Deadly Reprisal (Detective Zoe Finch Book 5)
Page 30
“We’ll have to talk to her, either way.”
“She knows that.”
“Zoe? Does this mean you want us to get back together?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
She let out a shaky breath. “On whether you trust me.”
“We’ve done all our interviews. We’ve dug as deep as we can on Ian and you’re right. There’s no evidence the two of you were in it together.”
“So?”
“So, yes. I trust you. I owe you an apology.”
Zoe thought back to her visit to Ian earlier. “Thanks, Carl. In that case, when I’ve wrapped up what I need to do here, will you be home?”
She could hear his smile down the line. “I will.”
She closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep. “Good.”
“Does anyone else know about this photo, Zoe?”
She opened her eyes. “I talked to Lesley.”
“Why?”
“She’s my sounding board.”
“I don’t see why you’d need a sounding board on this.”
“I just did, OK?”
“No one else?”
Zoe swallowed. “No.”
“OK. I’ll see you later.”
Chapter One Hundred Ten
Zoe walked into Café Face to find Mo already there, sitting at the back. She smiled and gave him a brief hug.
“That’s unexpected,” he said.
“It’s how I feel. Dealing with all these students who want to rape or kill each other…”
“I know. I ordered you a full English.”
“Perfect.” It was Sunday afternoon, not breakfast time, but Zoe didn’t care. She was starving.
She sat down just as Fran, the owner of the café, put a black coffee and a plate of food in front of her. She looked up. “Cheers.”
“So how did the interview with Lin go?” Mo asked.
“She was so angry.” Zoe sipped her coffee then put a slice of sausage on her fork. “I thought I’d need to get Uniform in at one point.”
“Angry about what?”
“Rapists. Men who ‘prey on’ younger women. Sexism. Anyone who wants to hurt her friends.”
“But she tried to kill Kayla.”
Zoe swallowed a mouthful of beans. “She lost it there. Convinced Kayla knew all about what she’d done and was about to call me.”
“And did she?”
“Kayla? She had her suspicions. But she definitely hadn’t made the mental leap to thinking her friend was a murderer.”
“Poor kid.”
Zoe nodded. She gulped down the last of her coffee. “I need another one of these. You?”
“No ta.”
Zoe pushed her empty plate away. She fetched another coffee and plonked it down.
“She even confessed to killing Laurence,” she said. “All the trouble she went to to frame Jenson for it, and in the end she sang like she was on The Voice.”
“She was certainly clever.”
“Yeah,” Zoe replied. “Telling us she’d examined Laurence with those gloves.
“Planting Jenson’s DNA,” Mo added.
“Medical student. You’d want them to be clever, wouldn’t you? And yes, she got Jenson’s DNA from his room, managed to get some blood off his razor. She kept it for a week then placed it inside Laurence’s mouth.”
“And then she made sure she was the one who found him.”
“Couldn’t have anyone else contaminating her perfectly arranged crime scene.”
“Poor Kayla.”
“Getting caught up in it all like that,” Zoe said. “How is she?”
Mo had been to the hospital to check on Kayla’s progress. “In shock, but not much of the drugs got into her system. She’ll be fine for an interview tomorrow.”
“Great.” Zoe slung the last of her second mug of coffee down her throat and stood up. “What you up to now?”
He smiled. “Bike ride with my girls. We’re going to go round Cofton Park.”
“Sounds lovely.”
“What about you?”
“Nicholas is due home any time. I’d best be back when he gets in.”
“Not like you to worry about him.”
“It makes me uneasy, him going away with Jim’s family like that. I know he finds it hard.”
“He’s a big boy, Zo.”
“An adult, I know. But I’ll always be his mum. When Fiona and Isla are grown up, you’ll understand.”
She pushed the door to the cafe open and walked out, glad to be seeing her son again.
Chapter One Hundred Eleven
Zoe poked her head around the door to see Lesley sitting in an armchair, dressed in jeans and a green shirt. It was the first time she’d seen her boss in anything other than her signature eighties-style skirt suits, or a hospital gown.
“Zoe. Good to see you.”
“I’ve brought company. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Depends who it is.”
Zoe pushed Connie in front of her. “She was worried about you.”
Lesley smiled. “Connie. Thank you for your concern.”
“The boss has been missing you. Ma’am.”
Zoe gave Connie a look. Connie smirked.
“And I’ve been missing her,” said Lesley. “God, it’s dull sitting at home.”
“When will you be back at work?” Zoe asked.
Lesley stared out of the window.
“You will be coming back to work?” Zoe felt her heart pick up pace.
Lesley turned back to her. She wiped under her eye. Zoe fidgeted as she stood.
“Ma’am?”
“I’ve got news for you, Zoe, and it’s not good.”
Zoe’s stomach dipped. She nodded, her jaw set.
“Sit down, both of you.”
Zoe perched on the end of a beige sofa and Connie sat next to her. They both stared at the DCI. Zoe could sense Connie’s anxiety, as acute as her own.
Lesley gave them both a smile. “I ain’t dying, you two. You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
Zoe breathed out. “That’s a relief.” She forced a tight laugh.
“But I’m not coming back to work. Not for a while, anyway.”
“You’ve got sick leave?” asked Connie.
“Not really.”
“Early retirement?” Zoe suggested.
“It’ll bloody well feel like it.” Lesley sighed. “No, I’ve been told to take a spell somewhere less… exciting. For the sake of my mental health. Apparently I’ve got PTSD and I need to distance myself from the source of the trauma.” She raised an eyebrow. “It’s pretty tough to be a copper in this city and never go near New Street Station.”
“Where will you be going?” Zoe was imagining Coventry. Wolverhampton maybe. They had branches of Force CID in both cities.
“Dorset,” Lesley said.
“Dorset?” Zoe and Connie spluttered at once.
“I told you it would be dull. I’ve got to take three months’ leave and then report to Dorchester nick, where I’m going to be in charge of the major crimes unit.”
“Do they even have major crimes in Dorset?” Connie asked.
“I think that’s kind of the point, Constable.”
“Is it permanent?” Zoe asked.
“A secondment. Six months, a year if I’m unlucky. I guess I have to wait until the quacks say I’m sane again.”
“Ma’am. I’m sorry,” said Zoe. “What will your family do? They’ll move with you?”
“Sharon’s got her GCSEs this summer, we decided it’d be too disruptive. Terry will stay here with her, they’ll come down in the holidays. Weekends. Dorset’s s’posed to be good for that kind of thing.”
Zoe tried to imagine Lesley Clarke in a quiet police station in Dorset, dealing with petty crimes and local politics.
“Dorset is very lovely, ma’am,” said Connie. “My sister went there with some mates and—”
Lesley raised a hand. “You don’t have
to do that.”
“I’ve got a question,” Zoe said.
“Of course.” Lesley cocked her head.
“Who’s replacing you?”
“Frank will be officially acting up for now. Then they’ll have to recruit someone. Why, thinking of applying?”
“I’ve only been an Inspector for six months.”
“Stranger things have happened. You should consider it.”
“No, ma’am. I like it where I am.”
“Fair enough. But you’re not keen on having Frank managing you, I can tell that from the way your face went about a metre south when I told you.”
“I’ll cope.”
“You will. Give him the benefit of the doubt, Zoe. He may be an arsehole, but he’s a good copper. Now he can drop his seething resentment at you being his equal, maybe he’ll stop trying to prove he’s better than you.”
“Maybe.”
“We can live in hope, Zoe.”
“We can, ma’am. We can.”
Read Zoe’s prequel story, Deadly Origins
It’s 2003, and Zoe Finch is a new Detective Constable. When a body is found on her patch, she’s grudgingly allowed to take a role on the case.
But when more bodies are found, and Zoe realises the case has links to her own family, the investigation becomes deeply personal.
Can Zoe find the killer before it’s too late?
Find out by reading Deadly Origins for FREE at rachelmclean.com/origins.
Read the DI Zoe Finch Series
Deadly Wishes, DI Zoe Finch Book 1
Deadly Choices, DI Zoe Finch Book 2
Deadly Desires, DI Zoe Finch Book 3
Deadly Terror, DI Zoe Finch Book 4
Deadly Reprisal, DI Zoe Finch Book 5
Deadly Fallout, DI Zoe Finch Book 6
Deadly Origins, the FREE Zoe Finch prequel
Coming in Summer 2021 - the Dorset Crime series.
DCI Lesley Clarke has been sent to Dorset for some peace and quiet. But it’s not long before she finds herself at the centre of a double murder investigation.
Join the Rachel McLean bookclub to be alerted when Book 1, The Corfe Castle Murders, is released.
Copyright © 2021 by Rachel McLean
All rights reserved.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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