Taste of Blood by Lynda La Plante

Author:Lynda La Plante
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing

Chapter Nineteen

It was late afternoon by the time Jane returned to the station, after being called out to a wretched domestic situation. A young mother had reported her daughter missing. The child had eventually been found at her grandmother’s, with the woman’s husband, who was accusing his wife of physically mistreating her. It had taken up most of the day, as the accusations of abuse and kidnapping took time to unravel. No one wanted to press charges and the couple were eventually reunited, though Jane insisted that social services should monitor the couple.

Stanley listened impatiently, eager to recount his visit to the Caplans.

‘I’ve been waiting to tell you, because you will not believe what happened at Clarendon Court this morning.’

Jane sighed. She had not had time to have lunch, so suggested they have a break in the canteen. They were both heading out of the incident room when Hutton opened her office door.

‘Ah good, I need to have a word with both of you. I have just had David Caplan on the phone and then Michael Littleton. I don’t know if you have come across him, but he is a top property lawyer. He must have cost Mr Caplan a fortune. Anyway, it appears that the situation at Clarendon Court has finally reached an amicable agreement.’

‘Well, from my visit this morning . . .’ Stanley began.

Hutton nodded. ‘I know what happened earlier, but this afternoon they apparently came to an amicable agreement, and Mr Caplan is going to minimise the damage to the tarmac.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Stanley said, frowning.

‘Well, the crucial point is we can finally turn our attention to more important things,’ Hutton said, dismissing them.

Stanley and Jane went up to the canteen. Jane laughed as Stanley described the sequence of events, with the builders applauding the whole thing.

‘I have seen women fly into tempers,’ Stanley said in a more serious tone, ‘but Mrs Larsson was totally out of control, and all about a foot and a half of tarmac. You would have thought they were going to bulldoze her house, the way she behaved.’

‘But now it’s all peace and quiet,’ Jane said.

Stanley snorted. ‘I don’t believe it. If you’d seen the way she slapped Martin Boon, it’s more than an obsession with her bloody boundaries. Martin Boon was the target of her abuse. So why was he doing her bidding? There has to be something else going on apart from property boundaries and bloody tarmac.’

‘I can’t believe what I am hearing from you,’ Jane said, shaking her head.

‘Well, I’ll admit this thing about Sebastian has now got to me as well, because to suddenly be told that there is no animosity between the neighbours when it has been like outright war . . . I just don’t believe it.’

Jane sighed. ‘Stanley, I had just finally decided to let it all go. I mean, you told me to drop it, so what’s changed your opinion, apart from the rows this morning?’

‘I’ll explain,’ Stanley said, ‘but first I want you to talk to a young student called Kathleen.

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.