MURDER UNDER THE PALMS a gripping crime mystery packed with twists (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 2) by PAULA LENNON

Author:PAULA LENNON [LENNON, PAULA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller, mystery and suspense
Published: 2022-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Monday, 8 May, 5.20 p.m.

The police photographers moved back as the Pelican Walk detectives approached. Harris stared at the bullet-riddled corpse which lay on its back next to a grass verge in front of a small unpainted concrete house. The eyes, wide open, were staring at the sky. A bullet created a third eye right in the middle of his brows. His arms were spread-eagled, a partially consumed bottle of cream soda just beyond the reach of his fingertips. Bullet holes punctured his torso and blood soaked every inch of his once blueshirt. The last time Harris had glimpsed the man he had been smiling, revealing his prominent gold-capped teeth in a taunting manner. Those teeth were sunken now, barely visible through silenced purple lips.

Some of the Ancona residents leaned over the decaying walls which separated their board houses from the road and watched the scene from afar. Despite the police presence not everyone felt safe enough to venture out. A young woman with baby in arms stood between the clothes billowing on her clothes line, hushing her screaming child while craning her neck to catch sight of the body. A boy was perched high on a stack of empty beer crates providing commentary to his shorter friends below.

Harris glanced at the onlookers who had felt comfortable enough to converge on the scene, smartphones in the air. “Too many people around here rubber-necking and none of them are admitting tae seeing anything. Can we naw get an evidence tent or something tae shield the body?”

“Haven’t seen a decent one in around five years,” said Preddy, struggling to suppress his irritation and anger. The man who he believed was key to Everton Wrenn’s murder was dead, executed mere metres from the man’s own front door.

Spence glanced at the foreigner, “Please add dat to our Christmas list, Harris. Crime scene tent.”

Harris made a mental note to do just that, sooner rather than later. He and his colleagues back home took their crime fighting tools and equipment for granted. Each day it became more apparent how little the Jamaican detectives had to work with, yet how dedicated they were to the task.

“De caution tape will have to do,” said Preddy. “Dey know not to cross it.”

“I reckon Tuffy Frazer lasted all of three hours,” calculated Harris. “I understand that the prosecutor had argued for him tae be kept in custody for his own safety, but his argument was rejected.”

Preddy rose from his haunches and shook his head. “And tomorrow’s front page will show de court just how sound dat argument was.”

Harris stared down at the body. “Tuffy dodged the man we had on his tail, but he couldnae dodge a killer’s bullets.”

“At least de shooter left us wid something,” said Preddy, nodding in the direction of a gun which lay in a clump of grass with a yellow marker tag next to it.

Rabino walked towards the gun. She crouched down and frowned before beckoning to Spence. “That looks like blue paint on the handle,” she whispered.

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