BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book by Rebecca Bradley (whitelam books .txt) 📗

Back at the door she pushed down on the handle. ‘No putting this off any longer. The quicker we go in here the quicker we get out again. I’m not expecting anything. I imagine it’s going to be the same as the rest of the house. Especially as CSU have paid particular attention in here.’

The garage was cooler as they entered. It hadn’t changed from this morning. Claudia clenched her jaw. This was a crime scene, she told herself, walk through it like you would any other. You’re a professional, act like one.

Dominic walked in behind her and the door clicked shut as Kane brought up the rear. The sound was loud in the dusty, cold, grey, concrete space.

Claudia swallowed. Tension running through her. The hairs on the top of her arms prickled. The blood pooled in front of them where she had last seen it. It would be cleaned up later. All CSU had needed was a swab of the blood to test it.

Dominic was standing stiff at the side of her, staring forward at the dark red puddle between the walls.

Claudia laid a hand on his arm. ‘Are you okay?’ Her voice was soft. Quiet.

He didn’t move.

She waited him out. Let him get his bearings. Like she had earlier that morning. She’d needed time to bring her head back around, she would give him a minute. She took her hand away and stepped back a little. Kane stepped close to her.

‘What about you?’ he asked.

She nodded. Mute. Her emotions wavering. She had no idea what she was supposed to be feeling never mind what she was actually feeling. No amount of training prepared you for this.

‘All this . . .’ said Dominic. ‘They’re saying all this might be Ruth’s?’

‘Like you said,’ Claudia responded from behind him. ‘They don’t know yet. It might not be.’

‘How could I not know it was here in my house?’

It was a good question but one she had already answered in her own head. How many people entered their garages every single day? Even if it was attached to the house via an internal door. If there was no reason to go inside, you just didn’t.

‘You tell me,’ she said instead. It was her job to get the answers from him, not make them up for him.

He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I don’t . . . I didn’t . . .’ He turned to her. ‘Claudia?’

She couldn’t do anything to take the pain away.

‘I didn’t do this.’

He’d been saying this all morning. It’s what Sharpe wanted her to find out.

Dominic took a step forward and then another. He was searching the garage space with his eyes. The CSU hadn’t taken much. The boxes that had been there before this were still present. The usual crap that was stored in garages remained. But this was where it had happened.

Claudia watched him. Kane watched them both.

‘I see something.’ Dominic turned back to them.

‘What is it?’ Kane spoke up.

Dominic pointed forward with both arms. The finger of his right hand directing their gaze. Down and forward of the pool of blood.

‘I don’t see what you’re looking at,’ said Kane. ‘This place is full of crap.’ He looked from the garage floor to Dominic. ‘Sorry, mate. You know what I mean. All garages look like this.’

Dominic shook the remark off. ‘Over there. In front of the garage door, but pushed half under it, you could miss it if you weren’t paying attention. What is it?’

Claudia stepped forward, straining her eyes. Whatever Dominic was looking at was black in colour which was why it was not standing out in the shadow of the door. She gingerly stepped around the blood. Dominic stayed where he was knowing this was not his time to move. Kane stepped forward to monitor him while Claudia went to check out the item that was getting Dominic wound up.

‘You’re sure it doesn’t belong to you, or in here?’ she asked, trying to figure out what it was.

‘No. It might look like the garage is full of shit, but it’s my shit and I know what everything is and where it is. It’s tidy shit. Look at the plastic boxes on the walls. I put things away.’

Claudia looked at the boxes. She didn’t need to. She’d seen them. But just mentioning them created the need to look again. She really needed to concentrate, though, on the item on the floor, pushed half under the garage door, barely visible. It was no wonder the CSU missed it. Or maybe they believed it belonged in the garage and bore no relation to what they were investigating. After all, they hadn’t emptied the garage of its contents. They didn’t need to remove everything that lived in there naturally. If they believed it was a part of the room then they’d leave it.

She stepped closer and bent down. She could make it out now. A shiny black cylinder. She turned to Dominic again. ‘It’s definitely not yours? It could be Ruth’s?’ She had to be sure.

‘It’s not ours.’ He was adamant.

Claudia dragged a pair of gloves from her pocket and slipped her hands into them. ‘Do you have a bag, Russ?’

Russ handed her a plastic evidence bag.

She bent down and picked up the item Dominic had been pointing to and showed it to the two men. ‘Have you seen this before?’ This question was directed at Dominic.

‘No,’ he answered, his voice taking on urgency. ‘What colour is it, Claudia?’

It was a House of Maven lipstick. She turned it upside down and read the colour from the base, squinting to see the tiny writing. ‘It’s Velvet Berry.’ Her head spun and her mind tried to place where she had heard that before.

‘Oh God, no.’ Dominic was backing away from the