Read Online DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 by Kerry Wilkinson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kerry Wilkinson
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newspaper story. The next discussion was about how the
case would run. Aylesbury confirmed Cole would work from the station with Jessica reporting directly to the inspector, who would keep him up to date.
After that the three of them went downstairs for the main team briefing. They were standing at the front of the station’s large meeting room, with no natural sunlight in the basement hall
– the only illumination being provided by bright white strip lighting. Sometimes on the night shift, officers would come to sit in this room just to be kept awake. The whole of the
station’s force had been called in to be told what was happening, including most of the uniformed officers. A couple of detectives from neighbouring districts had been loaned to the station,
as often happened with murder cases. In all, there were between twenty and thirty people sitting on uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs, or standing near the doors at the back, sipping on cups of
coffee, waiting to be filled in.
Behind the three of them were two huge whiteboards pinned to the wall. At the top in the middle of the left-hand one was an enlarged photo of Yvonne Christensen’s neck wounds, next to a
recent photo to show how she had usually looked. Her name was written underneath in marker pen, along with the husband and son’s in smaller writing under that.
Jessica thought Aylesbury sounded quite impressive as he spoke, despite his over-pronunciation. He started by reminding everyone of their responsibilities in not talking to the media without
prior permission, then thanked everyone for being there and said he had every faith they would catch the person responsible. He told them Cole would be their link person at the station and then
handed the floor over to Jessica.
He gave her a full introduction for the benefit of the visiting officers but they would have known exactly who she was because of the ridiculous photo of her gurning on the front of that
morning’s paper. Jessica thanked her boss, ignoring the murmurings of amusement from the officers standing in front of her, and then explained how the house had been found locked up.
After that, she moved on to the morning’s developments. ‘We’ve got the initial results back from the labs but there’s not an awful lot to go on,’ she said.
‘We know Yvonne Christensen was killed some time late on Tuesday night or in the early hours of Wednesday which all fits in with Stephanie Wilson’s timings. She was strangled with some
type of steel rope or wire but we don’t have anything more specific on that. They have been running tests on the bed sheets and the body but haven’t yet found any samples that
don’t belong to the victim.’
‘Do we know why she was in the bedroom?’ someone asked.
Cole answered. ‘Probably. If you were being strangled, the obvious thing you would do is try to pull away the other person’s hands or the rope but there are no cuts to the
victim’s fingers. Given that and the estimated time of death, it seems likely she was throttled in her sleep. If she did wake up, it would have been too late.’
Jessica nodded along and then carried on speaking. ‘Obviously this makes it more difficult to figure out what actually happened. Even if the victim had let someone in we wouldn’t
know how he or she got out. Because of the findings, it seems very unlikely the killer was a person she opened the door to. The obvious answer is that either her estranged husband or son was
involved. As far as we know they are the only family members still alive but there are no life insurance policies in place and no other obvious motive.’
Jessica paused for breath. ‘Since Saturday, we have been able to pretty much rule out the husband Eric and son James. Confirming their respective alibis was complicated because of the
period between the time of death and the body being found. James is at university in Bournemouth and, given the distance along with everything we’ve
case would run. Aylesbury confirmed Cole would work from the station with Jessica reporting directly to the inspector, who would keep him up to date.
After that the three of them went downstairs for the main team briefing. They were standing at the front of the station’s large meeting room, with no natural sunlight in the basement hall
– the only illumination being provided by bright white strip lighting. Sometimes on the night shift, officers would come to sit in this room just to be kept awake. The whole of the
station’s force had been called in to be told what was happening, including most of the uniformed officers. A couple of detectives from neighbouring districts had been loaned to the station,
as often happened with murder cases. In all, there were between twenty and thirty people sitting on uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs, or standing near the doors at the back, sipping on cups of
coffee, waiting to be filled in.
Behind the three of them were two huge whiteboards pinned to the wall. At the top in the middle of the left-hand one was an enlarged photo of Yvonne Christensen’s neck wounds, next to a
recent photo to show how she had usually looked. Her name was written underneath in marker pen, along with the husband and son’s in smaller writing under that.
Jessica thought Aylesbury sounded quite impressive as he spoke, despite his over-pronunciation. He started by reminding everyone of their responsibilities in not talking to the media without
prior permission, then thanked everyone for being there and said he had every faith they would catch the person responsible. He told them Cole would be their link person at the station and then
handed the floor over to Jessica.
He gave her a full introduction for the benefit of the visiting officers but they would have known exactly who she was because of the ridiculous photo of her gurning on the front of that
morning’s paper. Jessica thanked her boss, ignoring the murmurings of amusement from the officers standing in front of her, and then explained how the house had been found locked up.
After that, she moved on to the morning’s developments. ‘We’ve got the initial results back from the labs but there’s not an awful lot to go on,’ she said.
‘We know Yvonne Christensen was killed some time late on Tuesday night or in the early hours of Wednesday which all fits in with Stephanie Wilson’s timings. She was strangled with some
type of steel rope or wire but we don’t have anything more specific on that. They have been running tests on the bed sheets and the body but haven’t yet found any samples that
don’t belong to the victim.’
‘Do we know why she was in the bedroom?’ someone asked.
Cole answered. ‘Probably. If you were being strangled, the obvious thing you would do is try to pull away the other person’s hands or the rope but there are no cuts to the
victim’s fingers. Given that and the estimated time of death, it seems likely she was throttled in her sleep. If she did wake up, it would have been too late.’
Jessica nodded along and then carried on speaking. ‘Obviously this makes it more difficult to figure out what actually happened. Even if the victim had let someone in we wouldn’t
know how he or she got out. Because of the findings, it seems very unlikely the killer was a person she opened the door to. The obvious answer is that either her estranged husband or son was
involved. As far as we know they are the only family members still alive but there are no life insurance policies in place and no other obvious motive.’
Jessica paused for breath. ‘Since Saturday, we have been able to pretty much rule out the husband Eric and son James. Confirming their respective alibis was complicated because of the
period between the time of death and the body being found. James is at university in Bournemouth and, given the distance along with everything we’ve
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