IMPOSTURE: Hunters become the hunted in this gripping murder mystery by Ray Clark (book series for 10 year olds TXT) 📕

Rosie nodded and buried her head into a kitchen tissue, sobbing and shaking. Reilly came back into the room, nodding. “She’s on her way, Mrs Henshaw.”

Rosie nodded, finally managing words. “And your second question?”

She could see the compassion in Gardener’s eyes. He really did not want to ask the obvious question. “Oh, God, please don’t ask me to identify him.”

Rosie collapsed in a heap.

Chapter Forty-four

Anthony was sitting in a late-night café in Headingley. His day had been brutal. After finding a chemist he had dyed his hair, swapped his glasses for contacts, worn a fake moustache and bought a leather jacket and jeans.

Thirty minutes previously he had been over to Beckett’s Park again but swiftly left after he had spotted what he suspected were police, more than likely searching for the phone he had disposed of yesterday.

He was sitting at the back of the room, completely out of earshot of everyone else, staring at the untouched latte in front of him. Not that he had a great deal to worry about. The other people in the café were students and he may as well not have existed for all the attention they were paying him.

His head was a mess. Who the hell was picking them off? James? Zoe? Rosie? Someone else altogether – someone he either didn’t know or hadn’t considered?

The café owner was cleaning and setting a table in front of him. He stared at Anthony but said nothing. At the front of the shop a group of excited students cheered and shouted, and squealed with laughter at something on one of the phones.

Anthony picked up his own phone. It was no good. He needed to speak to someone, and Rosie was probably the only person. He hadn’t been able to connect with Zoe or James, nor had he received any reply to his email at the safe address.

The line was answered after two rings but Anthony didn’t recognise the voice. He stared at the phone, making sure the number was right.

“Hello?” the voice repeated.

“Is Rosie there, please?”

“I’m sorry, she can’t come to the phone right now.”

Anthony had no idea who he was talking to but it must be someone who knew her. “Is she okay?”

The line grew silent, the reply taking forever. “Who are you, please?”

“My name is Anthony Palmer, I’m a friend of her husband, James.”

“I’m really sorry, James died earlier today.”

Chapter Forty-five

Gardener was dog-tired. So was his team. He knew it. They knew it. But there was a real buzz in the air as they entered the incident room, giving him the impression that some good news had broken.

Gardener was leaning against the wall, with his partner, Reilly. He grabbed a bottle of water and a Bounty bar from a table. Healthy eater he may have been but he’d always had a weakness for the popular coconut and chocolate bar. The Lord only knew what Reilly was eating but he was using both hands.

Dave Rawson grabbed a coffee and a sausage roll.

“I think you’d better hold your horses there, my wee friend.”

Rawson glanced at Reilly. “What are you on about?” questioned Rawson, laughing. “Don’t know why I’m asking that, I understood him better with a mouthful of food.”

Reilly ignored the jibe. “I’m not sure I can let you have anything to eat there, son, not after your earlier misdemeanour.”

“Oh, come on, where’s your sense of humour?”

“Another thing I don’t have, according to you.”

“Come on, boss.” Rawson glanced in Gardener’s direction. “Have a word with him.”

“He might have a point, Dave, you were a bit hard on him.”

“I see, like that, is it? Well, if you don’t feed me I won’t have enough strength to impart the important information.”

Gardener glanced at Reilly. “He does have a point.”

“I’ll let it go this time.”

Once the team had filed in – including Briggs – and were seated, Gardener nodded and signalled he was about to start. Shona Pearson slipped in before Gardener started talking.

“Good to see you’ve all made it back. Judging by the air of excitement I gather we have something further to work with.”

Dave Rawson stood up, finished a swig of tea and opened a thick file in front of him, spreading papers around.

“Me, Julie, Sarah and Shona have been with cyber since we finished this afternoon. I think David Hunter made a lot more headway than he would ever be credited for.”

“Do tell,” said Gardener.

“We’ve all known DPA were involved in the hit and run, but why and how was another matter,” said Rawson.

“We also felt that there must have been a track record somewhere about their activities,” said Gates.

“They’ve been conning people since day one,” said Longstaff, “and all of it online, and all of it practically invisible because of their skills.”

“It was the bitcoins that finally gave them away,” said Shona Pearson.

“Yes,” said Gardener, “DI Winter said something about that. He reckoned if you were good enough you could follow the trails.”

“Winter’s team have,” said Rawson. “They’ve been at this longer than we have and they’ve been concentrating on a series of online scams, which is what DPA have been doing from the beginning.”

“That’s what made them the money and gave them the confidence to go large,” said Gates.

“Okay,” said Gardener, “let’s have it.”

“They all had a scam of their own,” said Longstaff, picking up one of the files. “Let’s start with Zoe Harrison, the romance mule.”

“The what?” Reilly asked.

“Romance mules usually fall prey to romance scams, which are all online. They’re deceitful romantic interactions with unsuspecting victims. These fraudsters work to gain the trust and affection of mules. They then use that relationship to commit fraud. The majority of the time, the victims haven’t a clue they’re involved in a fraud scheme, or a criminal