pushing his way to the front like this?

He looked behind him at the neighbours. All of them safe on the street. The searing inferno reflected in wide eyes. He could stay here. Safe. Heated only by the flames in front of him, not by the fires burning around him.

Common sense told him to do as everyone else was doing and to wait for the fire department, but how could he when there was a child in the building who was losing her