Within the Shadows by J.D MCG (book recommendations .TXT) 📗

after 8.30 am, bringing him out of his daydream and back to reality.

'Morning, Joe. I have the results on the post mortem of Natalie Dixon and her parents. My initial thoughts were correct with Natalie's death. She was strangled but that's not what killed her. It was the blunt force trauma. But her parents were killed by a poison injected into their bloodstream through a needle in their neck. They died twelve hours later as the symptoms began to take effect.'

'Wow, that's a lot of information to take in this early in the morning,' he joked.

'This is no time to joke, Joe,' she snapped.

'I'm sorry, Julia.'

'We might be looking at a major incident if you don't find their killer.'

'What do you mean?'

'I think whoever they are, they're planning something big. Those women who were locked away, I believe they were guinea pigs for an experiment. I think the suspect is going to advance the poison. I've contacted the specialists in the public health sector as well as...'

Barnes cut her off, 'What's going on, Julia?'

'I think we've got a terrorist incident on our hands,' she announced, shocking Barnes to his core.

'Thanks, Julia,' Barnes said before putting the phone down.

He sat in his chair momentarily, just for a few seconds before he got on the phone to his senior officer to inform them of the situation. Another half-hour passed when Jacob entered the office, with Ally tailing behind him. As they sat down at their desks, Barnes exited his darkened office and marched towards them with haste.

'Everyone in the briefing room in an hour,' he shouted for everyone to hear. 'Contact Sarah and Brian, I want them here for this too,' he asked Ally and Jacob before heading back into his office.

'I'll call them,' Ally said, picking the phone up off her desk.

'What do you think that's about?' Ethan asked from the other side of Jacob's desk.

'I have no idea,' Jacob replied. 'He might have discovered something.'

Ally put the phone down and zoned in on their conversation.

'Sarah said she'll call Brian. Any ideas on what Barnes is going to say?' she asked them both.

'Not really, but it sounded important,' Jacob answered.

It was 9.13 am when Sarah and Brian burst through the doors, rushing in as if they were late.

'What have we missed? What's the big news?' Sarah questioned them, gasping for breath.

'We don't know yet, the briefing’s at ten,' Ally informed her.

'Good, I'm glad we're not late,' she sighed with relief as she turned and walked to her desk.

Barnes called the briefing at 10 am, and everyone flooded into the room and took a seat around the table. Barnes stood at the top of the table with the investigation boards behind him.

'I don't really know how to start this meeting,' he started. 'This morning I had a call from Julia Higgins who worked through the night doing the post mortem on our victims. Her theory for Natalie Dixon's death is correct, but her parents were murdered by someone else. They were poisoned by an unknown substance, which killed them within a twelve-hour time scale. Julia seems to think whoever is in control of this substance is modifying it to spread at a quicker rate. This is now labelled as a major terrorist threat. From the information we've collected, we think our suspect is going by the alias Esther. She might possibly be suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder like our other suspects. I don't want anybody to tell family or friends or the public. We need to keep this under wraps for now. Please be careful out there and if anyone has any questions, please come and see me in my office.'

The crowd dispersed, leaving the team of five sitting in their seats. Barnes remained standing at the front of the room.

'A terrorist incident?' Ally said, unsure of what she had just heard.

'That's what I said, DI Miller.'

'I can't believe it, sir,' Jacob spoke up.

'Jacob, Ally, I need you both to get as much information out of Mr Roberts as you can. Sarah and Brian, you two need to ask Felicity James if she or her alter-ego know anything more,' he barked his orders.

'Yes, boss,' Sarah agreed, before dragging Brian out of the briefing room.

'We need to find this woman before this situation gets any worse,' Barnes said, scared and frightened.

Chapter 20

'Mr Roberts, we need to know who the fourth horseman is?' Ally asked.

'My name isn’t Mr Roberts and I don't know anything other than her name is Esther.'

'Is Esther her real name or her alias?'

'What do you think?' he smirked.

'We've got no time for your games!' Jacob shouted and banged his fist on the table.

'DS Wright, you guys are barking up the wrong tree. I don't work with other people. If you're looking for her accomplice, you should be looking into my sister.'

'We've already got detectives interviewing her as we speak. We want to know if you have any relevant information that could help us locate her,' Ally interrupted.

'I don't, sorry,' he replied with a smirk across his face.

'We know you killed Natalie Dixon.' Jack continued to smile at Ally. 'We have CCTV evidence of you leaving the van in which we found Natalie's body. What we don't understand is, why are Natalie's parents dead? And on the same night? But killed differently?'

Jack placed his elbows on the table again and leant forward. 'And you think I killed them?'

'No. Your M.O is totally different. This killer was more cunning and planned. Your murders are messy and unskillful,' she replied, trying her best to aggravate him. 'We also think whoever killed the parents was working with Felicity... Sorry, I mean Ruth. Isn't that what you horsemen call her?'

Jack sat back in his chair, continuing to smile, angering both Ally