The Last Girl: A gripping, twisting thriller with an ending that will leave you breathless (Detective Arla Baker Series Book 5) by M.L Rose

Author:M.L Rose [Rose, M.L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hard Wire Publication
Published: 2019-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

“Go back one frame,” Arla said, her words tumbling out. Rob obliged.

“Now stop. There, that’s it. Now zoom in.”

A round table holding champagne bottles came into focus, as did the face of a solitary man. Arla stared at him and then nodded.

“Oh, Jesus,” Harry murmured next to her. She turned to him, eyes wide.

“Is it him?”

Harry nodded slowly. “It’s Darren Maddison, the dean of St Joseph’s Medical School.”

“Can we get a public photo of him from the medical school website and run the facial software?” Arla asked Rob. In the darkness, he nodded.

Arla frowned and pressed on her forehead with her right hand. “And turn the lights on, please. My eyes hurt.”

That odd swirl of nausea she had felt on the high street was back again, she realized. Must’ve been something she ate earlier.

“Okay.” Arla stood as the lights came back on. “These images are from the night that Erika was there, right?”

Rob and Lisa nodded.

“Confirm that with the management again. Did the dancers sign in and out on the night?”

Lisa nodded. “Yes, guv. They kept a register.”

“Excellent.” A warmth bloomed in her gut, kindling across her chest, firing up her limbs. She had something here. She could feel it with every fibre of her being. She paced the floor in front of the whiteboard, her mind rushing from one connection to another.

“Nothing wrong with a professor watching a strip show, obviously, but it does matter when one of the performers is a student at his college. And one who vanishes three days later. The CCTV is from last Friday, right?”

“Yes, guv,” Lisa said.

“Erika was last seen on Monday.” Arla stopped and snapped her fingers. “So Maddison was lying when he said he hadn’t seen Erika for a long time, maybe never.” Her mind went back to their meeting. She had sensed a darkening twist behind the professor’s placid, professional façade, and she had been right.

“Deep search on Maddison. Pull out the stops. I want financials, employment history, family, friends, all of it. Go back to his school days. Old girlfriends, college mates. I want their names and current status. Find out if his parents are alive. The whole hog,” she said.

Harry remarked, “We already know he has a flourishing private practice. Best to put some feelers out to his central London office? Keep it under surveillance, as that must be where he works from most of the time.”

“Harley Street,” Arla said, “and that’s good thinking, Harry. Yes, although he’s a med school dean, the majority of his earnings will be from private practice.”

“Do we have CCTV from the medical school?” Harry asked, looking around at the team. “I haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Still chasing them, guv,” Gita said, an apologetic tone in her voice. “They’re dragging their heels.”

Arla narrowed her eyes, and they caught Harry’s hard glare. She saw the line of reasoning in his gaze.

Was the med school thwarting them for a reason? Maybe under the advice of the dean?

Shots and flashes of light impinged on her mind, lighting up dark corners.

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