The Lost
- Автор: Бекетт Саймон
- Серия: Jonah Colley #1
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Orion/Trapeze
- ISBN: 978-1-398-70690-3
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «The Lost». Краткое содержание книги:
Ten years ago, the disappearance of firearms police officer Jonah Colley’s young son almost destroyed him.
A GRUESOME DISCOVERY
A plea for help from an old friend leads Jonah to Slaughter Quay, and the discovery of four bodies. Brutally attacked and left for dead, he is the only survivor.
A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH
Under suspicion himself, he uncovers a network of secrets and lies about the people he thought he knew — forcing him to question what really happened all those years ago...
It was hard to read the scarred face, but if Fletcher was pretending then he’d missed a promising career on the stage. Jonah felt encouraged and guilty at the same time.
The sound of the front door opening came from the hallway. A moment later Bennet came into the living room.
‘No sign of the attackers, but we found a knife in the gutter,’ she told Fletcher.
The DI nodded. Turning to Jonah, he cupped a hand behind an ear.
‘What’s that, Colley? Thank you for saving my life?’
‘I owe you one,’ Jonah said flatly. ‘So are you going to tell me what’s going on?’
The DI tapped his hands in an alternating rhythm on the chair arm. ‘We’ve come across CCTV footage from the night Corinne Daly disappeared,’ he said at last. ‘The street cameras immediately outside the flats had been deliberately knocked out, but she was picked up by an internal security camera in a shop as she walked past. We had to clean up the image, but it’s her. She was heading in the direction of her car just before eleven o’clock.’
That explained why he’d been released on bail. He felt anger as well as relief. ‘How long have you known?’
‘None of your business. It doesn’t prove you didn’t still go after her, so don’t get carried away,’ Fletcher said. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re still a suspect.’
Jonah didn’t bother to argue. It was no use, and he felt there was more to come. Radiating unhappiness, the DI scratched the angry skin of his neck.
‘We also found this on the same security camera, taken a couple of minutes later. You might as well show him, Bennet.’
Taking out her phone, the policewoman tapped a few keys, then held out the screen for him to see. It looked like an enlargement from a bigger image taken through a shop window, with vague shadows that could have been shelves in the foreground. Framed walking past on the street outside was a tall, gangly figure, frozen mid-step. The image was grainy and the face was obscured by a baseball cap, but both cap and jacket were familiar from the other CCTV photographs Jonah had seen, showing Owen Stokes outside Gavin’s flat, and later on the road where Marie lived.
Jonah’s anger was growing. ‘You knew Stokes had followed her? Jesus Christ, is that why you released me?’
‘You were released because new evidence came to light.’
‘Bullshit! You knew Stokes had been here, so you staked out the flats hoping he’d come back! You were using me as bait!’
‘Good job we did, otherwise you’d be bleeding out in a gutter by now.’ Fletcher’s chin came up pugnaciously. ‘We saw an opportunity to bring Stokes into custody so we took it. We just hadn’t planned on you and your little friends royally fucking things up. After tonight’s farce Stokes won’t show his face again within a mile of here.’
‘I didn’t fuck anything up, I didn’t know!’ Jonah realised he was shouting. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’
‘You don’t get it, do you?’ Fletcher snarled back. ‘We’re not on the same side, you’re not part of the team. You’re a suspect! You think we’re going to run it by you first?’
That stopped Jonah in his tracks. He looked from Fletcher to Bennet. She at least had the decency to look away.
‘Still? Even after this? You still think I might have killed Corinne Daly?’
‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re as dirty as McKinney until we prove otherwise.’
Giving Jonah a last glower, he stood up and headed for the door. As Bennet followed, Jonah felt his anger wither and sour. The DI’s words were close enough to the mark to strike home. Not in the way he’d intended, but Jonah’s conscience was far from clear right now.
‘Wait.’
The two detectives paused. Jonah found it hard to meet their eyes as he picked his words.
‘The past few days, I’ve been asking around. I heard... I heard Gavin was involved with a case that went bad. Five or six years ago, a police informer was killed. A Syrian woman.’
Fletcher looked at Bennet, then back at Jonah. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The young woman from the warehouse. Nadine.’ Jonah ploughed on. ‘There might be a connection.’
‘Might be a connection? With a dead informer from years ago?’ Fletcher’s stare was angry and penetrating. ‘You know something, don’t you?’
‘I just think you need to look into it, that’s all.’
‘Bollocks.’ Fletcher came back into the room, finger levelled at Jonah. ‘Whatever you’re holding back, now’s the time to tell me, Colley. Because I will find out, and when I do, I promise I will hang you out to dry.’
Jonah almost told him. The words were in his mouth, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to say them. Fletcher stared at him, then gave a nod.
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
He turned and went out. Bennet paused in the doorway to look back at Jonah. She shook her head.
‘You really are a glutton for punishment.’
When he’d heard the front door close behind them, Jonah sagged back into the sofa. Shit. He hadn’t wanted to compromise Eliana Salim but he’d had to say something. At least now they’d check back through Gavin’s records, and one look at Salim’s photograph would show the resemblance to her younger sister. They should be able to join the dots themselves from there.
He just hoped he’d done the right thing.
God, he hurt all over. Gingerly, he reached for his crutches. They were badly scuffed and one was slightly bent from the fight, but he was too tired to do anything about it. Too tired to do anything but take a hot shower and then go to bed.
He slept for eight straight hours, a record by his usual standards. When he woke he still felt sore and stiff, but not much more so than after a heavy training session. And his knee seemed none the worse for what had happened. The sun was shining through the flat window, and as he ate breakfast he felt his spirits lift. Things were starting to come together. Despite what Fletcher had said, the CCTV footage cleared him of Corinne Daly’s murder. Without that hanging over him he could start to dig deeper himself. Maybe follow the same trail she had to Daniel Kimani’s friends, and hear what they had to say himself.
He was still planning how to do that when his phone rang. It was Chrissie, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying. She was hysterical.
‘Slow down, I can’t understand you,’ he told her.
Then her words took shape, and all Jonah’s plans fell apart.
Chapter 30
Rosa had been busy on Instagram, enjoying the early-morning sun. Although it was half-term, the park was quiet this early in the day, except for the bickering of the twins. They were sweet kids most of the time, except for the squabbling. Usually she ignored it, unless it became too loud or threatened to spill over into actual violence. Which it sometimes did, and God forbid she should take them home with so much as a scratch. The last time that happened she’d been lucky to keep her job, and losing it would be even more of a pain in the ass than putting up with their stuck-up bitch mother. She needed the references as well as the money.
Although she sometimes wondered if it was worth it.
The noise level was rising enough to be a nuisance. Rosa looked up from her phone. ‘Harry, please leave your sister alone.’
The boy put on an expression of injured innocence. ‘I was only explaining the rules.’
‘Yes, but why do you get to make them?’ his sister protested.
‘Because that’s one of the rules.’
‘No, it isn’t! That’s not fair!’
Rosa sighed and lowered her phone. ‘No arguing, please.’
The boy considered. ‘Mum and Dad do.’