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

corner-cutter but he wasn’t stupid. “Hi, Kath, Andrew. Erm, Will, have you got a minute? I want to discuss a development with you.”

“Sure,” Blake said, following Cavanagh to his office. “I wanted to talk to you about something, anyway.”

Once they were inside, Cavanagh shut the door and turned to Blake. “Please tell me that my team didn’t see Kyle Quinlan enter a house in Bebington last night…”

“How would I know, Matty? I live in Rock Park…”

“Yeah, but this house is occupied by your little brother, Will, remember him? The author who hangs out with psychopaths?”

“Research, maybe?”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Will, I hadn’t thought of that. Research. Of course. Were you helping him with his research? Because you were there too.”

Blake sighed. “Okay, I admit it. I tried to trick Laura into seeing me. I pretended I was a client and had a rogue pet that needed her attention. She sent Quinlan along… I honestly didn’t expect that…”

“Bloody hell, Will. What the fuck were you thinking? Quinlan’s going to be spooked now. My team are going to have to be extra careful because of you.”

“If it’s any consolation, Matty, Quinlan seemed anything but spooked. Like I said, I think he’d have been more suspicious if I hadn’t tried to contact Laura.”

“I’ve got to tell the Super, Will, you were warned…”

“Wait, listen, I know it was a stupid thing to do but I had to find out what was going on. If anything, Quinlan’s strutting about like cock of the walk now. He thinks he’s got one over on me…”

“Well he has hasn’t he?”

Blake gave a wry smile. “I suppose so, yeah, but I know, now, Matty. Laura has no interest in me. It’s over. What I mean is that Quinlan saw me as his Achilles’ heel. If Laura still had feelings for me, then he could never be sure I wouldn’t get her to turn him in. She pretty much denounced me in front of him. So now he feels secure, which is always dangerous. Far from rattling him, I think it will have made him complacent.”

“I dunno, Will, what else did you get from him?”

“He said that I couldn’t touch him because the moment I came for him for anything, it would appear like some kind of vendetta. He thinks he’s bulletproof.”

“I can see his point. That it?”

“From that encounter, yes but it might be useful for you to talk to Ian Ollerthwaite…”

Matty looked pained. “God, do I have to?”

“You know he’s in hospital, right? Attacked by this Terry White character we’re chasing,” Blake said. “He was investigating the Pro-Vets accounts and there’s a lot of money going through their coffers, an awful lot. Some of it to an animal psychologist, apparently.”

“Laura? You think Quinlan is using the charity to launder money?”

“It’s a strong possibility,” Blake said. “Have a chat with Ollerthwaite. Again, having a conflict of interest, it would be hard for me to investigate impartially but you could look into it as part of your investigation into Quinlan.”

Matty Cavanagh looked at Blake warily. “Okay, Will but if this jumps up and bites me, then I’m going straight to the Super, understand? He’ll give me a rap on the knuckles but it you who’ll get your arse kicked.”

Chapter 31

Despite his history with the media, and maybe because of it, Blake hated press conferences. He knew they were a good way of getting the public on your side. There were times, though, when he thought he may as well go into the street with a sign on his back that said: I’m a copper please kick me. That’s how it felt sometimes. Three people had died and a tortured soul was on the loose but Blake had to waste time listening to inane questions and speculation that did nothing to inform the public.

Sitting next to Martin, Blake did his best to keep a poker face while the Superintendent rambled through the basic details of the case and expressed his great concern over the whereabouts of Terry White. On the other side of Martin sat Hannah Williams, Media and Communications Manager. She was a slim, black woman in her forties, with strong cheek bones and a pointed chin. She scanned the press pack with stern, glittering eyes like a security guard watching for the first sign of trouble. Blake had not had many dealings with her before. It was a measure of how seriously Martin took this case that she was sitting in on the conference.

An earnest young man with a goatee beard and a tweed jacket put his hand up. “There have been accusations that a witness to the Travis murder was ignored when he claimed to have seen two men of Middle-Eastern descent fleeing from the body. Is it true that you’re dismissing the terrorist angle on this case?”

“Angle?” Blake muttered under his breath. He looked up at the journalist. “We’re looking at this case from every ‘angle’ possible, including the one you have just alluded to.”

“Then you don’t rule out a possible terrorist atrocity?”

Blake winced. “Given that a second body has been found, we are confident that Paul Travis was not the victim of a random attack with terrorist motives…”

“Something more orchestrated and premeditated then?” the young man said.

Hannah Williams leaned forward, giving Blake a quick, sidelong glance. “What DCI Blake means is that other than the one witness, we have no other evidence that there are any connections with terrorist activity in this case. We do have other evidence that points strongly in another direction. Next question please.”

Deirdre Lanham raised her hand. “Given that you’re investigating the Pro-Vets charity quite closely, is there an implication that they didn’t do enough to help Terry White?”

Blake opened his mouth to speak but Hannah got there first.

“Our role is purely to investigate the circumstances around the crimes and present the evidence to the CPS, we do not make judgements about anything…”

“But you have to admit that they’ve failed this man,” Deirdre Lanham insisted. “I mean he is obviously troubled…”

“Which is