Death's Cold Hand by J.E. Mayhew (good romance books to read txt) 📕

“Of course I will. When’s that gobshite Kenning going to be here?”

Blake smiled, stepping aside to let more crime scene investigators in. “He won’t be long, but it’s pretty obvious how Ufford died.”

“Aye well, the big hole in his neck would present him with problems for a kick-off,” O’Hare said, smiling through his mask, “but we better wait for the experts to confirm that.”

“You’d make a great pathologist, Malachy,” Blake said. He stepped into the garden and scanned across the fields behind the house where a line of officers followed the deep footprints through the dark soil. Overhead a helicopter tracked back and forth, searching for any sign of the fugitive. Under any other circumstances, Blake would have loved to be out on this glorious Spring day, enjoying the birdsong and the blue sky. Right now, however, he felt a sense of foreboding. Everything pointed to Terry White being responsible for the deaths but there was the added complication of Quinlan’s possible involvement in a money laundering enterprise. And then there was Laura being paid out of the charity’s coffers for some reason. Blake shook his head and jumped into his car. He needed to see Cavanagh.

*****

A scrum of reporters hung around the entrance to police HQ in Liverpool. Blake had been so deep in thought that he’d forgotten all about the media interest the case would generate. Deirdre Lanham, the terrier from the Wirral Argus had elbowed her way to the front of the pack. “DCI Blake, is it true a second victim has been found?”

Blake waved a dismissive hand at her. “I can’t help you at the moment, I’m afraid. Our investigations are on-going and we will give a press conference in due course.”

“Why are your team so dismissive about a terrorist connection, DCI Blake?”

“What do you think about the proposed rally at the war memorial in Port Sunlight? Should that be allowed to go ahead?”

Blake flinched at the last question. He hated getting tangled up in politics and mass gatherings. They always ended up in a mess. He barged his way through the crowd and got inside. Marge stood smiling expectantly at him. “Well?” she said.

“Well, what, Marge?”

Her face fell. “Laura,” she said, lowering her voice. “How did it go?”

Blake gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Marge. Not your fault but it didn’t work. She sent her boyfriend to put me straight.”

“Oh, you poor boy,” Marge said, pouting. She sounded so heartfelt that Blake feared she was going to come from behind the counter and give him a hug.

“Don’t worry, Marge, I’m over it. Plenty of work to keep my mind off things and like I said, it wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry I got you involved. It was a daft thing for me to do.” Blake hurried up the stairs to the Major Incident Room.

DI Kath Cryer and DC Kinnear were waiting for Blake at his desk. Kinnear stared at Blake’s face. “You okay, sir?”

“Yeah, a gift from Terry White, I think. How did you get on with Price? Why’s everybody yelling terrorist?”

“It didn’t go very well, boss,” Kath said. “He didn’t seem that bothered by the fact that his daughter was seeing Travis. He was more uppity that we didn’t seem to take Bobby’s statement about the so-called terrorists seriously. He’s kicking up a stink about it on social media already. Hence the call for a rally.”

“Jeez,” Blake murmured. “That’s all we need. Okay, then, let’s call his bluff and get Bobby in for a second time and get more detail, shall we?”

“Lex is going to want to be there as an appropriate adult, sir,” Kinnear said.

“More the merrier,” Blake said. “Maybe we can find out where this baseball bat really came from. What about Paul Travis’ mobile records?”

“Oh, yeah,” Kath said, opening a file. “Looks like plenty of communication, very lovey-dovey between them up until a couple of weeks ago then it ends abruptly. It backs up Layla Price’s version of things that Travis had ended their relationship. Other calls were to immediate friends and family, no real surprises.” Kath pursed her lips for a second, clearly bracing herself to say something. “Do you think we’re complicating this too much sir?”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean, the obvious suspect here is Terry White. Bobby just happened to be there and saw him dump the baseball bat and picked it up. He wouldn’t be too upset to see Travis get a good hiding, would he? Maybe there is no sane motive, just Terry White’s paranoia.”

“I’m not so sure. There's something else going on and I can't believe they are not connected Ollerthwaite noticed unusually large sums of money flowing through that charity, he suspects that it’s being used to launder money. Maybe Travis noticed unusual transactions. Ollerthwaite also claimed that Quentin Ufford was being obstructive. Now Ufford’s dead…”

“Or those things could just be coincidences, sir. If Quentin Ufford was trying to stop Ian Ollerthwaite from investigating, why would someone kill him?”

“Because he knew too much?” Kinnear said, with a shrug. “Or because he failed to cover someone’s tracks?”

Kath gave Kinnear a look of disgust. “Behave, Andrew, this isn’t Dr No, people don’t get dropped into a shark tank for failing…”

“I dunno, Ma’am. If there’s a lot of money at stake, maybe Ufford had to be silenced before we put the screws on him…”

“But how does Terry White fit in with that, Andy?” Kath said. “If White was at Ufford’s cottage when the boss arrived, then why was he hanging around for so long after killing Ufford? Hardly the hallmark of a professional hit. I’m not saying there isn’t something going on at Pro-Vets but I’m just saying that it just might be separate to what Terry White is up to, that’s all.”

Before Blake could answer, DCI Matty Cavanagh appeared at their side. He looked sleek and well-groomed as ever. He reminded Blake of a fox, cunning and hunting for any weakness. Cavanagh might be vain and a bit of a