Flesh and Blood (A DI Amy Winter Thriller) by Caroline Mitchell (best love novels of all time .TXT) 📗

to protect others, and therein Amy’s sympathies lay. She had been a force for good. But as a police detective, should Amy allow her personal feelings to get in the way? She had worked through the information robotically, determined to find a swift outcome so they could return to Notting Hill. But this wasn’t a popularity contest. It was the gnawing, lingering suspicion that each of these men – these victims – were like her biological father: the devil in disguise. She dismissed the thought, pushing open the heavy glass door to the outside yard. It was mercifully quiet, which was a blessing in itself.

‘What’s on your mind?’ she said to Molly, as soon as they were out of earshot. Many of the offices above had their windows open due to the warm weather and Amy was mindful of her audience.

‘I interviewed Martin O Toole’s sister, Julie. He had an iPad. It wasn’t seized by police because she kept it for herself.’

‘Naughty Julie,’ Amy said. ‘Have you called a local unit to seize it?’

‘I’ve done one better.’ Molly grinned. ‘I seized it myself. She had it in her bag.’

‘Good.’ Knowing Molly, she would not wait for the tech team to examine it. ‘Find anything interesting?’

‘A link. I found a link.’ Molly’s smile widened. ‘Martin spent a lot of time on Streamsite. Hours every day.’

‘What’s Streamsite?’ Amy had never heard of it.

‘It’s a site where people can both upload and download pirated content, such as books, movies and video games. The problem is that when people download stuff like this, they download malware too. The criminals who use it get paid by malware companies to allow them to attach viruses so they can hack the user’s computer.’

Amy could never understand why people used piracy sites when they could get content for free at their local library. And it wasn’t as if books or streaming such as Netflix were very expensive these days.

Amy moved them both out of the way as a police car reversed out. ‘What’s Martin watching some illegal movies got to do with his murder?’ She was aware of the criminal element attached to such sites, but the killer was hardly going to follow him to a seaside resort and murder him for going online.

‘The link,’ Molly said. ‘I got the tech team to email me the results of Chesney’s computer interrogation. He spent hours online accessing Streamsite too. It’s not a well-known site, so it’s more than a coincidence that they were both using it. I bet our third victim has been on there too.’

‘OK, well, that’s something worth looking into. I’ll need more data. If they had logins, for example, or if there’s any other sites they have in common. Maybe they’re part of an online group of people who recommended the site, like a WhatsApp group. Book the iPad into the property system for now and arrange for the tech team to interrogate.’

‘There’s something else.’ Molly gave her a furtive glance.

Amy knew there had to be. Her earlier information was nothing she couldn’t have shared with the team.

‘I went for a wander last night, and I . . .’ She took a deep breath. ‘I got speaking to some teenagers near the pier. I think they’re the same ones Carla spoke to before she died.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Molly had done good, obtaining Martin O Toole’s iPad. At least they had something concrete to interrogate. If her gut feeling was anything to go by, they would find more than Candy Crush on his hard drive. Winter had praised her for ‘outside-the-box thinking’ after Molly embellished how she had got her hands on it. She wasn’t Steve. She didn’t enjoy blowing her trumpet or drawing too much attention to herself. But it was dog eat dog now, and she needed to retain her place on the team.

Her father had given her a tip-off that they were looking at diversity targets for the team. As a senior officer, he was privy to all sorts of things. Amy’s high-priority crime unit had gained a high profile since their last big case. Each one of them was an ambassador for the Met Police. One wrong move and any one of them could be transferred to another team. Her dad had told her to be careful, because staff were constantly under review, and they had received an influx of submissions from officers wanting to join. Which was why Molly had to be careful not to reveal too much of herself. She couldn’t risk sharing her personal secret – not when she could be replaced so easily. But staying quiet about last night’s outing could backfire on her. Now that was one secret she had to share.

Molly wished Winter would at least crack a smile, but she seemed cast in stone as she waited for her to reveal what she had been up to the night before. She inhaled a deep breath, hoping what she was about to say wouldn’t get her into trouble.

‘I didn’t set out to meet anyone. It kind of happened.’ A SERCO lorry parked in the custody bay, picking up prisoners from the night before.

‘Right,’ Winter said. ‘And I take it you went off on your own?’

‘It’s no big deal,’ Molly reasoned. ‘I just went for a walk on the beach.’ Heat rose to her cheeks as Winter stared her down. ‘I got chatting to a gang of teenagers hanging round under the pier.’

Amy continued to stare, unblinking, and a chill crept up the curve of Molly’s back. For a second it seemed that she wasn’t breathing. Then at last, she took a breath.

‘What time of the night was this?’ Winter’s words were short and clipped.

‘After work,’ Molly replied, feeling her boss’s disapproval burn.

‘Why didn’t you mention this in the briefing?’

‘Because I wanted the chance to bring it to your attention first.’ Since she had come to work this morning, Molly had been run off her feet.

‘If you purposely went undercover then we have a problem.’

That’s a bit hypocritical,