The Stakes We Kill For: A Yorkshire Murder Mystery (DI Daniel Ward Crime Thrillers Book 6) by Meg Jolly

Author:Meg Jolly [Jolly, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eldarkin Publishing
Published: 2022-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Thursday Afternoon

Back at the office, it was almost time to finish up, but Ward lingered. He needed to hear Foster’s analysis before he could mentally drop it for the night. Like a dog with a bone, until he got a good gnaw at it, he couldn’t let it go.

It had been strange—surreal, almost—to go to the site of the burned-out car. It was a stone’s throw from The Dog and Gun Inn where he’d taken Eve on an ill-fated date before Christmas and had to bail on her to visit a homicide crime scene. He’d not returned since. Maybe he’d have to take her back there for a drink.

As his attention passed across the office absently, he noticed Holly, Emma, and Jake dithered too. The rest of the office was already inching for coats, bags, and tidying up with the tell-tale shuffle of papers and ruffles of movement that signalled, come half-past five, they’d be out like a flash. The four of them, however, still had lightly steaming brews on their desks, courtesy of Holly.

‘Holly, Emma. I’m going to ring Victoria for an update now. Want to listen in?’

‘Yes, sir,’ came two quick answers, and the two women made their way to Ward’s desk.

‘And me!’ Patterson said indignantly. He hoisted himself up onto his crutches and dragged himself across.

Ward stood too and jabbed a hand towards his chair. ‘Go on, lad. I won’t make you stand.’

‘Ta, sir.’ Jake plonked himself into it.

‘Right,’ Ward muttered. ‘Wish me luck.’

Emma sniggered.

He shot her a dirty look as he dialled. ‘Be grateful I’m not making you do this.’

Her grin widened.

‘Victoria. Hi.’ Ward put the phone on speaker. ‘I’m calling for an update on that car?’

Sounding put out, Victoria replied, ‘I don’t have the full report, you know that. We’ve only had the car for a few hours. We’re good, we’re not miracle workers.’

‘And we’re grateful for everything you do,’ Ward said, wishing it hadn’t come out way more sarcastically than he’d intended. ‘We want to hit the ground running tomorrow on this. Anything you can give us would be really helpful.’

She sniffed. ‘Alright. Well, I can say it’s been there for days already. The interior is soaking wet from the rain this week, and there’s no remaining heat signature. The fire’s long gone out. I reckon we’ll have plenty to give to you from this one, but it’s going to take some time to process, alright?’

She didn’t wait for an answer before she continued. Ward’s brain fired up nonetheless. Logic would dictate that the perpetrator had dumped Ashley Fleming’s body and then immediately disposed of the car. It didn’t make sense to drive it back and forth—and risk being spotted or connected to Ashley’s disappearance, with the almost certainty that her vanishing would have been noticed and quickly reported, as far as her murderer knew. But Ward wasn’t sure how or if he could prove that.

‘Luckily for us, the car didn’t take. I reckon it might be a case of the usual—we have

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