Lead Me into Danger by Daniella Bernett

Author:Daniella Bernett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder mystery, london, venice, russian spies, spies and espionage, deceit and betrayal
Publisher: Black Opal Books

CHAPTER 17

Chief Inspector Burnell was already annoyed when he returned to the Yard that afternoon. He had gone over every nook and cranny in Latimer’s flat and found nothing. Then John Meadows, the medical examiner, had called to let him know his preliminary findings indicated that Latimer had suffered a sharp blow to the temple first, which likely rendered him unconscious and therefore unable to fight back when he was placed in the bathtub. He was drowned. Bloody help that was. They had already surmised as much. Again, they had hit a dead end. The lift doors opened and the first person Burnell saw was Superintendent Fenton’s secretary, Sally Harper.

“The superintendent would like a word, Chief Inspector Burnell.”

“What now? I’ve just got back to the office. I must go over several things with Sergeant Finch. We’re working on the Charles Latimer murder. Tell Superintendent Fenton I’ll pop over in about an hour.”

“I’m afraid that won’t do, Chief Inspector. The superintendent said he wanted to see the minute you returned.”

Burnell sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Oh, very well. Lead the way, Sally.” He followed her to her desk.

“One moment, please. Let me ring to see if it’s all right for you to go through.”

“You just said that he wanted to see me immediately.”

“Please, Chief Inspector, do not take that tone with me.” She turned her back on him and reached for the phone.

Burnell gritted his teeth and shoved his fists deep into his pockets. He was afraid he would really lose his temper if he uttered another word to this overbearing woman.

Sally rang off. “Superintendent Fenton will see you now.”

“Thank you. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it has been seeing you, Sally. It brightened my whole day.”

She ignored the sarcasm in his voice and flashed a phony smile at him.

He knocked once and then turned the doorknob.

“Come in” was the response. “Ah, Burnell, there you are. Good of you to drop by.”

As if he had a choice. “Yes, sir. Sally said you wanted to see me.”

“Indeed, indeed. Do sit down.”

Burnell did as he was bid and surveyed his superior across the desk. Fenton, a man in his late fifties with salt-and-pepper hair and light brown eyes, shuffled a few files and cleared his throat.

The chief inspector waited.

“Burnell, what progress have you made on the Latimer case?”

“Well, sir, Sergeant Finch and I are following several leads. We believe Latimer was killed because he found evidence that a Russian spy, a Sergei Konstantin, was working at the Foreign Office in a fairly high capacity.”

“Really? What evidence do you have? Sounds like something out of John Le Carré to me.” He chuckled. “So who is this...”

“Sergei Konstantin, sir. We don’t know yet.”

“You don’t know? You don’t know? Then, why are you wasting time and police resources?”

Burnell’s knuckles showed white underneath the desk. “I interviewed Emmeline Kirby who, as you know, is a well-respected investigative journalist in her own right and was a close friend of Latimer’s. Apparently, he sought her help with the story he was working on when they were in Venice last week.

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.