The Stranger Within by Tara Lyons

Author:Tara Lyons [Lyons, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

18

As the convoy of police cars and vans drove along Victoria Embankment from New Scotland Yard, Hamilton glanced back out of the window at the sixteen-storey Gothic clocktower surrounded by scaffolding. Both hands on Big Ben’s illumined face ticked along to midnight and yet despite the bell’s silence, due to renovation work until 2021, the familiar bongs sounded out of habit in Hamilton’s ears. As Clarke navigated along the Thames towards Covent Garden, and the night-time view of London sped by, the imaginary sound vibrated deep within Hamilton’s mind. He frowned, the tension squashing his head down as he turned back around in his seat, the bells ringing just for him, reminding him of precious time slipping away.

The bongs bounced from flashback to flashback: Hamilton meeting Fraser for the first time over three years ago as a young and eager sergeant; she had told him swapping Kent for London was something she needed to do for personal reasons — no more was said, and Hamilton didn’t pry; he fully understood the need for privacy. Natural blonde hair, usually swinging in a long pony-tail, and the little, if any, make-up on her porcelain face always made her appear younger than her twenty-nine years. Fraser glued to the computer in the morning, the afternoon and well into the evening during most of the team’s cases; her patience for research, attention to detail and the ability to pick out a suspicious transaction on a bank statement in under thirty seconds. The man stepping over Fraser’s body in the street. Her dead cat on the dining table. The note.

Screeching tyres shook Hamilton from his thoughts and he automatically flew into action with the rest of the officers. Deploying the Police Firearms Unit had been a necessity after Hamilton’s own team had been unable to get their sights inside The London Theatre. The venue had been closed and the front entrance barricaded for over a year. However, with the location being their only lead for a possible whereabouts of Grace Murphy — and potentially Fraser — Hamilton took a step back after the armed officers gave the team a briefing.

While different teams scattered themselves outside the theatre to disrupt any escape plan Murphy may have and protect any pedestrians that could pass by — despite being midnight, the streets were never fully empty — Hamilton and his team followed a group of armed officers down a side alley which led to a back entrance of the theatre. Utilising earpieces as their method of communication with the officer leading the raid, Hamilton hand-signalled for Clarke, Rocky and Dixon to stay crouched behind him.

With an order finally shouted into their ears, the officers sprung forward, smashing through the back door and into the darkness of the building. Hamilton and team filed behind the armed officers, their torch beams leading the way along what Hamilton knew to be the corridors leading to the theatre’s offices, green room and costume area. He strained his ear through the noise of

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