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

‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Paddy replied.

Donovan straightened. If anyone was accompanying her, it would be him.

‘Cheers, Paddy, that would be great,’ Amy said, avoiding Donovan’s gaze. ‘Steve, you can prepare an arrest package. I’m meeting our witness in Colchester so expect to hear back within the hour.’

‘Has this witness got a name?’ Steve glanced at them both. He was most likely wondering why Donovan hadn’t asked the question, but Donovan had a feeling there was more to this than Amy was letting on.

‘All will be revealed in time.’ Amy glanced at Donovan, signalling towards the door.

‘What’s going on?’ he said in a harsh whisper. ‘Why haven’t I been told about this?’

Amy’s eyes flicked over his shoulder as she watched her team. ‘Do you trust me, guv?’ she said, still watching them.

Guv? Donovan thought, stung by her repetition of the term. It seemed she hadn’t forgiven him yet. He looked into her eyes. She was sharp and focused, her mind on the job ahead. ‘Of course I trust you,’ he said, despite his internal alarm bells. ‘But . . .’

‘Then please, watch the team and don’t let them out of your sight until I come back.’ She leaned into him, raising her finger to drive her point home. ‘Even if they come up with a good excuse. Don’t let them go.’

‘Winter,’ he said. ‘What’s going on?’

‘There’s nothing to worry about, I promise. Please. Watch the team.’ Another glance over his shoulder. ‘I won’t be long.’

‘I’m driving,’ she said to Paddy, who slapped a fresh battery into his police radio. Donovan cast a wary eye over his team. Something was going down. Wherever Amy was going, it wasn’t to see some mysterious witness who had appeared from thin air.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

‘I thought we were meeting a witness?’ Paddy watched Amy negotiate the unmarked police car towards Holland-on-Sea.

‘There is no witness.’ Amy checked her watch. She inched her foot on to the accelerator, turning left at the roundabout that took them on to the marsh road. Her palms were damp with sweat. She took no joy from excluding Donovan but she’d had little choice.

‘Then for the love of Mary Magdalene, where are you taking me?’ Paddy protested.

‘Let’s just say we’re following a hunch.’ Her pulse was racing now, all her instincts telling her she was on the right track. She didn’t need a witness to tell her who Carla’s killer was. She had figured it out by herself. She could have sat on the information, strengthened it with more evidence. But she did not have the luxury of time.

‘Slow down, will you!’ Paddy clutched the passenger seat as she took the twists in the road.

‘I’ve got to get ahead of them.’

‘Ahead of who?’

But Amy couldn’t tell him. Not until she knew for sure. It was the same reason she couldn’t tell Donovan. Because the second either of them knew, they would make her stop. There were procedures for this kind of thing. Paperwork to be completed. Briefings that would slow her down. Because she wasn’t after any suspect. She was hunting one of their own.

‘Just . . . bear with me.’ Amy killed the ignition after parking the car.

‘What are we doing here?’ Paddy asked, after five minutes of sitting in wait. ‘Because I don’t see what’s so great about Bernie’s Fresh Fish right now.’ He was reading the logo of the van she had strategically parked behind.

‘I can’t tell you, because if I’m wrong, I’m going to look stupid, and you’ll never let me hear the end of it. But if I’m right . . .’ Amy smiled. ‘Hunker down. He’ll see you.’

Mumbling under his breath, Paddy scooted down in his seat.

Amy sat, barely breathing. She had enough of a view to see oncoming traffic. Her mobile buzzed in her pocket. It was Donovan. She knew without looking. She silenced a point-to-point call on her police radio.

‘That might be important,’ Paddy said.

‘Then he’ll call you,’ Amy replied, as an oncoming car pulled up on the driveway across the road. ‘Bingo.’ She smiled again, her pulse quickening now. ‘Right on time.’

‘What’s Bicks doing here?’ Paddy squinted at the car now parked on the expansive driveway. ‘Is he helping you with a collar?’ He watched Bicks fumble with his house keys before letting himself inside. ‘Wait a minute . . . Is this his gaff? God almighty . . . how does he afford . . . .’ His face dropped as he met her gaze. ‘You don’t seriously think . . .’

‘I don’t think it, I know it,’ Amy said. ‘He’s got wind of our so-called witness and is doing a bunk. Yes!’ She punched the steering wheel, adrenalin coursing through her veins. She had him right where she wanted him. ‘C’mon,’ she said, climbing out of the car. ‘I don’t think he’ll give us too much trouble. He’ll deny it, at least for now.’

‘But you can’t nick one of your own without giving control the heads-up.’

Amy leaned over as Paddy remained rooted to his seat. ‘You think I want this? I couldn’t tell the others because I didn’t know how far this went. Bicks wiped the iPad we booked into property, so the tech team wouldn’t pick up what was on there. He’s been shredding statements and rewriting them before they get on to the system. He deleted Carla’s emails. This whole time, he’s been interfering with evidence.’ She glanced up at the house and back to Paddy. ‘How do you think he can afford that? I bumped into him in the corridor the other day. He actually said he was on his way to the shredder. That’s how cocky he’s been. He thinks he’s untouchable. He’s not.’ Carla must have had her suspicions he was involved.

Without saying another word, Paddy got out of the car. ‘Will I call for backup?’

‘We’ll update when he’s in cuffs. I can’t risk this getting out. He’s probably in there destroying evidence right now.’ Amy waited for a gap in traffic before crossing the road. ‘You take the front door. I’ll go out the back. Ask