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

Her stomach twisted and her legs started to shake as they held her upright. This had been a stupid move. She would not let him take her. Had he brought her here so he could have two cops and not just the one?

Had she really been that stupid?

He saw her eyes find the knife. ‘It’s insurance. I’m not here to hurt you, but I’m not here to be taken in, you understand.’ His eyes flicked around the grounds. Happy they were still alone, he focused back on Claudia.

‘I thought you weren’t coming.’ It was all she could do to make her voice level and calm when inside she was shaking and struggling to hold it together.

‘I had to make sure you followed instructions and didn’t bring anyone with you. I’m glad to see you listened to me.’

It hadn’t been on purpose. How angry she was with herself. ‘How do I know you’re really him?’ She had little doubt but it needed clarifying.

‘Because you haven’t released the significant part of my MO to the public. I leave a very specific lipstick at the scene.’

A shiver travelled down her spine. Her already unstable legs made even more unusable. She was standing in front of the Sheffield Strangler. She could hear the rumble of traffic on the road in the distance and it reminded her how fragile she was here right now.

She shoved her hands into her pockets, gripped the CS cannister, inhaled, tried to get a tight hold of herself. She was a cop not some innocent woman who hadn’t known what was coming. She wouldn’t be easy to take.

But neither, she imagined, had Ruth been.

The blade on the knife looked lethal. Long, sleek, sharp. ‘Why did you want to see me?’

‘I don’t like being blamed for work I haven’t done. I haven’t taken your cop. You need to look elsewhere.’ He sounded serious. This was not something he wanted laying at his door.

‘But there are signs it is you, how can you prove it’s not?’ She wanted answers and he was here, prepared to give her them. The shaking in her legs started to quiet down. It was a unique opportunity even if she was unable to take him in on her own. She certainly had no intention of getting into a knife fight with him when no one knew she was here. Again she kicked herself for how wrong this had gone. All she could do was make the most of the situation in front of her.

‘Your cop is married to the officer hunting me, is she not?’

‘You know she is.’

‘Then I also know she has no children.’

Claudia frowned. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ The interview with Dominic came back to her, the profile for the Sheffield Strangler. The women had children.

‘I’m doing it for the children. So they don’t suffer like I did.’

‘CLAUDIA!’ There was a sudden shout from the distance. Panic and fear in the sound.

Claudia turned to look. Someone was running towards her. Too far away to make out who it was. She hadn’t told anyone about the meeting. Someone could have been in her drawer and found the letter . . .

The knife suddenly shot out towards her. ‘You said you came alone!’

Claudia’s hands flew out of her pockets in submission, raised to her shoulders, the cannister gripped in her hand, the lid popped and ready to emit its violent spray. ‘I did. I don’t know how he’s here. I didn’t bring him, you have to believe me.’ This couldn’t be happening. She nearly had answers. It was falling apart. How could she stop this? She’d wanted support but now she wanted answers about Ruth.

He took a step toward her, the blade of the knife twisting in his hand as it edged closer.

Claudia automatically took a step back. ‘Tell me how I can know you don’t have her!’ She had to salvage something from this meeting.

The man was nearly on them, his footsteps echoing loud on the compact ground in the quiet space. His shouts of ‘Claudia’ ringing out around them.

The man in the mask turned away, ready to run.

‘Tell me!’ Claudia begged, desperation tearing at the edges of her voice.

He turned back to her briefly. ‘Ruth doesn’t have children. Haven’t you noticed that all the victims have had one or more children? There’s a reason for that and if there’s ever a day that you catch me you may very well find out what that reason is. But for now, you have to trust that I wouldn’t kill unless the woman had a child.’ And with that he was running in the opposite direction to the man who had appeared.

Then he was there on top of her. He grabbed Claudia by her arms. Gripped her tightly, fingers squeezing and digging into flesh. ‘Claudia, what the hell!’

She rounded on him, all fear gone the way of the man she had been talking with. It had been replaced with fury. Red-hot rage. ‘Dad, what the fuck? What are you doing here? You just blew it. He’s gone. He was talking to me and now he’s gone.’ She screamed at him, frustration driving her forward. She pulled her arms out of his grasp. He had no claim on her. And why was he so panicked about her doing her job?

Dominic stepped back. ‘You were talking to . . .’ He paused. Searched for a word. ‘A maniac.’ Then he went with it. ‘It wasn’t safe, Claudia. It’s a good job I followed you from the nick. You could’ve been the next person he took and I don’t think I could’ve lived with that. I’ve already lost Ruth to him; I couldn’t lose you as well.’

‘You followed me?’ She was furious. Blood pounded in her head. He was playing on her emotions, but it wasn’t