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

Dominic relaxed a little and leaned back in his chair. ‘It’s still early days but everything we’ve asked of them they’ve provided no matter how difficult it’s been for them. We couldn’t have asked for more. Her brother gets a little upset from time to time, he’s impatient for an arrest. I think he presumes that will help him come to terms with her loss.’

Samuel stopped writing. ‘I’m not sure anything will help them come to terms with their loss. Not as much as they think it will.’

‘You’re right, but they have a perception and because the case is not following that perception it’s causing some issues.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind when I speak with them. That’s really helpful. Thank you.’ Samuel closed his notepad, clicked his pen off and packed them both away into his satchel. ‘And thank you again for seeing me today. I know you’re busy.’

Dominic rose. ‘Anything I can do to help.’ He held out his hand again and Samuel shook it.

‘You have a difficult task ahead of you, Detective, I wish you all the best with it.’ He pulled a small card from his pocket. ‘If you need to get in touch.’ He handed the card to Dominic who took it.

Back in the incident room Dominic returned to his desk. He was glad the Butlers were going to get the support they needed.

His computer monitor gave a quiet ping as another email slipped into his inbox. He hated his email inbox. He could never get on top of it. He tried to prioritise it and dealt with the important stuff, but there was so much crap that came through. Mundane stuff from different departments providing updates on this and that. Stuff he didn’t care about.

He was about to ignore this latest email when something niggled at the back of his mind. Like a whisper in a dark room. He clicked into his emails and saw it was from forensics. His excitement grew at reading the subject of the email.

Results were in on the lipstick seized from the dump site Julie Carver had been found at. There were no fingerprints on the casing. The killer had likely worn gloves of some description. He was forensically aware.

The make of lipstick was a common brand called Velvet Berry by House of Maven. You could buy this colour and make at any store that sold make-up. It was a popular country-wide brand. There was no way to identify where the killer had bought his lipstick from. They were sorry they didn’t have better news for him.

Dominic slammed his hand down on the top of his desk.

‘Sarge?’ Paul spoke from his desk opposite.

Dominic told him what the email said.

‘That’s shit. We’d hoped he’d left us some prints on the case. It was a nice shiny surface. Bloody wanker.’

‘It has to mean something to him though,’ said Dominic. ‘You don’t go to the trouble of buying women’s make-up if it doesn’t mean something. Not if you’re going to kill the woman you’re meeting up with and—’ he made air quotes with his fingers — ‘giving it to.’

‘That’s one way to put it.’ Paul grimaced. ‘But yeah. He’s sick in the head and only he knows what this lipstick means to him.’

‘And that has to change, Paul. We have to figure it out. We have to know what it means to him. It could help us get that step closer to him.’

Chapter 21

Claudia

Fifteen hours after Ruth’s attack

‘You ruled the dog walker out?’ Claudia sat back in her chair.

‘You’re going all the way back there?’ Dominic’s eyelid twitched.

‘You know the way interviews work, Dominic. Don’t play coy. We go through everything you’ve said; we don’t just pick out the interesting things or the parts you want us to focus on. Doing that might lead us in the wrong direction and that’s the whole reason they have me in here, to prevent this investigation going off on a tangent.’

‘They really think that having you arrest and interview me will get them what they want?’

Claudia bit at her lip a minute while she thought through what he had said. Kane allowed her the time. He kept his laid-back position in his chair, mug in his hand.

‘What is it you think they want?’ Her brows creased over her eyes.

‘To trip me up. To get me into a tangled mess and to admit to killing Ruth.’ A flush crept up Dominic’s face.

‘You mean they didn’t send me in here to find out the truth?’

Dominic leapt up from his chair. The force of his legs pushing him to his feet shot the chair out from under him and it toppled backwards, the metal frame clanging loudly as it hit the ground in the small room.

Claudia and Kane stayed where they were. Dominic pressed his palms on the table and leaned towards them.

‘Stop trying to trip me up. I’m here because I want to find my wife. I want Ruth and I want your help in finding her. You’re cops, do your jobs and help me find her.’

Claudia stared up at him, then stood, walked around the table and picked up the toppled chair, righting it behind Dominic. ‘Please sit back down. You’re here because you’re under arrest on suspicion of her murder. We’ve moved way past you being here asking for help.’ His temper had flared when he thought they were trying to trip him up. Why would he be worried about that if he had nothing to hide? Claudia had never seen him so volatile. It created more questions in her mind and she didn’t like it. What she needed to do now was get him back under control.

He stared down at her as she sat back in her own chair.

‘However, there is still an entire team working