Read Online DARK HOUSES a gripping detective thriller full of suspense by Helen H. Durrant - Free Book Online

you do and leave the detective work to us,” Greco snapped.
    “Look, this is no easier for us than it is for you,” said Mark. “She’s young, she’s pretty, it’s a damn waste. That’s all I meant.”
    “Do we know anything other than her name?”
    Roxy Atkins nodded. “We have her provisional driving licence.”
    “We’ll take samples of everything, Stephen. But whoever he is, this guy is good,” Natasha said. “The forensic team went over the property in Arnold Street with a fine tooth comb and got nothing.”
    “But he leaves their ID behind. He makes it easy for us to find the families. Why is that, do you think?”
    “Rubbing it in? Wants to cause as much pain as he can? Who knows what goes on in the minds of such people, Stephen?”
    “Does anyone know how she got here?”
    “The neighbour thinks in a car. A dark coloured one, about midnight,” the uniformed officer said. “I’ve asked along the street, but apart from the screaming no one noticed anything.”
    “How did he get in?”
    “He must have had a key because there’s no sign of a break-in.”
    “Like I said, much as before,” Natasha said.
    Greco turned on his heel and went back outside. He’d seen enough. The look on the girl’s face had chilled him to the bone.
    “Sir?” Roxy Atkins called out. “She has a stamp on her wrist from a club in town. Her clothing also suggests that’s where she’d been last night.”
    “Any idea which one?”
    “ The Rave I’d say from the stamp. Her clothing was folded like the last one and a square of fabric is missing from her dress.”
    So he was taking trophies. She was unlikely to have gone to the club alone. Someone might know who she left with. He went in search of Speedy.
    “Who called you?” Greco asked Speedy.
    “The station, at some ungodly hour this morning. By the time I got here, uniform had sorted the area and rung the Duggan.”
    “Any ideas?”
    “He’s a bloody nutjob. I reckon he stakes out the property first. He seems to use a certain type of house. He likes them old, needing work, and with a fireplace to heat that poker thing he uses.” Speedy tossed the remains of his tea into the gutter. “First he works all that out, then he goes on the hunt.”
    “Very good. My thoughts too. That means this house was already set up prior to last night. It’s the getting in that’s puzzling me. There’s no break-in, so he has to have had a key. I can’t believe that no one saw or heard anything. He must have visited at some time before bringing the girl.”
    “That estate agent needs another visit if you ask me. Slimy sod. He must know something. Both houses are on his books. Bit of a coincidence that.”
    “Get the team down here and knock on every door. Do Arnold Street again, too. Speak to everyone. Make it a priority.”
    “These people don’t say much, sir. The curtains twitch a lot. I’m sure some of them see more than they’ll admit to. But they don’t want dragging into any of this.”
    “Keep at them. Sooner or later one of them will give us something. These girls didn’t live in the area. The latest girl would have stood out, all that blonde hair and being so young.”
    “We’ve got visitors, sir.”
    Greco looked at a red car that had pulled up a few yards away.
    It was the press.
    “Looks like you’ve got another one, Inspector,” a voice called out. “Got anything to say? Fancy giving us that press conference yet?”
    “Laycock!” Speedy turned his back on the man. “Bloody pest.”
    A uniformed officer went to have a word and moments later the reporter drove off.
    “What’s the betting he’ll be back with cash in his hand the minute we’ve gone,” Speedy said. “I bet he gets some response from the greedy buggers on this street.”
    “It’s still very early,” Greco said. “How come Laycock got to know so soon?”
    “We could always drag him in and ask,” Speedy said. “I’d like to see that bastard squirm.”
    “We might just