A Sordid Love (DI Olivia Austin Book 25): A fast-paced crime thriller by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-14T22:00:00+00:00

They found Jennifer Hewitt walking around the campus in an almost trance-like daze. Poor kid’s probably been going through hell, Liv considered, wondering how she might react when approached by two detectives.

They walked up to her, and as soon as she laid eyes on them, she nearly jumped out of her skin. “What do you want?” she asked, avoiding their eyes.

“Sorry to gang up on you like this,” Archie began, trying to come across as relatable and personable in the hopes she might open up. “But we wanted to ask you a few questions about the incident regarding Adam and Stuart.”

“Have you managed to find anyone?” she asked hopefully, and the detectives looked to each other, feeling guilty for crushing any fleeting optimism.

“No, we haven’t,” Liv explained quickly before jumping in with the next bit. “But we’re closing in on them. And maybe you can help us find the people who did it.”

She decided not to play the video, not wanting to risk traumatising the teenager unless absolutely necessary. “During the attack on your friends, somebody took a video of the assault and posted it on a Facebook hate group.”

“Really?” Jennifer asked numbly, looking at them in shock.

“I know,” Archie replied, trying to be reassuring. “Amateur mistake, really.”

“How bad is the video?” Jennifer queried in a muffled voice, as though scared of the answer.

“Quite brutal,” Liv explained, trying to spare the girl the gorier details, but not wanting to shy away from the horror depicted within the content.

“Did you manage to find her yet?” Jennifer asked, daring to get excited.

The detectives looked at her quizzically, no one saying anything for a few seconds before Liv spoke next. “How do you know there was a girl involved?”

“Pardon?” the student asked, almost a whisper.

“How do you know that there was a girl involved?” Archie asked again, his reassuring smile fading away. “You don’t strike me as the type to go on hate groups, and we certainly didn’t mention the gender of any of the victims, so how do you know that there was a girl involved?”

Jennifer stammered, realising her mistake too late. She couldn’t even articulate a response.

Suddenly, Liv began to wonder if the girl’s furtiveness and unease were not due to grief but guilt. She held out her hand. “Would you mind letting us have a look at your phone?” When Jennifer didn’t respond, she continued. “We can do it now or wait to come back with a warrant.”

She half expected the student to refuse or even run. Liv wished she’d had more time to get the layout of the building in the event of a chase.

But instead, Jennifer took out her phone, even typing in the passcode for them and handed it over.

Liv scrolled through the latest contents until she came to a long file, the exact same one that had been uploaded to the Facebook page.

“Jennifer Hewitt,” she began as Archie moved forward with cuffs, all sense of compassion vanished. “I’m arresting you on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

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