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

some sick reason. Maybe I was getting too close. Think back to the witness we’re talking to who saw the man lurking near the scene. If we ID that guy we might have him.’

Claudia stared down at him.

‘If he wants to send a message, she might still be alive. He might want to talk. We have to do something, Claudia. Being locked inside this tiny room is doing no good. It’s not doing Ruth any favours. I need to be where he can contact me. It’s me he’s playing a game with.’

Chapter 32

Dominic

 

Five months ago

Kapoor was focused. ‘Tell me what it said again. I want to make sure I have it straight in my head.’

With his head bent Dominic read it for the office again. ‘DS Harrison, please don’t worry that you are failing the families as the press are making out. You are not. It’s just that I’m too good for you. And if you fear this is a hoax, I left the women with a little red kiss.’

‘He’s directed it to you personally,’ Kapoor noted.

‘Why would he do that?’ Dominic straightened up in his chair. ‘What did I do to draw his attention?’

‘Maybe it was because you took the questions after the Butlers gave the press the link between the murders. It was either going to be me or you as we were the ones out there with the media. Is it hand-delivered or has it gone through the postal system?’

The envelope was face down so he couldn’t tell. Dominic shrugged. ‘I can’t see, boss.’ He picked up a pen and flicked the envelope over.

Kapoor tutted.

‘It was posted. Postmark is Sheffield so I’m not sure if it’s going to help us any.’

‘We’re not going to get DNA from the stamp, but we may well get some from the envelope. Stamps are self-adhesive, but not all envelopes are.’ Kapoor rubbed his chin. ‘He’s gloating. He thinks he’s well ahead of us and he wants us to know he’s out there.’

‘Not that we could forget that.’ Rhys shook his head.

‘Quite.’

The door to the incident room opened and Catherine, a CSI, walked in with a black bag in her hand. ‘I heard you have something for me?’

‘Hi Catherine.’ Dominic waved her over to his desk. ‘It’s over here. A letter from the killer.’

‘It’s real?’ she asked.

‘Seems to be. He knows details we haven’t released.’

‘Ooh, he’s brazen.’ She snapped on her blue gloves and opened up her bag. ‘Who’s touched the paper? Including the envelope.’

‘I’m the only one who’s touched the inside letter, but the envelope, I can’t say for sure. Me, and Dawn from the front counter brought it in. You’ll have to check with her if anyone else had contact with it out there. Then you’ve got a whole host of people on its journey through the postal system.’

Catherine snorted through her nose. ‘That’s not very helpful, but hopefully we’ll get a print off the contents inside. Can you wheel yourself away from the desk very slowly so I can get in and work, please?’

Dominic placed his feet against the floor and pushed away from his desk, one of the wheels on his chair squeaking as he wheeled away. Catherine moved in closer and started to work.

She took a camera from her bag and began by taking photographs of the paper and the desk it was sitting on. Once she was sure she had an image from every angle she grabbed some tweezers from her bag and selected a couple of paper bags to store the items in. This was to prevent the paper from sweating in a plastic bag which would degrade potential fingerprints. Then she gently picked up the letter and the envelope and placed them in their own evidence bags.

‘I’m going to check your desk for trace particles that may have dropped out of the envelope when you opened it.’ She let them know what she was doing as she worked.

‘What do we think he wants from this letter?’ Kapoor asked of the room.

‘A response,’ said Paul.

‘And how are we going to respond?’ asked Dominic.

Hayley pursed her lips. ‘Through the press is the only way I can think of.’

Kapoor considered this. ‘What do you suggest we respond with?’

‘Do we respond at all?’ Dominic asked, countering his initial query.

‘That’s a valid question.’ Kapoor was concerned. ‘What’s his end game? What’s he want from this dialogue? Why does he think he’s going to get it from Dom? All questions we need to consider before we even contemplate engaging in any kind of interaction with him.’ He checked with his team. ‘And do we believe it’s him?’

‘I’d suggest it is, with the mention of the lipstick,’ said Dominic. ‘It’s a detail we haven’t released to the press and yet he knows about it.’

Kapoor blew a breath out. ‘The only way we can talk to him is through press releases. Anything we say, now we know he’s watching and listening, has to be agreed at a higher level. I’m running this up the flagpole to Connelly. He has to sign-off on any release we put out.’

‘Do we think Dom is safe?’ asked Hayley.

Kapoor furrowed his brow. ‘What do you think, Dom? Do you sense any threat? I don’t pick up any aggression, it feels more like a gloat to me. But if you see it differently then speak up.’

Dominic shook his head. ‘No. No, it’s fine. I don’t feel threatened at all. I think he wanted to let us know he’s watching us and couldn’t help but tell us he was there.’

Catherine stood up and backed away from Dominic’s desk. ‘All done. I’ll let you have the results as soon as I’ve processed these. With any luck we might get a fingerprint on the paper.’ She looked at Kapoor. ‘I’m presuming