DEAD WICKED a totally addictive crime thriller with a huge twist (Calladine & Bayliss Mystery Book 10) by HELEN H. DURRANT

Author:HELEN H. DURRANT [DURRANT, HELEN H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Day 5

First thing Friday morning, Calladine called a briefing in the incident room. “Eve Buckley is missing,” he began. “Her company has been targeted by ransomware and the hackers are asking an extortionate sum to release it. The deadline has passed, and I believe Eve’s disappearance is suspicious. It has followed the same pattern as that of Moira Haigh, who didn’t pay up either.”

“You must hand this aspect of the case over, Tom.” Greco said from the back of the room. “Can I suggest that I investigate what has happened to your mother?”

Calladine knew he didn’t have much choice. After their conversation last night there was no way Greco would sanction him continuing an investigation into a relative. “Rocco, you help DCI Greco,” he said. “I have already alerted uniform, and they will report back to this team with anything they find. In the meantime, Ruth and I will have another word with Clifford Machin. We’ve been given some new information which may help with Kieron Ramsey’s murder.”

He said nothing about it also being linked to the ransomware. Greco was a good detective, but Eve was his mother, and he wasn’t going to be sidelined. He would continue the investigation in his own way.

“Would you tell the family to expect us at their offices later today, Tom?” Greco said.

“Eve only works on a Wednesday. I think the blackmailer must have known that, given the attack happened on her watch. Eve is the major shareholder and would have the final say-so about parting with the money. She will have blamed herself for opening that email. The guilt will have played on her mind. The PC from the internet café has gone to IT forensics and the keyboard’s been passed onto Julian’s team. We’re hopeful they’ll give us something.”

Greco nodded. “We’ll visit the Buckley offices and speak to whoever was with Mrs Buckley when the attack happened,” he said to Rocco.

Ruth saw from Calladine’s face that he was keeping something back. Once Greco was out of the way, she tackled him. “Come on, what are you not saying?”

“I had a drink with Emma Holden last night and she told me something about Kieron. He had a friend at that internet café, went by the nickname of ‘Snowdrop.’”

Ruth nodded. “You’ve written it on the board. How does it fit in?”

“Roxy said the email sent to Moira Haigh had come from some chancer calling himself Snowdrop, so you can join up the dots.”

“So that’s why we’re going back. You’re going to tackle Machin about this?” she asked.

“Too bloody right I am. He knows the oddballs who use his place. Kieron Ramsey and Snowdrop spent a lot of time there. And I know from Roxy’s investigation of that computer that Machin’s customers did use the dark web. He lied to us. Let’s see how he wriggles out of that one.”

“First off, we need to know who this Snowdrop really is,” she said. “We get a description, show him some photos, but who do you suggest?”

“Noah Ash for a start, and Arron Cookson.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.