Blood Ties: Obsession, secrets, desire and murder (A Jack Le Claire Mystery) by Kelly Clayton

Author:Kelly Clayton [Clayton, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC022030 Fiction Mystery and Detective Traditional
ISBN: 9780993483035
Publisher: Stanfred Publishing
Published: 2016-11-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Le Claire was dog-tired, and his head was buzzing. He’d left Dewar in the incident room and headed for his office. Usually, the quiet helped him think. Unfortunately, his thoughts couldn’t fight past the noise in his head.

The smell of strong coffee preceded Dewar into his office. “I nipped out to that place you like, thought you could use one of these.” She placed a brightly coloured cardboard cup in front of him. Steam and the unmistakable aroma of quality coffee wafted through the drinking hole in the plastic lid.

“Oh yes, I do indeed need this. Did you get yourself one of those teas you can stand a spoon in?”

“Of course!” She put her own cup on the desk and unhooked the handles of a paper bag from around her wrist. “I got you a choc-chip cookie as well.”

She must think he was in a bad way. “Thanks. So what do you think?” He waved his hand, which held the cookie, toward the small whiteboard affixed to the wall.

She turned and faced the board, chewing her bottom lip as she stared at the images and marker pen scribblings. Scott Hamlyn’s photo had been printed from his parents’ digital album. It wasn’t strictly necessary to have the photo on the board, but Le Claire wanted a visual reminder of what they stood for, of whom they were acting for. Yes, it was for the law, for the justice of the land, but more than that, the badge stood for the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, the injured and, of course, the dead.

“There’s David Adamson. We know he got into a fight with Hamlyn days before he died.”

“Indeed, but what was his motive? Was the argument fierce enough to take that irrevocable step, and days later at that?”

“Yeah, we don’t have a lot there.”

She moved farther back from the board, considered the other names he’d written in the thick marker. “Aidan Gillespie? Scott Hamlyn cost him land that should have rightfully been his. Add in that Hamlyn was killed at Gillespie’s estate.”

“Stupid of Gillespie to bring death to his own door, or maybe he just couldn’t help himself?”

Then, hands on hips, she shook her head. “No. The girlfriend is our best line so far. She’s inherited Hamlyn’s estate. She lied to us about not arriving in the island until Sunday morning.”

He played devil’s advocate. “I guess her explanation could ring true in that she didn’t know Scott was dead when she first spoke to us and was simply trying to tell the same story she’d spin to him.”

“Meaningless lies, perhaps, but if that was the case, why not tell us the truth later, even if it did put her in a bad light? She must have known we’d check the airline records.”

“I agree. We now know she had the opportunity, the inheritance gave her a motive and her past added another dimension. Laura Brown is our only real person of interest at the moment.”

He suddenly realised he’d hijacked the conversation. “I’m grateful for the coffee, but did you come in for anything specific?”

“Yes, sorry.

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