Shot of Silence (Justice Again Book 3) by M Comley (best contemporary novels txt) 📗

should take the rest of the day off, it’s only a couple of hours before the end of our shift.”

“Not when we have the likes of this fucker on the loose, Charlie. I’ll be fine. End of. You drive, just in case.”

“I can see it would be pointless arguing the toss with you. Where are we going?”

“Back to Zedex. I need to have a chat with Patti, make sure we’re both on the same page with this one. She needs to get us the results ASAP before he strikes again.”

“You think he will?”

“Yep. Don’t you?”

Charlie inserted the key into the ignition and shrugged. “I’m not so sure. It’s looking more and more like someone who had a grudge with the firm.”

“My thoughts exactly. We need to find out who that person could be and question the staff again.”

“If they’re up to it.”

Charlie drove them back to what had become another crowd-pulling scene. What the fuck? They must have heard the shots. Why the heck would they remain in the area if there’s a gunman on the loose? “Can we get these people back and away from here?” she instructed the uniformed copper on site.

“Yes, come on, guys. This is still a crime scene, and we haven’t caught the perp yet, so they could still be around, ready to take another shot at someone. Let’s bear that in mind and get these people shifted, like now,” Katy added.

“I’ll see what I can do, ma’am,” the young male constable replied. He whistled for a couple of his colleagues to join him.

Katy and Charlie left them to it and jumped into the lift to take them to the top floor. Patti made a beeline for them as soon as they entered the room.

Katy pre-empted the pathologist’s lecture. “Please, don’t make a fuss. I’m all right. I’ve been checked over, and the doctor gave me the go-ahead to carry on working.”

Patti’s eyes narrowed, and she reached out to touch the large lump that had emerged on Katy’s forehead. “Why don’t I believe you? Charlie, tell me the truth or I’ll get on the phone to your mother…”

Katy tutted. “Don’t use emotional blackmail on her. Don’t you have any respect, woman? I’m fine. I’ve got a slight bump, so what? I’ve also got a fucker of a villain to capture. You’d do exactly the same if you were in my position, and don’t try to ruddy well deny it, either.”

Patti inclined her head. “Wow, feisty bitch when you want to be, aren’t you?”

“I am. I’m no longer living in Lorne Simpkins’ shadow, so if you wouldn’t mind showing me the same respect you’ve shown her over the years, I’d appreciate it. Shall we get back to the dastardly crime now? Wait, before you give me a mouthful of abuse, have SOCO been dispatched to the roof over the road?”

“Yes, they’re there now. All right, I won’t bother laying into you, it’s your life after all. Just remember it’s not just your life at stake if something bad happens to you, you have AJ and Georgie to consider as well.”

“I’m aware of that, which is the main reason I wanted to get back to work. AJ has a big day ahead of him and…”

“You’re wrong, so wrong. But that’s my two pennies’ worth. It’s your life we’re discussing here, not mine.”

Katy circled her head, and her neck clicked several times. “Are you done now?”

“I am. Right, with the second victim being shot from the roof, we’re now presuming that Grace Hunt was targeted from the same area. The question is, why? Why kill two people working for the same firm?”

“Two important members of the firm at that,” Katy added.

Patti crossed her arms and placed a pointed finger against her cheek. “Are we thinking along the lines of revenge or possibly talking about someone with a grudge?”

“That’s at the top of my list, yes,” Katy admitted.

“Did the staff have anything to say after the first murder?”

“We were in the process of interviewing the last person when we were alerted to Colin’s death. None of the staff could think of anything other than a possible investor who had lost a million in the market crash. I suppose we should call on him, find out what he has to say about things. His name was Gordon something, wasn’t it?”

Charlie flipped through her notebook and nodded. “Gordon Brightman. I’ll see if Andrea can tell me anything else about him.”

Patti watched Charlie leave the room. “She’s good, I can tell. Not that there were any doubts, knowing who her mother is. I miss not having Lorne around but I think her daughter is a suitable stand-in, don’t you?”

“Sort of. She’s already read me the riot act today. If I’d shut my eyes, I swear it could have been Lorne giving me a tongue-lashing.”

“Ouch! That bad? And then you come here and I start on you. Not what you want when recovering from concussion, I take it?”

“Nope, you’ve got that right. No, in all seriousness, we need to pull out all the stops to track this shithead down, Patti, and not just because he walloped me one and left me with a sore head either. Two murders within hours of each other. Why? Who does a shitty thing like that?”

“And where did the weapon come from?”

“That’s the least of my worries. He would’ve had to have got it from underground resources. All we have to find out is where and how?”

“Good luck with that one. Maybe a member of your team can put the word out on the street to obtain a lead.”

“Yeah, a couple of them have good contacts on the streets, it’s worth seeing if they know anything. Other than that, we have nothing. The guy was wearing a mask when I confronted him, so even if we manage to pick him up on CCTV cameras, I reckon he’ll have worn the mask to have entered the area and not taken it off until he was well clear of here.”

“Nothing