Dark Streets Shineth by Clare Revell

Author:Clare Revell [Revell, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Holiday Fiction, inspirational fiction, Clean and Wholesome, Religion and Spirituality, Christian fiction, Christmas romance, Inspirational Romance
ISBN: 9781522303244
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2020-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

8

Isabel was barely at her desk when the phone rang. She dumped her bag and grabbed the handset. “DC York.”

“This is PC Smith. I understand you’re heading up the Santa case. We found another one.”

Isabel’s stomach sank. She grabbed some paper. “Where are you?” She wrote down the details. “Give me twenty minutes.” She glanced across the squad room. “Jason, need you.”

“Sure. Where are we going?” The young detective, as always, was enthusiastic about everything. Even the menial tasks such as paperwork.

“Corner of Lytham and Crockhamwell.” She dashed to the door, narrowly avoiding crashing into Boaz on the way out. “Morning, Sir.”

“Where’s the fire?” Boaz held up a carrier bag. “And where do you want the cakes?”

“Mince pies I hope,” Harry said.

Boaz shook his head. “Nasty things. I got proper cakes.”

Isabel jerked her head behind her. “By the kettle. Can’t stop. Uniform found another Santa. We’re on the way now. We’ll update you when we get back.”

“What about the team briefing?”

“When we get back. Come on, Jason, today would be nice.”

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the crime scene. Isabel showed her ID and ducked under the tape. Santa lay propped in the doorway halfway down the cut through to the car park. His sleeve was pushed up, a syringe lying beside him.

“Looks like an overdose,” Jason said.

Isabel shook her head as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. “Don’t think so. Four Santas don’t just all up and commit suicide.” She squatted down, peering closely at what he held in his right hand. A small pair of wooden ice skates. She took a couple of photos. His wallet lay on the floor next to him. Isabel picked it up and took a photo of the ID. It was full of cash, so robbery wasn’t the motive.

“Morning, Isabel.” The Dutch accent was unmistakable.

Isabel rose. “Morning, Arend. Could you—”

He grinned. “I’ve already cleared my schedule for this morning. Will you be joining me again?”

“Hopefully. See how it goes.” She chatted for a few more minutes, and then made a detailed sketch in her notebook. Pleased to see Jason conducting interviews with those who’d found the body, it meant she could concentrate on this for a bit longer.

She and Jason left after she’d checked the scene to her satisfaction.

Back in the squad room, Boaz and the rest of the team, minus those undercover, were waiting. He leaned against her desk and fixed his piercing gaze on her. “Well?”

She dumped her coat and bag and pinned a photo to the incident board. “Arend will do the post-mortem later today. This one is Walter Cummings, forty-five. He works the street corner at Lytham and Crockhamwell, selling chestnuts. He doesn’t even pretend to be Father Christmas. He simply wears a Santa hat with his burgundy anorak.”

“So why him?” Steve asked. “He doesn’t fit the pattern at all. Assuming there is one, and this isn’t all some random ‘I’m going to kill Father Christmas because I hate him’ thing.”

“There must be a link we haven’t uncovered yet.

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