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One tenacious cop, one amazing artist.
There’s a big operation underway and DS Karen Thorpe is feeling left out.
Then she meets Emma, with the ability to memorise faces, and Karen’s reenergised with her potential crime-solving contribution.
But she’s not the only one.
A body turns up.
Karen’s finally called up to work with the Met.
But Emma’s gone missing.
Is it connected? Where is she? Who can she trust?
It’s a race against time as the new team try to catch a major crime ring before they carry out their horrific activities.
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Extract
Bradley shot off like a bullet to drive to Emma’s flat. There was still no answer to his frantic knocking. He knocked again on every door in the block but everyone seemed to be out. Finally returning to Emma’s flat he began half-heartedly banging on the door again before steeling himself to kick the door in. Just then, Emma’s neighbour Peter opened the door to see what all the noise was about. He was red-nosed and in his pyjamas. He sneezed.
‘Constable Mellon.’ Bradley explained holding up his badge. ‘Have you seen Emma Cadrose recently?’ he asked.
‘No, I haven’t been around for a few days.’ Peter replied. ‘She sets her alarm every day to remind her to eat dinner. It did go off yesterday and I did knock on the door, but I had to go out. I’m so sorry; I just assumed she was out. I never thought… ‘
‘Does anyone around here have a spare key by any chance?’
Peter put his hand to his head. ‘Yes, sorry, I do. Her mother asked me to keep one for emergencies.’ He disappeared for a moment then handed the key to Bradley.
‘Thanks. I’ll hold on to this for now. If you do see her or hear anything from her, please ring me.’ Bradley put the key in the door and took a card out from his pocket.
‘Will do. I hope you find her.’
Bradley opened the door and first looked quickly through all the rooms looking for Emma in case she had fallen or was ill in bed. When there was no sign of her, he searched cupboards, drawers, and the wardrobe, but found absolutely nothing. As far as he could tell, everything was in place, all neat and tidy. Just for completeness, he looked in the freezer and saw the stacks of frozen meals. The top one was labelled Thursday. That meant she hadn’t eaten last night’s meal and that meant that she hadn’t been home the previous night.
Bradley was now beyond worried, he was frantic. As he ran back to his car he looked out for CCTV cameras; anything which could have caught what had happened to her. He rang Macy and urged her to start taking action. ‘Get the CCTV from the bus company. She never made it home last night. I’m coming back now.’
When Bradley arrived in the office he saw Macy poring over her screen.
‘They just emailed it to me,’ she explained.
Bradley pulled up a chair and they both began looking at the images.
Karen came over. ‘Anything?’
Macy peered at the screen showing footage from inside the bus. ‘She’s there,’ pointed Macy. ‘We’re just waiting till she gets off.’
On film, Emma could be clearly seen getting up to get off at her stop at half-past five precisely. From what they could see, she got off as normal and there was nothing to indicate anything was wrong.
‘What’s that?’ said Macy, pointing at the image. ‘A flash? Camera maybe?’
Bradley and Karen leant closer towards the screen.
‘Maybe,’ said Karen. ‘So many lights around these days. Note it.’ Macy scribbled it down. ‘So basically she disappeared between the bus stop and home. What’s there? Anything where someone could have been waiting for her? How about more CCTV cameras in the area?’
Bradley answered. ‘There’s a small side road which leads to the entrance of her apartment block. There are roads leading off it too. But I don’t remember seeing any cameras.’
‘OK. House to house. Let’s do what we can,’ Karen instructed.
‘I’m going to ring Kat,’ Bradley scowled. ‘It’s all her fault.’
‘We don’t know that yet Bradley,’ Macy protested. ‘It might be completely unconnected and anyway, there’s nothing she can do.’
‘It will make me feel better,’ Bradley proclaimed and he went back to his desk.
When he rang Kat, she was astonished at the vehemence of his call. ‘Do you even know she’s been taken before you bawl me out?’ she snapped. ‘Call me back when you’ve calmed down.’
Thank you, Jane Badrock and Zooloo’s Book Tours
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About the author
Jane writes novels, short stories and poems, usually with a good dose of humour in them. She’s probably owes it all to her late grandmother who, she’s just found out, also wrote short stories and poems. She tends to get an idea and then run with it whether it be a 100 word short story or an 80 thousand word novel. It all depends on the voices in her head at the time…
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Author Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janebadrockauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janebadrock/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janebadrock
Amazon : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Badrock/e/B07HZ2HD3Q
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18510015.Jane_Badrock
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Book Links
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09T7BRSYQ
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T7BRSYQ
B for Bookreview 