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

into work if you want. You can speak to whomever you want about the investigation.’ She needed to get him into the car.

‘I’ve brought my own car, Claudia, well, a hire car, bearing in mind you have mine. I don’t need you to take me into work. How do you think I followed you this morning?’

Of course he had.

‘Sit, finish your drink.’ He looked up at her. ‘What is it, Claudia?’

She was immobile.

‘Claudia?’

She had delivered so many death messages. But never one to her own family. How do you deliver one to someone you loved? ‘Dad . . .’

He stood, comprehension dawning. ‘No.’

How was it people knew before the words were uttered what the news was? He had to have been half-expecting it. ‘I’m so sorry, Dad.’

He shook his head. ‘Where?’

‘I don’t have the details. Sharpe has asked us to go in.’

‘She knows we’re together?’

‘She does.’

Dominic shuffled around the table to her side.

‘I’m sorry, Dad.’

He took her hand like a small child and they walked out of the coffee shop. Their drinks completely untouched.

Chapter 53

Claudia

Sharpe wasn’t in her office. The large room was empty.

‘I know where she’ll be if she’s not in here,’ Claudia said and led her dad back downstairs and outside.

‘She’s outside?’ Dominic queried.

Claudia quietly led him to the smoking shed where Sharpe was puffing away on a cig. In the far corner desperately trying to be unseen by her was a uniformed cop. As soon as Claudia and her dad turned up he paled even more, stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and left.

‘Oh, Dom, I’m so sorry.’ Sharpe flicked ash off her cig as she spoke to him. Her eyes holding genuine sympathy.

‘Thank you.’

Sharpe took two steps forward and placed her arms around Dominic. Claudia stared at her, shocked by the public show of empathy that her boss was exhibiting.

Dominic was stiff in her arms. She held the hug for a couple of seconds, cigarette smoke winding its way up from her fingers, then stepped away.

‘What can you tell us?’ asked Claudia getting straight down to business.

Sharpe looked grateful to be heading back into familiar territory. ‘At first look it seems to be the Sheffield Strangler. We’ll know more after the PM but first impressions are pretty strong, so I’m told.’

‘And my dad?’

Sharpe inhaled on her cigarette and waited a beat as it hit her lungs. Then she looked at Dominic. ‘Pending the results of the PM, your bail will be cancelled and we’ll be focusing on catching the Strangler.’

Claudia gave Dominic a weak smile. It wasn’t worth much. They would both much rather have Ruth back than any resolution to Dominic’s predicament. But as it stood it was good to know he was in the clear.

‘As I’m no longer a suspect, what can you tell me about the investigation?’ Dominic asked.

Claudia wished he would break down and go home. Grieve for his wife, but she also kind of understood his need to have something to focus on after the last couple of days. It had been traumatic for him being arrested for her murder when he’d been innocent all along. Only to find she’d been killed by the Strangler when he’d been saying that during the entire time he’d been in custody. Could they have done anything differently? Could they have found her before she died? Claudia didn’t think so.

It was then she remembered the folded piece of paper she’d shoved in her bag. She hadn’t shown it to her father. She heard Sharpe updating him on what actions the team who were investigating Ruth’s murder — it was no longer Claudia’s team now she’d been found — were taking, as she rummaged through the glut of rubbish she had in her handbag.

Then she found it and produced it with a bit of a flurry. ‘Dad, I haven’t shown you this.’ She waved it in front of him. Still folded.

His brow wrinkled. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s the photofit of the man the witness your team identified managed to create.’

He snatched the paper out of her hands. ‘What results have you had from it?’

Claudia frowned. ‘Not much I’m afraid. We had some calls but we seem to have knocked the majority of them out. I think there are still a few to follow up on.’

Dominic opened the paper up and stared down at it. A slight breeze blew through them and rippled the paper in his hands. Dominic’s eyes narrowed.

‘Dad?’

‘I know this man.’ He sounded confused.

Sharpe stepped closer. ‘You do?’

‘Yeah. I can’t place him, but I know him.’ He squinted at the image. ‘Why do I know him?’

‘Someone you’ve already talked to in the investigation?’ Sharpe offered. ‘A witness?’ She threw down her cigarette and placed her pointed toe on the stub crushing it out. Again disregarding the bins at the side of the shed.

Dominic shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so.’ He rubbed a hand along his jawline. ‘It’s certainly not Alex Chapman who I had a thing for.’ He looked up at Claudia. ‘What did this witness see?’

She was shocked that her dad recognised the image. If she’d only shown it to him earlier they may have been able to make a move and find Ruth.

‘Claudia.’ Dominic gave her a nudge.

‘Sorry.’ She shook herself. ‘The witness said this guy was holding the woman up and herding her along the road. He had control of her.’

‘So drugs were involved?’

‘Looks that way, but probably ones that leave the system pretty quickly because, as you’re aware, there were never any drugs found during post-mortems.’

Dominic looked down at the image again. ‘Where do I know you from?’ His voice was quiet.

Sharpe looked to Claudia then inclined her head towards the building. They