Read Online Thicker Than Water by Kerry Wilkinson - DS Jessica Daniel 06 - Thicker Than Water - Free Book Online

started to descend the stairs together, with Jessica at the rear. ‘Are you going to be all right here tonight?’ Jessica asked. ‘A support officer will stay with you for a
while but we should be able to help if you want to find somewhere else for the night.’
    ‘I’ll be okay,’ Kayleigh replied, leading them to the front door. She opened it, adding: ‘What happens now?’
    ‘We’ve got another stop-off, then we’re heading back to the station,’ Jessica said, taking a card from her jacket pocket and handing it over. ‘I’ll call you
later if you want. Feel free to contact me.’
    Kayleigh turned the card over in her hands, smiling weakly.
    ‘Are we off to the Sextons?’ Izzy asked as she walked through the door. It was exactly where Jessica was planning to go but, before she could follow her colleague, she heard Kayleigh
begin to say something, before stopping herself.
    ‘Are you all right?’ Jessica asked.
    Kayleigh smiled wearily. ‘Yes, it’s just I used to know someone with the last name Sexton.’
    It dawned on Jessica that, although she had asked the woman if she knew Owen and Gabrielle, she hadn’t asked about the family whose house the body had disappeared from. ‘What was the
first name?’
    She already knew the reply before it came.
    ‘I used to know an Ellie Sexton.’

7
    Jessica knew there was no particular reason to have asked about the Sextons but was still annoyed with herself for not doing so. Izzy had stopped and turned and they both
realised they had been seconds away from missing something obvious.
    ‘How do you know Eleanor Sexton?’ Jessica asked.
    Kayleigh seemed confused for a few moments, before it dawned on her who this was. ‘Ellie’s involved?’ she said, her eyes widening in surprise.
    ‘We can go through that at another time,’ Jessica replied. ‘We need to make sure we’re talking about the same person.’
    Kayleigh said that Eleanor was married to someone called Cameron; she also knew the woman’s maiden name. ‘We used to work together,’ she added, waving the two women back into
the house and closing the door behind them. ‘It was years ago though.’
    ‘Can you remember how long?’ Jessica asked, leaning against the front door.
    Kayleigh took the cue that Jessica was keen to get her answers and go, and didn’t move towards the living room. She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe twenty, twenty-five
years back? A long time.’
    Kayleigh was only forty-three, so that meant half a lifetime ago.
    ‘Where did you work?’
    Jessica thought she saw the woman wince slightly but it could have been a shiver because of how cold it was. ‘There was this casino thing in the centre. It’s not there any more. We
worked on the floor, serving drinks and looking pretty, trying to get customers to stay for longer.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I was a bit younger back then.’
    ‘Were you good friends?’
    ‘I guess, I mean as close as you can be with work people. We didn’t hang around much outside of work but we got each other through the days.’
    ‘How long ago did you leave that job?’
    Kayleigh sighed and started counting on her fingers. ‘I only worked there for around a year. I started when I was twenty-one, so I guess that’s twenty-one years?’ She looked
towards Jessica to check that her maths was correct.
    ‘Did you stay in contact much after that?’
    She nodded. ‘Sort of. It wasn’t as easy back then of course, we didn’t have mobiles and computers and the like. I lived in this flat and didn’t have a phone, while she
was living with her parents. She would write me letters a couple of times a year but I was never very good with that kind of thing. We lived on opposite sides of the city but met for coffee once or
twice a year.’
    ‘Have you been in contact recently?’
    ‘No, we drifted apart. She started going out with Cameron and her priorities changed.’ Before anyone could speak, she quickly clarified her remark. ‘It