Taste of Fury by M Comley (dark academia books to read txt) 📗

“To me…” Charlie sighed. “It looked like the driver was either a woman or a slight male. Hear me out, bearing in mind that we’re already on the hunt for a woman who we believe carried out the first murder.”

Katy drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “While I appreciate what you’re saying, partner, I prefer dealing with the facts, otherwise we could be guilty of going around in circles.”

“That’s what I thought, which is why I tentatively voiced my opinion. There’s another thing, the type of car seen on the footage.”

“The Mini?”

“Yes, at the prospect of sounding sexist, isn’t that car one of those more likely to be owned by a female? Or am I just reading things into it that simply aren’t there?”

“No, I don’t think so. It might be something worth considering, if there’s nothing else really coming to light. Okay, let’s go with that. When we get back to the station, why don’t you do a search for Mini owners within a twenty-mile radius and see what comes back?”

“You’re on. It’s not like we have anything else vying for our attention at present, is it?”

“Hey, don’t sound so despondent. It’s par for the course to get dips and lows during an investigation, you should be aware of that by now.”

“Yeah, I am. Just trying to do my bit to keep the momentum going. The last thing we need is things to turn stale at this early stage.”

Katy smiled. “You’re a good officer, Charlie.”

The rest of the day was spent discussing both cases and their similarities. It was enough for Katy to cautiously admit they should consider that the same person was responsible for both crimes. She cringed when she admitted that openly with the team.

“Is something wrong?” Charlie picked up on her disposition.

Katy tapped the whiteboard with the thick black marker a few times. “It’s just that if our assumption is correct, then we could be on the lookout for a female killer. That in itself, doesn’t sit well with me. Over the years, I’ve dealt with a few similar investigations, and I have to say, mostly, they turn out to be far more intelligent than their male counterparts. As much as I hate to heap praise on any type of criminals, if you get my drift?”

Graham shuffled in his chair. “I’m casting my mind back to Lorne’s days with us, and yes, I’m inclined to agree with you, boss.”

“Thanks for backing me up, Graham. Just because we think this person might have committed the two crimes, I still believe we should err on the side of caution, in case we’re wrong. How’s the research going, Charlie?”

Her partner rolled her eyes. “I’m kind of regretting my decision to take on the task. I’ve got a list of around a thousand to trawl through.”

“Bugger. Can you narrow it down? Maybe just search for female owners on the list?”

Charlie laughed. “I have.”

“In that case, double ouch. I’ve just had a thought.” Katy paused and ran a plausible scenario through her mind. “Anne Simmonds… Patrick, do me a favour and find out what type of car she drives, will you?” Katy glanced at Charlie who was shaking her head. “Something wrong?”

“I’m thinking back to when we met her at the house, the only vehicle I saw sitting on the drive was a Ford Ka, not a Mini.”

“Okay, that’s dashed my proposal. There’s still a possibility she might have borrowed someone’s car.”

“Maybe. I’ll check what her friend, Jenna Brown drives,” Charlie replied.

“Karen, what about the financial side of things? I appreciate it’s the weekend, but any luck there?”

“Not as such. I thought I’d try and find out if Jason Davis had a life insurance policy on the go, but I’m struggling, might have to leave that until Monday.”

“Fair enough. Okay, let’s go down a different route, perhaps run both victims’ names through the computer and see what that highlights.”

“On it now.” Karen turned in her seat and pounded on the keyboard.

Katy surveyed her team, all hard at it, and a sense of pride swelled in her chest. She was lucky to have such a diligent group of people surrounding her. There wasn’t a single person she wouldn’t trust with her life out in the field.

The searches continued until five when Katy decided it was time to call it a day. The team seemed both relieved and frustrated at the same time. Graham even volunteered to work late, but Katy turned down his request. “No, let’s all go home and get some rest and come back on Monday, refreshed, Graham. I’ll instruct the switchboard to contact me right away if anything suspicious arises. It’s been a long week for us already.”

Reluctantly, he agreed and said nothing further.

The team shut down their computers and left. Katy followed them out and locked the incident room, then she had a word with the desk sergeant on reception, told him not to hesitate to contact her should anything come to light over what was left of the weekend. She had her fingers crossed when she said it and hoped she wasn’t tempting fate by uttering the words.

6

Megan was sitting in her flat, flicking through the family photo albums of yesteryear. The year when her parents were still alive and their whole lives had been filled with an abundance of laughter and love. In the photos, Daniel had been a fully functioning child, running around the wild meadows, pretending to be an aeroplane and swooping low over their parents’ heads while their mother prepared the picnic. What a feast that had been. She salivated at the thought of all the scrumptious pastries, the mini quiches, sausage rolls and pork pies. Everything homemade apart from the pork pies. When her father asked her mother why she didn’t attempt to make them, her mother had laughed and announced life was too short to spend hours creating something that would be devoured within seconds. Marks and Spencer had done them proud there.