Irrefutable Evidence: A Crime Thriller Read Online Free Page B

at the back of the group, one of the civilian intelligence officers.
    “What about the couple who found the girl? Can they be ruled out of any involvement?”
    Hurst turned to Rob McPherson to answer the question.
    “Totally,” said the DI. “Firstly, Miruna had been dead for over half a day when she was found so they would’ve had to murder her somewhere else and then take her to the scene. Secondly, they arrived on a tandem, not in a car, and thirdly, they are, in my opinion, genuinely spooked by the whole incident, the girl especially. No, we can rule them out.”
    Mike Hurst checked his watch. “Right, if there’s nothing else, I’ve got to brief Superintendent Freneton. The pm’s set for tomorrow morning at ten. Horace Lawson has kindly agreed not to start until after the morning briefing. DI McPherson and I will attend. Thyme, you will be coming with us. You’ll be exhibits officer so you can bag and label the girl’s clothing for submission to the lab. Meanwhile, go and join in with checking out the CCTV recordings. The more eyes we get on those, the better.”
    Jennifer felt Derek shrink into his seat beside her.
    “Christ, what did I do to win that one? I hate post mortems and the boss knows it.”
    “Stand at the back and close your eyes if it all gets too much,” said Jennifer as she caught Hurst’s eye, wondering what he had for her.
    She soon knew. “Cotton, we have the address where Miruna was staying. Go with Sergeant Bottomley and see what you can find out about her. There are a couple of uniforms already there to stop the two other women she apparently shares with from disturbing her things.”
    “Lucky sod,” muttered Derek.

 
    C hapter 6
    Friday 30 May
    S till wearing her holy-roller outfit and wig, with a headscarf to hide much of her face from the high-angle side-view shot she knew the CCTV camera would record, Amelia Taverner checked in to the Old Nottingham Hotel at two in the afternoon.
    She leaned over the desk, speaking quietly to the receptionist. “Hello. I called last night to make a reservation. My name is Taverner.”
    The receptionist hit a few keys on her keyboard.
    “Mrs Amelia Taverner?” she said, without looking up.
    “Yes. I asked for a second floor room.”
    “That’s right, Mrs Taverner. We’ve put you in room two zero eight. It’s a nice room with a view over The Park.”
    “Sounds perfect, thank you.”
    Amelia took the form the receptionist had pushed towards her, filled it in and slid it back across the counter top.
    “Thank you,” said the receptionist, finally looking up from her monitor. “If I could just take a credit card number as a guarantee. It won’t be charged at this stage and you don’t have to pay with it when you check out, if you’d prefer not to.”
    No, thought Amelia, but even if it’s not charged, the number will still be in the system, so I might as well use it. Using cash is unusual and might raise a flag in the receptionist’s memory. Use a card and the girl will have forgotten me before I reach the lift.
    The receptionist handed Amelia a folded card containing her magnetic room key.
    “Do you have a car, Mrs Taverner? The keycard opens the gate to the car park, but I’ll need to take the number.”
    “No, I don’t. I came up by train.”
    “No problem,” assured the receptionist irrelevantly. “I hope you enjoy your stay with us.”
    Amelia remained in her room only long enough to deposit her padlocked holdall, after which she headed back out of the hotel to the nearby multi-storey car park where she’d left her white transit van. She needed to change out of her disguise and get back to work before she was missed.
     
    By six p.m., she was back in the hotel, dressed once again in her forgettable clothes and wig. She knew that Henry would leave for the theatre by half past the hour at the latest, but she needed to be sure. There was no point in putting all her plans into place if Henry had suddenly reported sick and