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

the Tyvek suits in the winter when you were more wrapped up in thicker clothes underneath. You worked a long time in them, you needed to keep warm if you were outside. Eventually she was upright and in the white papery suit, zipping it up to her chin.

Behind them Paul, Krish and Hayley pulled up. A marked car was some way in front of them with an ambulance in front of that. The scene was getting busy.

A uniformed officer stood with someone in front of the marked car. Dominic walked over to them. It was a woman. She was sobbing. Her head in her hands, dark hair tumbling over the side of her face. Dominic recognised the officer from the station. He was an older guy with a girth that was straining over the top of his trousers. He couldn’t have much longer left to serve. Dominic looked to the sobbing woman.

‘This is Maura Brady. She found the body,’ said the cop. ‘It’s upset her so I called the ambulance.’ There was a paramedic standing off to one side waiting. The cop had his notepad and pen out. He’d be getting a quick first account before he let her go. It was difficult on witnesses and victims, but police often wanted to get the information at all costs. It was vital in investigations if they were to stand any chance of detecting a crime. This old-timer knew the ropes and Dominic was pleased to have him here.

Dominic waved the paramedic over; the uniformed cop could get his account while the paramedic took care of the witness. It was also important that she was taken care of. That way they would get the best possible evidence from her.

‘What can you tell us?’ the old-timer asked gently as the paramedic wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm. His shock of auburn hair was lit up by the lights of the vehicles around them.

Tears were pouring down the woman’s face. She was ghostly white, her eyes shot through with red. She peered up at Dominic through a long fringe as more tears formed and fell.

‘I’ve never seen a dead body,’ she said. She was young. Maybe in her twenties.

‘It’s only early, what were you doing this morning?’ he tried again.

She looked past him to where the crime scene tape was set up. ‘I had a fight with my boyfriend as he was taking me to work so when he stopped the car at some traffic lights I climbed out. I was furious and needed to calm down so thought a bit of a walk would cool my mood. I’m on flexitime so it wouldn’t really affect me if I was later than I usually am.’ She started to sob some more. ‘I’m a bit of a hothead, you see, and knew the fresh air would do me good. I didn’t expect to stumble on a dead body as I cleared my head. It was . . .’ The tears flowed freely. ‘It was so horrific. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never even seen a dead body of a relative.’ The young woman was devastated at her early-morning find.

Dominic quietly thanked her and informed her that they would get her taken care of and then they’d need a statement. They’d do it later that day when she was feeling a little more up to it. The officer would take her details and arrange it with her. A detective would then be in touch.

She agreed with everything he said, to anything that would get her out of this situation. ‘Why?’ she asked.

Dominic waited for her.

‘Why was she pulled out of the grave? Who did that to her?’

‘It’s the animals. They sense the body under the soil and tend to drag it free, I’m afraid.’ It seemed their killer didn’t like to bury the bodies particularly deep.

She nodded her understanding but grimaced at the thought. Her phone, Dominic noticed, was clamped tight in her hand.

‘Can I ask,’ he said before he moved away, ‘that you not discuss the details of this with anyone. Obviously you can get support from a loved one and tell them you found a body, but the details of it, we’d rather them not get out if we can.’

She nodded. Words seeming to be stuck in her throat. She lifted an arm and with the back of her wrist swiped away at her eyes which were puffy and sore looking.

‘Thank you,’ Dominic said again.

He strode over to his team who were waiting at the vehicles.

‘Nadira has gone up to the body,’ Hayley said.

‘Thanks. Can one of you give Maura a lift home please? She’s in a bit of a state and I want to make sure she’s okay.’

Krish said he’d do it.

Dominic grabbed a Tyvek suit and pulled it on. Once he was set up he walked to the crime scene where Nadira was crouched over the body.

Standing at the side of her he could see what had got Maura so upset. The brutality that had occurred to this woman was clear to see and she had only just been dumped. The bruising around the neck was vivid with the smear of red lipstick gave the woman a gruesome appearance. Her eyes were open and she looked terrified.

‘How old would you put her at?’ asked Nadira from her crouched position.

Dominic twisted his head to get a better look at the woman. ‘I’d say she was late thirties early forties.’

Nadira sighed. ‘I think you have your type there, don’t you?’

‘You think he goes for a woman of a certain age?’

‘It looks that way to me, having had every single one of them on my table.’

‘You could be right, Nadira. We’ve been considering their looks, their social circles, but you’re right about their ages. We need to identify this woman and