A Secret To Die For: A powerful British detective crime thriller. (The DCI Cook Murder Mystery Series. Book 2) by Jack Cartwright

Author:Jack Cartwright [Cartwright, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chestnut Press
Published: 2024-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

March 30, 2024

They watched as Joanne Childs hurried back to her house, opened the front door, and went inside. She glanced back at them briefly before wiping her eyes and slamming the door.

“Call the team, will you, Devon?” Charles said and then rubbed his head to rid the images of Joanne’s story from his mind.

“Chalk, it’s me,” Devon said. “You’re on loudspeaker. Is Forsythe with you?”

“He is, yeah,” she replied, and then she set her phone to loudspeaker so they could talk as a foursome.

“Have we got her?” Forsythe asked. “Should I book her a room downstairs?”

“No,” Charles said and then sighed. “We let her go.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it wasn’t her,” Charles said. “And that’s typically what we do when somebody cannot be guilty of a crime.”

“But I thought we were sure. We had it all lined up.”

“We did,” he replied. “But she couldn’t have been in two places at once. It transpires that Joanne Childs lied to us about her whereabouts because she was working.”

“So what? Why didn’t she just tell us?”

“She’s claiming benefits,” Chalk said.

“Bingo,” Charles told her, and he heard Forsythe slap his hands on the desk. “Her boss called while she was sitting in the back of my car.”

“And I suppose she corroborated the story?”

“She can provide CCTV of her as well.”

“Brilliant,” Chalk said.

“Not for her,” Devon said. “She was calling to see why Joanne wasn’t at work, and subsequently, to fire her.”

“She lost her job? Well, that’ll teach her for signing on and working, won’t it?”

“Whilst I sympathise with your beliefs in the welfare system, Chalk,” Charles said, “we’re not investigating fraudulent benefits claims. We’re investigating a murder, and Joanne Childs losing her job has just cost us a valuable witness.”

“Sorry, guv?”

“Play the long game, Chalk. She’s just lost a large part of her income. Do you think she’d be happy to give evidence now? Because I don’t. In fact, I doubt if she’d give us the time of day if we asked. Do you see what I’m saying?”

“I do, guv,” she replied. “So what now?”

“Bobby Garfield,” Charles said. “Joanne seems to think he had been there at some point. She said that only he ever went into the study with his dad and that’s why there were two glasses.”

“Two glasses that she conveniently didn’t clean?” Chalk said. “Sounds like a set-up to me.”

“Be that as it may,” Charles said. “Forsythe, how did we get on with the CCTV? Do we have a black Audi?”

“We’ve got black cars, guv, but I’d need a specialist to confirm the make and model.”

“Well, line it up, then,” Charles told him. “Is there anything that could be an Audi?”

“Yes, there is, but not on the Wednesday. It passed through the previous day around four p.m. Black saloon car, four doors, single occupant. The image is too blurry for details. No return trip, not on that route, anyway.”

“Well, let’s run with it,” Charles said. “Believe me, after what Joanne Childs just told us about him, we can be pretty sure that he’ll have something else to hide.

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