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

both wandered inside and Barnes shut the door behind them. 'Are you both heading to Harrington Labs this morning?'

'Yes, sir,' they answered at the same time.

'I want to know what you find right away. Hemmings is busting my balls on what new information we're withholding. Call me the minute you find anything.'

They nodded as they left his office and walked back to their desks. Minutes later, Sarah approached Ally clutching some files from Natalie Dixon's home computer.

'I think you should take a look at these.'

'What are they?' Ally enquired.

'These are the files found on Natalie Dixon's home computer. They are the patient files on who she gave this experimental drug to,' Sarah explained. 'Names, addresses, the lot.'

'Thank you, Sarah.'

Ally flicked through each case file, coming across names of people they already had in custody, but also others who'd had the drug.

'Jacob, come and have a look at this,' she said. Jacob approached and leant over her shoulder to take a look at the file in her hand. 'Recognise this lady?' she asked.

'Is that Charlotte Roberts?'

'Yes. These are the people Natalie signed up for trials of the drug.'

'But why is Charlotte on that list? And why is Jack Roberts showing sign of taking the drug if it was his wife taking them?' Jacob started raising questions.

'Maybe she wasn't taking them. Maybe she was dosing Jack with them for some reason.'

'Did she sign up for the experimental drug, not for her but her husband?'

'She was having an affair, maybe she wanted to poison him?'

'I'm looking at the missing people reports of Harrington Labs employees. They date back longer than we initially thought,' he informed her.

'How long?'

'So far, about forty years.'

'Shit,' she replied shocked.

Jacob returned to his desk. Scrolling through the missing people reports on the computer, he came across a familiar surname. Blackwood. Lily was right. Her mum did work for Harrington Labs and she is missing. Cassandra Blackwood had been missing since the year 2000. The last place she'd been seen was at work. There was a photo on the case file, showing Jacob her mother's appearance. She looks just like her mother, he thought. Jacob stood up, walked over to Ally and informed her of his findings.

'Lily was right,' he said.

'What?' she replied, confused about what he was saying.

'Her mother’s disappearance. She was right. Cassandra Blackwood's been missing since the early 2000's and the last place she was seen was Harrington Labs,' he shared his information.

'Christ!' she yelled slightly.

The pair of them waltzed into Barnes' office, catching him off guard and making him jump with fright.

'What do you two want?'

'You said to come to you if we had any new information,' Jacob said.

'What have you found?' he enquired.

'Sarah gave me some files they'd found on Natalie Dixon's computer, regarding her patients who she trialled the experimental drug on. One of these patients was Charlotte Roberts,' Ally informed him.

'Jack Roberts’ wife?'

'Yes.'

'But his test came back positive for the drug, didn't it?'

'Yes, sir,' she answered again. 'Our initial thought is, she was drugging her husband.'

'But why?'

'We don't know yet, sir.'

'I found something too,' Jacob piped up. 'Searching through the missing people cases in relation to Harrington Labs employees, I discovered Lily was telling the truth about her mother.'

'Explain?' Barnes asked.

'She worked there and it was the last place she was seen back in February 2000,' Jacob explained to Barnes.

'Okay, so you think your crazy, manipulative, psycho ex-fiancee was telling the truth?' he sarcastically replied. 'Did you somehow forget what that woman did to me, DS Wright?'

Barnes was raging with anger and Jacob knew this, not just by his remark, but because he called him by his police title. Ally bowed her head in silence, not wanting to say a word.

'No, sir, I haven't,' Jacob answered calmly. He turned his head to Ally and whispered, 'Can you give us a minute?' Ally left the two of them in the office alone. 'I think you seem to be forgetting something as well, sir.'

Barnes' face was red with fury. 'What do you think I'm forgetting?'

'I know everything. About S.T.O.R.M, the diamonds, the lot,' he announced.

'DS Wright, whatever your uncle has told you...'

Jacob interrupted, 'He hasn't told me anything, Sir. Don't forget, we're all detectives. The pieces have started to fit into the puzzle. I know you gave Dan the diamonds that night.'

'Accusations like that would have Anti-corruption on my arse and I could be dismissed as well as prosecuted,' Barnes started to worry.

'Which is why I haven't said anything. I know they are in a safe place and not in evidence.' Barnes started to relax, but still tense. 'I’m going to ask you again. How long have you been working for S.T.O.R.M?'

'I'm not. When we started to believe Elizabeth Blackwood was committing ritual killings, me and your father contacted Dan and told him everything we knew. The night of the raid, when we caught Ava, I saw the diamonds on the floor. I couldn't take the risk of anyone else picking them up, so I took them and gave them to Dan to keep them locked away,' Barnes confessed. 'If anyone finds out, I'll be sacked. No one will believe the real story.'

'But won't they need it for the investigation?'

'There are only two people that know about the diamonds and they’re the two people in this room.'

'They called out to me, you know.' Jacob said, making Barnes stare at him confused. 'The diamonds. I heard whispers coming from them.'

'What did they say?'

'I couldn't hear them. Do you think our four suspects are telling the truth about their alter-egos?'

'I think they're crackpots who want a lighter sentence by pleading insanity. There's too much evidence to prove their condition was brought on by