Deadly Justice (Detective Jane Phillips Book 9) by OMJ Ryan

Author:OMJ Ryan [Ryan, OMJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2023-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

25

Heaton Park was located just fifteen minutes from Ashton House, and the carpark was surprisingly busy for nine o’clock on a Sunday morning. Phillips pulled the Mini Cooper into a space next to a large SUV. The owner of the gargantuan vehicle had the boot open and was tending to a large black Labrador that appeared impatient to get going on whatever walk had been promised. Slipping out of the driver’s seat, Phillips closed and locked the door, then set off towards the agreed rendezvous point, ten minutes away on foot, and well out of the way of prying eyes.

Most of the walk to her destination was uphill, and by the time she reached Carter, she was sweating under the glare of the early morning sunshine.

‘Morning, Jane,’ he said cheerfully, looking incongruous in his civilian clothes – a blue Polo shirt and dark blue jeans over brown boating shoes.

‘Morning, sir,’ she replied, out of breath. ‘And thanks for agreeing to meet me here.’

‘I have to say I’m intrigued to know what’s so important it warranted meeting on a Sunday morning a mile inside Heaton Park.

Phillips moved to stand next to him and took in the view down over the rest of the park. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t say on the phone, but I wanted to make sure that what I tell you stays between us. Information seems to leak out of Ashton House like a sieve.’

Carter’s eyes narrowed. ‘What’s going on, Jane?’

Phillips’s pulse had finally slowed after the exertion of the climb up the hill. ‘I met with Don Townsend last night.’

‘Oh god, that’s all we need. If Fox finds out, she’ll skin you alive.’

‘I know, sir. It wasn’t planned, I promise. He’d been messaging earlier in the day, saying we needed to meet, and I’d ignored him. Then he called last night, and for some reason, I answered it.’

‘What was he after?’

‘Nothing. Well, that’s not strictly true—’

‘I’m sure it’s not,’ Carter cut in.

‘What I mean is he wanted to give me some information.’

‘Really? What kind of information?’

‘For a start, he knew Venables and Todd had both been strangled.’

‘How?’ asked Carter. ‘That detail’s not been released to the press.’

Phillips nodded. ‘His source told him.’

‘The mole, you mean?’

‘Yeah. Whoever it is, they’re still passing over information.’

‘We need to find them, Jane. This is getting out of hand now.’

‘I agree, sir, but we have a slightly more pressing development to deal with first, which is the other thing he wanted to tell me.’

Carter’s face wrinkled. ‘Which is what?’

Phillips took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. ‘Townsend told me he spoke to his now-retired mentor from his early days at MEN. A friend who worked there when Jack Todd was chief super in the Serious Crimes Unit and when Venables was in charge of the CPS.’

‘And?’

‘This friend said it was widely known that the pair were in cahoots together and between them put a lot of innocent people in Hawk Green.’

‘But why would they do that?’

‘To massage their conviction rates. As we know, Todd was known for fudging his figures, even when he was chief constable.

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