Harte by Robert Innes

Author:Robert Innes [Innes, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-19T22:00:00+00:00

Ten

It felt like stepping back in time. Once more, Blake found himself standing over the dead body of a woman, her lifeless eyes briefly lit by the forensic camera, all thanks to Thomas Frost. Blake glanced around the flat, the horribly familiar tell-tale signs all around him, and they weren’t the only aspects of the crime scene that he recognised.

“It’s Helen Beauchamp,” Sally murmered as she stepped closer to the body. “Christ, Blake, we’ve only just been watching her on the TV at work.”

“That interview was pre-recorded,” Blake replied. “She must have given it and then come home. Woman in power. Frost’s favourite. He hasn’t changed.”

“She’s been strangled,” the forensic pathologist said, glancing up at them from where he was knelt over Helen’s body. “Looks like it was a fairly quick job.” He picked up a cloth belt that matched Helen’s dress. “This would be your murder weapon. I’d say he forced her down to the ground, got this from around her waist and then throttled her with it.”

“Classic Frost. Strangled like the others,” Fox muttered. “Who found her?”

“Her cleaner,” Sally replied. “Apparently she let herself in and found her lying here.”

“And the note?”

The pathologist nodded towards a mirror on the nearest wall where the goading note had been stuck. “Still hanging over there.” He glanced up at Blake as he took another photograph of the bruises around Helen’s neck. “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”

Blake ignored him and slowly walked around the living room. “So, he’s still in Manchester. At least that narrows down the possibilities of how he got out of that prison van.”

“‘Here we go again,’ Sally repeated. “Blake, he’s planning on doing more of this. It’s starting again.”

Blake shuddered. The old woman in the house suddenly seemed like nothing compared to the notion of Frost at large again.

“Right, you two,” Fox said sharply. “Get to that prison. Blake’s right. If he’s in Manchester, it means that he never intended to go anywhere near London and, in my mind, that means that he’s been planning this for a while and it can’t have been on his own. Someone helped him to get out of that van. We’ll finish up here.”

Blake and Sally nodded and made their way towards the door.

“Blake?” Fox called.

Blake turned with a frown. Fox now looked incredibly serious.

“When this gets out, Helen’s death, it’s going to take more than a few sycophantic words in the paper to dissuade people that Frost is at it again. We’re going to have to make an official statement.”

Blake nodded in agreement. He could already sense where Fox was heading with what she was saying.

“The public will probably recognise you as somebody they can trust when it comes to Frost,” Fox told him. “Do you think you could do it?”

Blake sighed. “Look, I’ll think about it, okay? You forget, I don’t even work for this branch anymore.”

“All the same,” Fox replied. “I think it would be best. Let them know that we’re taking it seriously, we’ve brought back the man who originally brought him to justice.

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