SHADOW CRIMES a gripping crime thriller full of twists by MICHAEL HAMBLING

Author:MICHAEL HAMBLING [HAMBLING, MICHAEL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books mystery, crime, and thrillers
Published: 2018-10-23T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23: All Solved?

Sunday Morning

The following day, Sophie appeared in the incident room, still a little disoriented from all the emotion of the day before.

‘Wedding went off okay, ma’am?’ Rae asked.

‘Hmm, yes, great thanks. How are things here? Everything alright yesterday?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Rae said nonchalantly. ‘We solved everything while you were away.’

Sophie opened her eyes wide.

‘Only kidding, ma’am.’

Lydia assumed a shocked look. ‘That was a very dangerous thing to say, Rae, particularly when you’re just a mere DC and the boss is now a superintendent. Are you feeling suicidal today for some reason?’

Rae giggled. ‘Maybe I should go and sit in the naughty corner.’ She glanced sideways at Sophie. ‘Can we see the photos sometime soon? Please?’

Sophie laughed. ‘Of course, once I get myself organised. Seriously, have there been any developments?’

‘I’m even more certain that it’s the same bunch of guys behind everything,’ Lydia said. ‘George Warrander came in at the end of his shift yesterday and we sat down and had a good look at that gang of thugs. We’re pretty sure that three or four of them at least were in both groups. We concentrated on the apparent ringleaders and compared what we remembered of them.’

Sophie looked puzzled. ‘We can guess why they were in Dorchester that lunchtime. To intimidate you. We think they come from Weymouth, and we know that at least a couple of them work at the docks. But why were they in Dorchester that night? What were they up to?’

Lydia shrugged. ‘We don’t know. George couldn’t work out what they were up to. I’ve been thinking back to my encounter with them last weekend, ma’am, particularly the ringleader. At the time, I thought that he was a bit thrown when I told him who I was, and he hesitated because he thought he was in danger of being arrested. But it might not have been down to that at all. Jimmy arrived at that very moment, and it could have been seeing him that put the guy off.’

‘Which ties in with the idea that they knew full well who you were, and why you were there.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Have you got a name for him? The ringleader, I mean?’

Lydia shook her head. ‘No. We’ve worked out who the other two are, the ones that pulled him away. Luke Boulden and your man, Liam Fenners. But as to Mr Confrontation . . .’ She shrugged.

‘So he becomes a priority. Get a photofit made up, if you haven’t already done so — George can add his bit. Then we look for this guy. Agreed?’ Sophie turned to Barry. ‘Have you made any progress on that phone number? The one Andrea was calling on Wednesdays?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘We think whoever it belongs to is based in this area. But it’s an unregistered SIM, so we can’t get a name. All we can tell is where it’s been used, from the mast data. So we know it’s mainly in Weymouth, but occasionally in other places in Dorset.’

‘Such as? I can see there’s more, Barry.

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