The Last Photo (DI Olivia Austin Book 13): A fast-paced crime thriller by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-11T16:00:00+00:00

13

They marched Noah down the alleyway back the way they came. They hadn’t bothered to put him in handcuffs as his secret was already out.

He led them to a large black door with paint peeling off and stopped.

“Well?” Archie asked at his hesitation.

“You’ve got me murdered,” Noah growled over his shoulder as he banged on the metal, waiting for a response.

Olivia thought she saw a flicker of relief cross his face when no one answered.

Finally, they heard a voice call out.

“Who is it?”

“It’s… it’s me,” Noah stammered. “I was wondering if you could… could let me in?” He looked back at the detectives for silent approval.

There was a moment’s pause.

“What for? I only just saw you?” the voice came back.

Damnit.

“I, uh… want to talk about another operation,” Noah suggested. “I’d like to look at having my, uh, ears pinned back.”

“Dazzling liar,” Archie muttered under his breath.

There was another pause followed by the sound of multiple locks clicking, and Liv wondered if they were about to enter a bank vault with all the security surrounding it.

The metal door swung open to reveal a man in a t-shirt wearing a pair of gloves, his face bright-eyed, all smiles and primed for business. His smile melted away as soon as he registered the two detectives standing there.

“Shit,” he swore, frustration crossing his face. He looked at Noah angrily.

“Shit indeed,” Olivia responded smugly. “We have a few questions, if you don’t mind. Now, we can either come in and have a chat or we can take you down the station. Your call. I’m guessing you have a preference.”

For a moment, he looked worried before he relaxed.

“You can’t come in here without a warrant,” the man insisted. “You’ve got no grounds to search my premises.”

It was Archie’s turn to step forwards.

“Well,” he said, gesturing to Noah. “We know this man has come from your establishment.” He emphasising each syllable as though intentionally letting the man know how screwed he was. “We also know that this is one of the last known locations of a missing teenage girl.” He paused to look past him into the darkness. “I’m going to assume whatever you’re doing in here probably comes with a custodial sentence. And if people assume that you’re deliberately hindering an investigation to see a mother reunited with her child…”

“She was no child, I assure you!” the man insisted sharply before realising what he’d just said.

“So, you do know Jessie York?” the detective guessed and moved to enter.

“She’s not back here, if that’s what you mean,” the man snapped, leaning against the door and blocking their entry.

“If we believe that Jessie York is being held here, then we have all the rights we need to search the premises.” Archie said firmly while Olivia craned her neck to peer inside to try and make anything out. “Now, would you rather it was us two, or an entire team of forensic investigators?”

The man weighed up his options. No matter what he did, all his choices were bad ones. But he still had to choose.

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.