Think Twice: A DCI Sean Bracken Scottish Crime Novel (A DCI Sean Bracken Crime Thriller Book 2) by John Carson

Author:John Carson [Carson, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Kara Page chugged back the remnants of the coffee in the disposable cup provided by Mary Long. Bracken pulled in behind a patrol car.

‘Word has it that we’ll be getting a new DC soon,’ Bracken said to her as he shut the engine off.

‘They’re moving quickly on this. Your team needs another member and they’re going through the applications they had on file. They’ve narrowed it down. It will be soon.’

The pavements had a white blanket of snow over them. The biting wind, blowing up the hill from Kirkcaldy Bay below, tried to kill them as they exited the car. Kara’s hair blew about. Bracken kept his short, so he had no such problem.

Two fire engines were still at the scene, as were patrol cars.

A tall young man walked over to them.

‘An abandoned house, you said,’ Bracken said to him. ‘Ma’am, this is my old DI, Cameron Robb. Cameron, my new boss, Superintendent Page.’

‘Pleased to meet you, ma’am.’

‘Likewise.’

‘This is a house,’ said Robb. ‘It was part of Fife College. That building in the back is called the Round House. This is the Priory. This is where the fire was set.’

‘Vandals?’ Kara asked.

‘No. There’s a lot of rubbish in front of the house, as you can see, left by fly tippers, and there’s builders’ rubble. There seems to be everything here from old chairs to old mattresses. The Round House back there has been plagued by vandals, but this place was boarded up and relatively untouched. Somebody made his way in at the back, we think, as there are missing boards, unburnt. The fire was set in what might have been a living room many years ago.’

They walked across the snow-covered car park where the fire engines were.

‘Any other casualties?’ Bracken asked.

‘No, sir. Just the victim. The fire was reported at ten-thirty last night by one of the homeowners over the hill there in the estate. It was well alight by the time the fire brigade got here, and they’re based not far from here.’

There was a lot of activity around the main door into the old house: a forensics team in white suits, firemen checking for hot spots. The fire commander was on the scene and Robb approached him.

‘Sir, this is Superintendent Page and DCI Bracken, Edinburgh Division.’

‘What brings you to this neck of the woods?’ the commander said. ‘Wait – don’t I know you?’ He was looking at Bracken.

‘I was with Glenrothes MIT until last week.’

‘Yes, thought so.’

‘What do we have here?’ Kara said.

They were in the living room, which was a blackened shell. The metal chair was in the middle of the room.

‘The victim has been taken to the mortuary, but she’s just a burnt husk now.’

‘Could your men see it was a woman by the time they got here?’ Bracken asked.

The commander shook his head. ‘No. She’d had an accelerant poured over her. Petrol. Completely covered, and she was charred by the time we got here. The room was well alight, but this is the seat of the fire.

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