Copycat by C. S. Barnes

Author:C. S. Barnes [Barnes, C. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912986415
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2019-06-23T16:00:00+00:00

23

Melanie faced away from the open-plan office space and stared at the evidence board for what felt to Chris Burton like at least five minutes. As requested, Chris had couriered the DNA sample over to forensics where it had been accepted with a glum expression. ‘Another rush job, is it?’ the technician had asked and Chris had answered in the affirmative, despite the young man’s obvious annoyance.

Since arriving back at the station, Melanie had collared Chris to look over any loose ends while Carter excused himself for half an hour of so-called personal business. Both officers were fixated on the board – Melanie more so than Chris – until DC Brian Fairer kicked into life at the back of the room.

‘Patrick Nelson,’ he said, in an almost-shout.

‘What about him?’ Melanie asked, turning.

‘Did we talk to him?’

Melanie thought for a second and shook her head. ‘He was sick, unwell with something earlier in the week. It’s only been a couple of days though, and his mother said she’d call.’ Melanie turned back to the board to look again at the pictures of Jenni, one in particular jumping out as it featured the friend in question: Patrick Nelson stood one side of their victim, while a beaming Eleanor Gregory stood the other. Melanie thought back to the interview footage from Eleanor’s first and only visit; the young girl was more inquisitive than she was sad…

‘Did anything strike you as odd about Eleanor Gregory?’ Melanie asked, turning to face Chris.

The other officer considered this. ‘Not odd, as such. Edd thought it was strange that she wasn’t more upset, I think, but it’s shock, isn’t it? It’ll hit her at some point,’ Chris replied, shrugging off the question.

But something occurred to Melanie. ‘She was quite interested in the station though, how we record the interviews, that sort of thing.’

Melanie rubbed at the back of her neck, fingering the tension that was beginning to stretch up from her shoulder blades. When she looked back at the board, it was as though she couldn’t see the evidence at all; instead, one blank space after another jumped out at her, the many holes in Jenni Grantham’s storyline. She looked from friends to the search history to Michael Richards’ victims, and finally settled on Steven Knight. He knew something, of that much Melanie felt certain, but whether he knew what they needed remained to be seen. Melanie turned back to face the room and called for her colleague’s attention.

‘Fairer, add a visit to Nelson’s house to your list, would you? Try lunchtime and if that doesn’t work, go for late afternoon. If Patrick’s so ill, he should be there at one time or another.’ Her colleague nodded and made a note of something on a sheet in front of him; whatever else got done today, at least Melanie knew that one loose thread would be tied.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.