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Back The Bad Place Save as PDF
Chapters (72)
  1. Cover
  2. THE BAD PLACE
  3. Contents
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. 42
  49. 43
  50. 44
  51. 45
  52. 46
  53. 47
  54. 48
  55. 49
  56. 50
  57. 51
  58. 52
  59. 53
  60. 54
  61. 55
  62. 56
  63. 57
  64. 58
  65. 59
  66. 60
  67. 61
  68. 62
  69. 63
  70. Acknowledgements
  71. About the author
  72. An Invitation from the Publisher

There was a bit of a pause. ‘Mr Dawson?’

‘Yes,’ said Sasha. ‘You know, Kev.’

‘Well, um, I’m afraid I can’t help you.’

‘I have to speak to him urgently, Maddy, and he’s not answering his mobile. Is he in a meeting?’

‘He’s, uh… well…’

But then Sasha saw Craig’s number flash on her phone. ‘I’m sorry, Maddy, I’ve got to go. Can you get Kev to phone me as soon as possible? Thanks!’

She answered Craig’s call and didn’t even give him time to speak.

‘I just popped out,’ she said, and flew to the front door, ‘and I’m on my way back right now.’

44

When she charged into the incident room, Ajay, Lolly and Craig dropped what they were doing to follow Sasha to her desk. They waited patiently while she kicked off her shoes, threw down her bag and fired up her desktop.

‘I’m capable of doing something and listening at the same time, guys.’

‘Okay, so the post-mortem results are in.’ Ajay flicked to the right page in his notebook. ‘The pathologist says the angle of the entry of the needle into Lydia’s shoulder was odd, as we thought. An experienced user would have slid the needle into a vein at a narrow angle, but this one was stabbed in at ninety degrees high up on the deltoid, straight into muscle and skin tissue. My glamorous assistant will illustrate.’

Craig reached across to his own left shoulder with his right hand to press the top of a pen into it, bending his wrist to show how awkward and difficult it would have been for Lydia, or anyone else, to inject at such an angle. Ajay continued to read from his notes but Sasha’s attention was caught by the sight of Vaughn massaging his temples as he spoke on the phone in his office.

‘Bruises on her arms and shoulders…’ continued Ajay, reading from his notebook. ‘… estimated time of death…’

Lolly agreed. ‘She was seen at the estate gone eleven…’

Vaughn slammed down the phone and met her gaze with a scowl. Sasha snapped back into the room. Craig and Lolly waited for her to respond. What Ajay had been saying was important, perhaps critical to the investigation, and she cursed herself for losing the drift, but…

‘Excuse me a moment,’ she said and marched to Vaughn’s office.

He motioned for her to come in. ‘Shut the door.’

‘I expect that was about me.’

‘Congratulations, the press office tells me your husband’s fist fight is breaking some kind of online viewing record. They’re spitting feathers upstairs. They take a very dim view of the husband of a senior officer attacking another man, and are worried that the incident will bring the force into disrepute.’

‘It was just a bit of handbags.’