Death's Shadow: A Cavendish & Walker Novel - Book 13 by Sally Rigby

Author:Sally Rigby [Rigby, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2024-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Thursday

Whitney’s grip on her mug of triple-strength coffee tightened slightly as she stepped into the incident room. Her eyes scanned the familiar faces of her team, each absorbed in their tasks. The clatter of keyboards and murmur of low conversations filled the space. She’d been working since six-thirty that morning, hoping that it would take her mind off her family problems. But it hadn’t worked, and she’d struggled to focus.

As she approached the whiteboard, she set her mug down on the table with a soft thud, the sound seeming louder in her own ears.

‘You all right, guv?’ Frank’s voice broke through her thoughts, pulling her back to the present.

Whitney glanced over at him, her frown deepening. ‘Why do you ask?’ she replied, unable to hide the weariness in her voice.

‘Because you look dreadful – like you’ve either had a night out on the tiles or you haven’t been able to sleep.’ Frank’s brows were knitted in concern as he scrutinised her.

Whitney attempted a reassuring smile. ‘No, it’s fine. I’ve got a few issues with my mum, that’s all.’ Her voice was firmer now, an attempt to brush off the concern.

‘Is she okay?’ Frank’s worry was evident as he slightly leant forwards in his anxiousness for her response.

Whitney sighed internally, appreciating his concern but not wanting to delve too deeply into her personal matters. Not that she wanted to hide it from them. That wasn’t how the team worked. They had always shared their lives with each other; a bond forged through countless hours spent together in this very room.

‘I hope so. Anyway, we can’t discuss this now.’ She redirected the focus to work, finding solace in the familiarity of their routine. ‘Let’s get started. I’ve no idea what time Dr Cavendish will be arriving, but we can’t wait. When⁠—’

She was interrupted by the door opening and George striding into the room.

‘We were talking about you,’ Frank said with a chuckle, lightening the mood.

George’s expression shifted to one of confusion. She looked directly at Whitney. ‘Am I late? Is there a problem?’

‘No, you’re not late at all. We didn’t know when you’d be coming in. It’s fine,’ Whitney explained, offering a small nod. She hoped George could read the unspoken message in her eyes – that there was more to discuss about her mum, but not here, not now.

‘Please continue,’ George said, heading towards Whitney and standing close by.

Whitney turned back to the task at hand, feeling the weight of leadership heavy on her shoulders. ‘Okay, let’s talk about what we’ve got already. We now know, because we found a notebook in Valerie Jenkins’ room, that, along with Angus McDonnell, she was planning to discredit Hargrove’s theory. We need to find out exactly how they were going to do that. Also what connects McDonnell and Jenkins?’ The answers they needed were somewhere in the room – in the notebooks, on the laptops, within the team – and she was determined to find them. ‘Ellie, I’d like you to work on that. Make that a priority,’ Whitney directed, trying to mask the undercurrent of fatigue in her voice.

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.