The Bluebell Killer by FRANCES LLOYD

Author:FRANCES LLOYD [LLOYD, FRANCES]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS murder mystery and crime
Published: 2019-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Monday morning, eight o’clock. The team was subdued, hard at work but keeping their heads down. The incident room was littered with newspapers wallowing in a media feeding frenzy. KILLER LOOSE IN KINGS RICHINGTON screamed the Guardian’s headline. ‘Police are baffled by the recent spate of unexplained murders.’ As Jack feared, the story had been taken up by the nationals, hugely magnified and distorted, and most papers carried a variation on the theme from MP GUNNED DOWN IN COLD BLOOD to CRIME WAVE IN LEAFY SUBURB. Pinkney had spread them round the room so the team could get up to speed on what intelligence, if it could be called that, was now in the public domain. Each paper ran a different account of the same events, depending on their political bias and the perceived reading ability of their distribution, many of whom considered the Sun too intellectual.

Malone picked up the Kings Richington Herald and snorted his contempt. ‘Have you seen this, guv?’

POLICE DRAGGING HEELS IN SEARCH FOR KINGS RICHINGTON KILLER, CLAIMS WEEPING WIDOW. A tearful Jennifer Laidlaw gazed groggily from the front page, white-faced, and bleary-eyed. One hand was clutching Timothy, who looked confused and seemed to be struggling to get off her lap. The other hand held a glass that was only half out of shot. The caption under the picture read, ‘Grief-stricken widow of popular MP, Martin Laidlaw, with their seven-year-old son, Timothy. Police are caught napping but Herald reporters act promptly to break the tragic news and offer support.’ The article continued, ‘Attractive blonde, Jennifer Laidlaw, 31, told Herald reporters, “I’m devastated. Martin was a devoted husband and father and an exceptional politician with a brilliant career ahead of him. Everyone loved and respected him, he had no enemies. Who would want to do this terrible thing? My heart is broken but I shall continue to devote my life to the community work that was so important to Martin and caring for our beloved son, Timothy.”’ Beside her was a smaller picture of the brigadier and his wife outside their house, beaming vacantly and pointing at the skip.

‘I don’t soddin’ well believe it!’ Malone spluttered. ‘We all know what Jennifer Jiggle-Tits has devoted her life to and it doesn’t have anything to do with social work, unless you count servicing as many blokes as possible and keeping the gin manufacturers in business. And as for grief-stricken, give her a week and she’ll be posing half naked in the celebrity magazines.’

‘Oh, I say, Sarge. I think you’re being unnecessarily hard on her,’ protested Pinkney.

Jack picked up one of the nationals and read aloud: ‘“Gun crime hits leafy suburb, Kings Richington. What are our police doing to stop it?” There’s a statement from Sir Barnaby’s Press Officer assuring the public that the Met is hot on the trail and the commander expects several arrests very soon. I wish I shared his confidence.’

‘Many of the papers have picked up on the Nat Fiddler murder, as well as our other unsolved cases, sir,’ said Pinkney.

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