Read Online DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 by Kerry Wilkinson - Free Book Online

building and started the business almost sixty years ago. There was never really any chance of Jessica
hanging around to take over the reins and both of her parents knew it. They never pressured her though and still ran the place, happily looking ahead to retirement in a few years. Jessica usually
found time to visit her parents once every couple of months but spoke to them regularly on the phone.
    Perhaps the reason the two had remained so close was that Caroline’s parents had both died within a few months of each other not long after she graduated. It hadn’t been much of a
surprise; her mother and father were quite a bit older than Jessica’s parents and her dad had been ill for a while. Not long after he died, her mother did too. Caroline had been devastated
but took heart from the fact they had both seen her graduate, the first in her family to do so.
    ‘So, new boyfriend then?’ Jessica said.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Let’s hear it then.’
    ‘Do you remember a few months ago when I went over in those heels?’
    ‘Of course,’ Jessica laughed. ‘It was really funny.’
    ‘Thanks for the sympathy; I could have broken my neck.’
    ‘Honestly, if there was any neck-breaking involved, I would have definitely laughed a little less.’
    ‘Anyway, I really like that pair, so I took them to that place on Gorton Market where they mend shoes. There was this lad who worked on the stall . . .’
    ‘You dirty tart.’
    They giggled again. ‘We had a few drinks and have been seeing each other since then. We’re going out again some time this week.’
    Jessica understood that meant her friend had been spending time with him when she claimed she was at the gym or somewhere else inconsequential but didn’t mind. ‘As long as you
don’t dump me to move in with this obvious weirdo, then I hope you have a good time.’
    ‘Weirdo?’
    ‘He went out with you.’
    ‘Oi.’
    They both laughed some more. ‘What’s his name then?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘Randall. Randall Anderson.’
    ‘Randall? What sort of name is that?’
    ‘I dunno. I kind of like it. It’s a bit different.’
    ‘Hmm . . . Caroline Morrison-Anderson. I guess it does have a ring to it.’
    ‘Don’t start . . .’
    The fact neither of them had really had time for a serious relationship was perhaps the biggest reason neither Caroline nor Jessica had decided to move into their own place. Of course they
actually liked living together but, with neither of them having a heavy commitment, there had never been too much need to hunt for a new place to live.
    Jessica felt the wine taking hold and, as the final orders bell rang, she pulled her phone out from her bag. ‘I’m just going to check the Internet to see what’s in
tomorrow’s paper.’
    She thumbed away at the screen, flicking through her bookmarks before finding the
Herald
’s news site. The front page loaded and she pinched the screen to zoom in, before slamming
her free hand down on the table.
    ‘What’s up?’ Caroline asked.
    Jessica just about kept her temper intact. ‘Garry Ashford. Whoever he is, I am going to string him up.’

7
    Sunday night hadn’t ended in the way Jessica thought it would. The top headline on the
Herald
’s website had read: ‘MURDERED IN HER OWN HOME’.
Underneath that was: ‘LOCKED DOOR MYSTERY’ and the byline: ‘EXCLUSIVE by Garry Ashford’.
    Pretty much all the details were there: the victim’s name, the fact the house was locked and that the police had taken two days to respond to Stephanie Wilson’s concerns. That
sounded bad straight away. The journalist had also spoken to Mrs Wilson, who had blabbed pretty much everything she had already told them.
    Worse than that, he had quoted her: ‘Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel insisted she had no extra comment to make.’ There was even a complimentary line about her being ‘trusted
to head up the inquiry’. That write-up almost certainly meant her bosses were going to think she was the leak.