Hunter Hunted by Jack Gatland (best value ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Ch Supt Bradbury had explained it stopped him. This was real. They genuinely believed that Kendis could have attacked Monroe.

Did she take Declan home with her to provide an alibi? Was this the reason she’d insisted so heavily on that pub?

No, he had to stop himself believing that this could even be remotely true.

‘Where did the report come from, sir?’ he asked, keeping his face void of emotion. Bradbury shrugged.

‘Your lad, the pretty one in the posh suit is looking into that,’ he replied. ‘But here’s the problem, Walsh. And I know that you’ve already worked it out.’

‘I’m not the right person to lead the team with Monroe out of action,’ Declan whispered. ‘First, I’m a Detective Inspector, while you need a higher rank. Second, I have a personal connection to one suspect. And third—‘

‘Third, your whole department is made up of cast offs and screw-ups,’ Bradbury stated. ‘Without Monroe to vouch for you, there’s a chance that Temple Inn, regardless of the outstanding work you’ve done so far, will be closed and the officers reassigned.’

Declan nodded, trying to stop the worry in his stomach from rising to his face. ‘Do we know who’ll be leading us, sir?’ he asked.

‘Jesus, Walsh, it’s seven am,’ Bradbury exclaimed. ‘We only just learned about the attack. We’ll decide today and the transferred DCI will make themselves known to you by tomorrow, I’m sure.’

‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,’ Declan replied woodenly. ‘And with your permission, until they do arrive, I’d like to continue our lines of enquiry.’

Bradbury nodded, already checking an iPad screen passed to him by an aide.

‘I worked with Monroe,’ Bradbury said. ‘Strong, obstinate bugger. If anyone can survive this, it’s him. And once that happens, then we can talk about the Unit’s future.’

Declan nodded as Bradbury, surrounded by his aides and assistants, walked away, most likely trying to work out how to spin this in the inevitable press conference. Declan looked over to Anjli and forced a smile, but there was no humour in it.

His mentor, his friend, had been critically injured in a baseless and cowardly attack by as yet persons unknown.

And Declan Walsh was going to find them.

2

Crime Scenes

Doctor Rosanna Marcos and PC Joanna Davey were hard at work when Declan arrived at the offices of the Temple Inn Crime Unit.

‘Feet!’ Doctor Marcos cried, throwing a small bag at Declan as he walked through the door. Opening it, he pulled out a pair of disposable shoe coverings. Placing them over his own brogues, he pulled out a pair of disposable latex gloves from a pack in his pocket, pulling them on as he continued into his workplace.

The offices were modern for the building that they were in; downstairs was a forensics lab with an examination table, but the upstairs area was very much an open plan situation, set in rows of desks; seven with an eighth desk loaded with printers. Three of the desks were where Declan, Anjli and Billy Fitzwarren would sit, while the other desks sat empty for the moment. There were three closed off glass offices on one end, each with solid walls dividing them; the first was Monroe’s office, currently being examined by PC Davey, moving around the desk with what looked like an old school magnifying glass in her hand while Billy examined the laptop on the desk, his blue latex gloves irritably tapping on keys, while the middle was a briefing room with a plasma screen on one wall, and the third was a single desk with two chairs either side of it, utilised mainly as an interview room, although most of the interviews had been performed at other locations. All the rooms had ceiling to floor blinds on the glass that could open or close when needed, most of which were pulled down for privacy. However, in the middle of the interview room’s glass frontage the blinds were broken, the damage most likely caused by the shattered hole in the middle of it.

The hole that Monroe’s head had most likely gone through.

Declan stared at the hole, at the blood that pooled around the bottom. What force was required to slam a human head through such glass?

‘Bastard,’ muttered Doctor Marcos, staring down at the broken glass next to Declan. ‘They just left him there.’

‘Can you go through what you’ve worked out yet?’ Declan asked. Doctor Marcos nodded, pointing to Monroe’s office.

‘Alex was working in there,’ she said. ‘Something’s happened to the laptop and Fitzwarren’s trying to fix it, but I don’t think that was anything to do with this. He was in his office when the bastard arrived.’

‘That’s the second time you’ve said that,’ Declan commented.

‘What, bastard? Because they were. A right royal one.’

‘No, that you say it singular. Bastard, not Bastards. You don’t think this was more than one person?’

Doctor Marcos shook her head. ‘Even from a cursory examination, I’m seeing one person, not two,’ she said. ‘And Alex would have been slow, still slightly drugged from earlier. Even Billy could have taken him.’

‘I heard that,’ Billy said, walking out of the office, Monroe’s laptop in his hand.

‘Oi!’ Doctor Marcos snapped, seeing this. ‘No moving things!’

‘Come on, this isn’t part of, well, this,’ Billy replied as he waved his hand around the office. ‘And I need to work on it separately. Use some specific tools.’

‘What’s the problem?’ Declan asked. Billy shrugged.

‘Don’t know yet, and I don’t want to restart it until I do,’ he looked down at the laptop. ‘Bloody thing’s frozen.’

Declan looked back to Doctor Marcos. ‘So one man enters?’

‘Guard claims he saw a man in an overcoat walk past late in the evening,’ Doctor Marcos replied, glancing at him. ‘Actually, he said that from the style of coat and the walk, he didn’t really look up because he thought it was you.’

Declan looked surprised at this.

‘I didn’t come back after Beachampton,’ he admitted. ‘I…’ he paused; only a momentary one, but enough to throw a stutter into his reply. ‘I went home.’

If Doctor Marcos picked up on