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

down on his desk and kept hold of the other. Steam rose from the drink on his desk and he could smell the coffee. It pricked at his brain and the scent alone gradually woke him from his internal thoughts. He picked the coffee up. ‘Thanks for this, Hayley. I suppose I should get downstairs and see if this woman is bringing news of our new victim.’

‘Want me to come with you? You’re looking tired, if you don’t mind me saying.’

‘Bit late if I do mind, isn’t it?’

She laughed at him. ‘You can take it. Tough as old boots.’

‘You’re full of compliments today, aren’t you?’ He stared at her and she chuckled to herself again. ‘But no thanks, it’s fine. I can manage this one. I’ll give you a call if I need help. Though if it is a friend of our victim I’m going to need a statement so expect to hear from me.’

Hayley agreed and wandered back over to her desk.

Dominic made his way downstairs and through to the front waiting area. He stopped in at the front counter and asked for the details of the woman waiting for him. Kalisha Abebe was pointed out to him. He ushered her into a witness interview room and closed the door behind them. She was anxious, her hands intertwined in front of her, fingers twirling and fidgeting.

‘How can I help today?’ he asked as he sat in the chair opposite. The small window in the room was throwing light across the table between them, dust motes dancing above the wood.

‘I heard another woman was found . . .’ She struggled for words. ‘And I work with my partner . . .’ She’d been staring down at the table but looked up at Dominic now. ‘My business partner, Victoria Ryan, and she didn’t turn up for work this morning. She never fails to come in to work. We both love our floristry business. I thought she must have been really sick or something to not come in so I called her and her phone was dead. I tried the hospitals and she hasn’t been in an accident that I can work out. Then I heard about the woman being found and it’s the only thing I can think of. Please, can you tell me if it’s Vicky or not?’ Her words were rushed as though she were trying to get them all out at once.

‘It’s okay,’ Dominic said, in an attempt to calm her. ‘I’m sure she’s fine. There are lots of reasons people don’t turn up for work. It might be that she got involved with someone last night and has lost track of time? Is she married or single?’ His stomach lurched when he asked this question. A single woman fitted the profile.

‘You don’t understand — nothing would stop her turning up for work. Our business is our life, we adore it. We’ve grown it from nothing and it’s thriving. It’s our baby. Something is really wrong for her to not turn up even if she did spend the night with someone. And yes, she’s single.’

A cold chill swept through Dominic. ‘Can I ask how old Victoria is?’

‘She’s forty-two.’ Tears bubbled up in her eyes and burst their banks sliding down her cheeks. ‘Please tell me it’s not her.’

Dominic didn’t know if he could do this for her. She was adamant that Vicky would turn up for work. This was unusual behaviour and she fitted the age range they had as a profile. He hoped it wasn’t but she had to be someone’s loved one. Someone would be grieving for her today. Someone would be stripped of everything they ever thought they knew of life. ‘Do you have a photograph of Victoria?’

Kalisha looked scared. She shrank down in her chair. The answer to her question now imminent and she wasn’t ready for it. ‘I have one on my phone.’ She picked up her bag and fished around inside pulling out a worn looking mobile. Her fingers shook as she tried to access the app that would show Dominic what he needed.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘Take your time.’

She looked at him. Her bottom lip quivering. ‘You think it’s her.’ It was a statement rather than a question.

‘I think she’s probably slept in at someone’s house and her battery has died and you’ll be hugging the life out of her later today.’ And he was sure of his answer. It was the most likely reality. Phones ran out of charge all the time. God knows he’d let his run down time and again and had been given enough of an ear bashing for it by Ruth to try to keep it charged.

Kalisha’s finger tapped her way through the phone until she got to a photo she was happy with. She wiped her tears away and turned the phone around. ‘This is Vicky. Tell me this isn’t the woman you found this morning.’

Dominic stared at the image on the phone. The woman smiling. Full of life. She was holding a bunch of flowers out to the camera, beautiful colours that brought out the blue in her eyes. Eyes that were sparkling, filled with fun and mischief.

He couldn’t.

Chapter 43

Dominic

Kalisha broke in front of him. Dominic picked up his chair and carried it around to sit beside her. He held her hand and tried to comfort her but there was no comforting someone after a violent loss like this.

‘We’ll need to take a statement,’ he said.

Snot and tears were falling from her face. A bunched-up tissue she had found at the bottom of her handbag, now screwed up in her hand, dabbed randomly at her face. ‘Who would do something like this to her?’

‘We’re hoping to get as much information about Victoria from you as we can. It’ll help us build up a picture of her. Of her