The Lighthouse Keeper: A DC Ryan Jarrod Tyneside crime thriller (Ryan Jarrod series Book 3) by Colin Youngman

Author:Colin Youngman [Youngman, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A SprintS Publication
Published: 2020-11-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Molly Uzumba was still in her thirties, but she’d been with The Mercury through thin and thinner.

She’d worked on the media outlet so long she was even there during its relative heyday, when its on-line streaming and interactive content set it apart from the competition.

That was before The Mercury’s reputation plummeted on the back of its role in the notorious Tyneside Tyrant outrage. Now, it was just another regional newspaper struggling to survive.

Molly had always been in search of the Big One: the exclusive which would catapult her to fame. Throughout her time at the rag, she’d played second fiddle to Megan Wolfe. Whilst Wolfe was brazen, outspoken and a risk-taker, Uzumba was haughty, aloof and diligent.

Brazen saw Wolfe poached by the BBC. Diligent meant Uzumba remained unknown. Until now. The instant Molly Uzumba opened the e-mail, she knew this was her moment.

As any good, diligent journalist would, she fact-checked the details sent to her by the one called The Lighthouse Keeper. It didn’t take long, with her contacts, to establish both Chelsea Birch and Jasmine Peters had indeed been murdered. Both girls had red hair. And, Jasmine had been mown down by a vehicle which appeared on her Facebook feed.

She didn’t, however, have confirmation of the other two deaths. Nothing to back up The Lighthouse Keeper’s claims. It was her call: publish and be damned, or publish and let the offers roll in.

The phone rang. This could be the first of those offers.

‘You’re speaking to Molly Uzumba of The Mercury.’

‘And you’re speaking to Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Danskin of the City and County police.’

**

‘Oh,’ She sounded disappointed. ‘It’ll be about my article, I suppose.’

‘How did you guess?

‘Interesting, don’t you think?’

Danskin had already decided he didn’t like the woman. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse. In anyone else, he would have found it sexy but, with the reporter, he just wanted her to cough out the chicken bone lodged in her throat.

‘What I would find interesting is how you came by the information.’ He was still in Connor’s office. He didn’t notice the Super wince when he asked the question.

‘How else would I come by it? From the killer himself, of course.’

Danskin felt his arms turn to gooseflesh. ‘What?’

‘You heard me. From The Lighthouse Keeper.’

‘Why do you call him that?’

He noticed the confusion in Uzumba’s voice. ‘It’s not me who named him The Lighthouse Keeper. That’s what he told me I should call him.’

Danskin’s head spun. Connor waited for him to speak. So, too, Ravi Sangar. Instead, the next voice they heard was Molly Uzumba’s.

‘Hello? Are you still there, Detective Inspector?’

‘It’s Detective CHIEF Inspector, Miss Uzumba.’ Her words made his thoughts snap into focus. ‘Do you know someone by the name of Ferdie Milburn?’

There was a pause. ‘Not to my knowledge, no. Should I?’

‘He’s the wildlife warden on St Mary’s Island.’

‘Oh, I see where we’re going with this. You think he could be The Lighthouse Keeper, don’t you?’

Shit. He’d just added to her story.

‘Miss Uzumba, I think we should continue this discussion at the station.

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