book title

Around eleven next morning, Jess returned from Drake Hall Prison’s new Category A secure wing with more questions than answers. Despite making an appointment, Mary Delaware had changed her mind and refused to see Jess, until the Governor intervened, offering Mary a minor job in the prison chapel if she continued to keep up the good behaviour. In the end, Mary admitted to sending the note and meeting Fiona to warn her that someone was killing people connected to the kids’ home, but emphatically denied anything to do with her death and claimed she was alive and well when they parted company.

Heading towards Leek, at the top of Ladderedge Bank, Jess decided to take a punt and call on Martin Brass to see if he had any recollection of Fiona Mitchell or young cook, Mary Delaware.

Jess parked her Qashqai outside Brass’s three-bed semi, climbing out, the chill of the winter air nipped at her skin. She looked at the sold sign in the soil bed edging the path. Must have been on the cards for a while, he never mentioned it last time they spoke, but then why would he, she thought.

Frowning, Jess glanced around the quiet neighbourhood, wondering if Martin might be in the back garden or at a neighbour’s house. She walked down the side of the house and looked over the gate; again, no one was about.

To her surprise, an automated message informed her that the number was no longer in service. Something was off, her detective instincts kicked in.

She peered through the front window, the house was still fully furnished, yet it seemed devoid of life. A growing sense of urgency drove her back around the side of the property. As she reached the large garage, Jess noticed the door slightly open; cautiously she lifted it.

The interior revealed a typical suburban garage; tools neatly arranged, old boxes, and a workbench cluttered with odds and ends. Yet, her eyes zeroed in on a navy tarpaulin covering a bench in the left corner. Jess approached it, lifting the corner of the plastic. A half-house brick lay there, ominous and familiar.

She fished out the fresh pair of neoprene gloves from her coat pocket. It was the missing piece of the puzzle from the Rosalind Engineering Works crime scene: the other half of the brick used to bludgeon Gary Turner's head. Dread gripped her, as she comprehended the gravity of the situation. This garage held a chilling secret.

Quickly, Jess called it in, her voice steady but urgency apparent. ‘This is Detective Jessica Ryan from the Fountain Street station, Leek. I need an immediate CSI visit to number 73 Ladderedge Bank, postcode ST13 7AB, something’s not right. I've found evidence of the missing murder weapon used to kill Gary Turner.’

The dispatcher acknowledged, and within half-an-hour, the calm suburban road transformed into a hive of activity as Crime Scene Investigators descended on the property.

As they combed through the garage, collecting evidence and documenting each detail, Jess couldn't shake the feeling that they were on the brink of a revelation: one that could expose deeper layers to the already complex trail of murder and vengeance. Question was, would their meticulous work unravel further evidence concealed within the seemingly ordinary walls of Martin Brass's home?

An hour later, Jess had spoken to the Brass’s neighbours, who had informed her they hadn’t seen the couple for over a week. In the garage, the CSI’s had discovered a sterile plastic box containing a pair of blue forensic tweezers, a 100 ml plastic bottle of alcohol cleaning solution, and smaller plastic tubs, the type fishermen used to store tackle in, such as hooks.

Holding a tub in each hand, CSI Jeff Foxhall turned to Jess. ‘Human hair and wool fibres in this, and strangely, a blooded sticking plaster in the other,’ he said glancing at each tub in turn.