Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien (android e book reader txt) 📕

of law enforcement or one day Owen won’t be around to save you.’

‘Not again.’ She groaned, lifting her hand to her forehead and sweeping the hair away. ‘I’m never going to hear the end of it, am I?’

‘Nope but at least Hayley Prince is locked up and Anita, while not out of the woods, is holding her own.’

‘I’m glad.’ A wave of tiredness crept in from the side, trying to steal the question she wanted to ask.

‘You said you did everything you could to wake me up? What worked?’ she finally managed, her eyes flickering closed.

‘This.’ He bent his head, his lips grazing hers. ‘Have a little rest. I’m not going anywhere, Gabriella.’

Chapter 56

Gaby

Friday 7 August, 10 a.m. St Asaph Police Station

Rusty and DCI Sherlock had wanted her to take the rest of the week off but, apart from an ache in her neck, she was back to normal, or as nearly normal as anyone could get after two serious attempts on her life in less than six months.

The incident room was humming with activity, which was how she liked it best. It meant that she could slip in behind her desk with no fuss. She’d managed to prop open the lid of her laptop before the sudden hush told her that she’d been spotted.

‘Welcome back, ma’am.’

‘Are you sure you’re well enough to return?’

She smiled and nodded, feeling a fraud. If she’d only waited, she wouldn’t have put extra strain on the emergency services with her overnight stay. They’d only approved her discharge when Rusty had piped up with an offer to act as her responsible adult. It was stay a second night in hospital or agree to his suggestion of his spare room. She had no idea why she’d accepted instead of ringing Amy and, the way Conor had treated her, part of her regretted that she had.

Owen was the last one to her desk, a welcome distraction from her thoughts.

‘Thank you for the flowers, Owen, although I think I should have bought you some instead. What do you give the person who’s saved their life twice?’

‘A heart attack! Seriously, Gaby, if you ever try something like that again …’

‘I know. Lesson learnt big time.’ She leant across the broad expanse of desk, her voice a conspiratorial whisper. ‘So, we were right?’

‘Well, you were. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in anyone in my whole life as I am in Hayley Prince.’

‘She certainly doesn’t look like a mass murderer.’ Gaby tilted her head to the front of the Llandudno Chronicle and the photo under the headline: From Grave Digger to Grave Filler.

‘So, how are Jason and the CSIs getting on back at her house?’

‘It’s going to take a while of sorting but the freezer is packed with body parts. At least it will make IDing the bodies much easier.’

‘Poor Ellie Fry.’ Gaby felt her eyes fill and struggled to sniff the tears back where they belonged, which was as far away from a detective’s cheeks as possible.

‘I think she’ll be fine now that she knows that her mum is on the mend.’

‘I still don’t get why Prince attacked her? What had she to gain?’

‘I think that’s partly my fault. I must have rattled her cage when I went to see her and later, when she heard about Ellie’s disappearance, she must have put two and two together and worked out what must have happened. It seems as if she visited Anita on Tuesday afternoon on some pretext or other and when she didn’t get the answers she was looking for, with regards to Ellie’s whereabouts, she went berserk, if the state of the kitchen is anything to go by. But we won’t know for sure until Anita is well enough to be interviewed properly.’

‘But what about her motive? The paltry bits and bobs she took wouldn’t have brought in much and the business, by all accounts, is booming.’

‘Not now it’s not. The council have closed it down. She’s not speaking either, which is a pain but we’ve come up with a motive. Whether it’s the right one or not remains to be seen.’

‘Go on, I’m listening,’ she said, resting her elbows on the desk and cupping her chin in her hands.

‘We’ve managed to find out that she’s had run-ins with both Katherine Jane and Barbara Matthews in the past. When Prince’s dad was headmaster of St Gildas, Jane on one occasion accused her of theft. The same thing happened when Prince got a Saturday job working at Bon Bons sweetshop. Rumour has it that, if it wasn’t nailed down, it would end up in Prince’s pocket. When she got older, she thought up the ultimate revenge for anyone she didn’t like.’

‘That’s another thing you haven’t explained.’ Gaby stole a hand to her neck, kneading the tense flesh. ‘How did Katherine’s prosthetic hip manage to find its way into the cremator when Duncan Broome had an open coffin?’

‘You’ll have to thank your boyfriend for that.’

‘Owen,’ she warned, flicking her eyes to check that no one was within hearing distance.

‘It’s all right, Gaby. If you think you can keep it a secret, with the enormous bunch of red roses I just spotted arriving in reception, you’re a lot dumber than I ever imagined.’ He grinned, obviously enjoying her discomfort. ‘Hayley Prince is a piece of work. Not only did she chop up the bodies, using a junior hacksaw would you believe, and store them in the freezer, she then waited for a body to turn up for cremation and slit them apart, sewing the body parts back inside. It wouldn’t have been too difficult especially if she chose the ones that had already been sutured following autopsy. The only problem was the heads.’

‘The heads?’ Gaby said, her voice faint.

‘Too large. Someone would have noticed the size and smashing up all that brain tissue. It would have gotten terribly messy even for someone with her – let’s say unusual – skill set.’ Owen shook his head. ‘They’ve found