OF RAGE AND RUIN: A gripping British detective crime thriller by Mark Yarwood

Author:Mark Yarwood [Yarwood, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Biscuit Books
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

It was late into the afternoon and the heat of the day had cooled down a little when Moone hurried into the incident room after grabbing a quick bite of a sandwich from Jake’s, the takeaway place. He also fetched Butler a coffee and put it on her desk. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He’d hardly sat down when the tall, tired and strung-out frame of Barry came into the room. He looked about nervously, fidgeting with a sheet of A4 paper.

‘Barry?’ Moone said and stood up. ‘Have you got something for us?’

Barry nodded and came into the room, holding out the sheet. ‘The van.’

‘You’ve got the registration?’ Moone’s heart kicked into gear as he took the sheet, which showed a grainy, colour still of the white van as it seemed to be driving away. There was the plate too, a small blurry image. His heart sank.

‘Only two letters,’ Barry said. ‘WN.’

‘That’s West of England,’ Harding said, his head appearing over his monitor. ‘DVLA’s memory tag for Bristol is WN, or one of them anyway.’

‘So the van’s from Bristol,’ Moone said, nodding. ‘That’s a pretty wide net.’

Harding stood up. ‘Not necessarily, boss. It’s a van, so we could check for businesses, see if any companies bought vans, see if the memory tag comes up.’

Moone sighed. ‘Worth a shot, I suppose, although this man operates as a handyman and probably works alone. Run it through the DVLA anyway and see what the tags come up with. Thanks, Keith. And thanks Barry for this.’

‘Boss,’ DC Molly Chambers said, getting up from her desk. ‘I’ve been going through the statements that were taken the night Caroline Abbott died.’

‘Anything?’ Moone asked, walking over.

‘Well, once we spread the net further, we found a lady who lives a couple of streets away and she said she saw a white van parking up there that day. Her description of the van matches the Transit we’re looking for. Could be our killer.’

Moone nodded. ‘He parks the van a couple of streets away so the neighbours won’t see it. Thanks, Molly. Right everyone, let’s get looking for any more sightings of this van. Well done.’

Then Moone noticed Barry was still in the room, yawning and rubbing his tired eyes. As Barry went to turn away, he could see the IT man was trembling a little.

‘Barry?’ Moone said, going over to him. ‘You OK?’

‘I’m fine.’ Barry looked around furtively, one of his eyes twitching a little.

‘You look tired.’

‘Was up late.’

‘Have you been to bed at all lately?’

Barry shrugged. ‘I’ve got a lot on. Paedophiles don’t catch themselves.’

‘Jesus. Look, I’m going to get you some time off, OK?’

Barry had the flicker of a smile on his face for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t mind.’

Moone told him he’d sort it and then the still trembling IT man walked out and disappeared back down the stairs. He felt sorry for the poor sod, hardly able to imagine the things he saw or had to read about. Moone’s heart and stomach took a nosedive as his mind rebelled at the notion of doing his job.

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