Condemned, R.C. Bridgestock [most romantic novels TXT] 📗

‘What’s also interesting was that the Hayfields told us that Mr Knowles had given them a copy of the Alderman family tree. The one he had used to trace Dinah,’ said Mike.

As he passed the paperwork to Charley, the door flew open and in walked Ricky-Lee. The smell of his aftershave preceded him. His smile was as wide as the Cheshire Cat’s.

‘Where the hell have you been till this time?’ called Mike. ‘The tea will be cold.’

‘Always complaining,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘I’ve bought you cream cakes, haven’t I?’ The detective walked towards the kitchenette and Annie stood up and followed.

‘They’re called buns round ’ere, cream buns,’ she said. Ricky-Lee’s shiny shoes squeaked on the lino floor when he turned suddenly to hand her the carrier bag. ‘Hey, isn’t this the same shop you get the bacon sarnies from, and those sandwiches?’ she said, ripping open the cake boxes. ‘Couldn’t you have got them any nearer?’

‘What’s your problem?’ Ricky-Lee said, handing her plates from the cupboard above the sink, ‘and, for your information they’re called bacon butties round ’ere.’

Annie shook her head, but her expression was questioning. ‘Whatever,’ she said looking up at him, but he was smiling warmly at her.

‘What?’ he said, with a glint in his eye. ‘I buy you cream cakes, and you’re moaning about where I’ve got them from?’

‘Seems to me like you’re visiting that place a lot lately, that’s all…’

‘A right little Ms Christie, aren’t we? How about you shut your cake ’ole, as they say round ’ere, and enjoy?’ Swiftly he carried the plates into the CID office.

Wilkie’s eyes grew wide when he saw the size of the cream buns, and realised there was one for him. The room fell silent as they ate and considered the new information that Mike had given them.

Charley licked her cream-covered fingers, ‘It feels good to be making some progress after what feels like such a long, hard, struggle,’ she said.

She looked around her. The office was a monument to paperwork. Charley sighed in relief. ‘The murder of Faisal is our focus, but I wonder what part, if any, Raglan played in it, or is he just driven by making money?’

Chapter 30

‘Lily Pritchard has got to know more than she’s telling,’ said Annie, through a mouthful of sandwich that Ricky-Lee had insisted on fetching, despite Tattie’s arguments. The morning sandwich run was her escape to the shops on work’s time. ‘Well, they did close the canteens down,’ she said on a regular basis, ‘besides, if everyone took time out to go for their sandwiches, then everyone would be out of the office for an hour, and work would soon grind to a halt.’

‘I agree, but how are we going to get her to open up to us?’ said Charley.

Annie signed deeply. ‘Mmm… That is the question I keep asking myself.’

By the time they’d finished lunch they had acknowledged that, for now, the enquiry had raised more questions than they had answers for.

‘It’s only a phase, and you and I know that every investigation has its peaks and troughs,’ Charley said, hoping she sounded more positive to her team than she felt. Things were moving forwards now and she was keen to notch them up a gear.

A call came into the Incident Room, via Crimestoppers. The anonymous male informed them of a sighting of the Dixons at a Primrose Pastures Holiday Park on the East coast, where the couple seemed to be living in a mobile home. Annie was bursting to share the news.

‘That’s it?’ said Charley. ‘Just a sighting?’

‘Yes.’ Annie’s disappointment at Charley’s reaction was obvious.

‘How do we know it isn’t a hoax?’

The younger detective looked troubled. ‘Well, we don’t.’

‘Make some discreet enquires. I want to keep the element of surprise on our side for now. Take Ricky-Lee with you, book a caravan. After all, you’re the most likely looking couple on our team, so you won’t draw attention to yourselves.’

Annie stared at Charley aghast. ‘You’ve got to be joking? You really want me to sleep alone, in a caravan, with him?’ she said, tossing her head in the direction of the detective who she could see from Charley’s office window, sitting at his desk. She pulled a face.

Charley shook her head. ‘Unless you’ve someone else in mind?’

At that Annie laughed out loud, uncertain as to whether Charley was joking or not.

Charley’s face was deadpan. ‘We need to know if this information is right without revealing our hand, get my drift?’

‘Yes, boss.’

‘If it’s confirmed that the Dixons are holed up there, I want you to get hold of any signed documentation that the Dixons have completed which may be available at the site. Anything from which we might get DNA, or fingerprints.’ Without waiting for an answer the SIO bowed her head, then with pen to paper she wrote as she spoke. ‘There will be a lot of red tape. We’ll need the North Yorkshire Chief Constable’s authority to use armed officers in the county.’

‘Are you going to tell Ricky-Lee, or am I?’ said Annie.

Charley looked up at her and frowned. ‘For God’s sake, Annie, I’m not asking you to go to bed with him, I just want you to do some discreet enquiries and make observations together.’

‘You seem to forget I was brought up by nuns, ma’am.’

Charley’s lips turned up at both corners. ‘Yes, and you, Milady, appear to use that card when it suits! This information could yet be a hoax, but we can’t leave anything to chance.’

With just one thing on her mind, Annie walked out of Charley’s office to find Ricky-Lee.

Charley was speaking to the financial investigations team, when Annie returned to the office later with her suitcase, but there wasn’t anything more of note to tell the pair. With Annie and Ricky setting off to the coast, Charley decided she’d visit St Anne’s Church to get some fresh air and wander around the graveyard alone, in order to think, before debrief.

The black-and-yellow police tape required by Health and Safety, and which