Dead Level (The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series Book 5) by Damien Boyd Read Free Book Online Page B

the van and walked up onto the riverbank. The water was almost up to the top of the bank and swirling as it roared past the cottage, but the far bank seemed lower so if it burst its banks it would flood the fields on the opposite side first, surely? Jane looked upstream, past the farm on the far bank, to the bend. It had been impossible to tell the height of the banks further upstream from the satellite images on Google Earth. She thought about Mrs Freeman and Mr Grafton, with their sandbags.
    The sound of the car horn brought her back to the present.
    ‘Who was that on the phone?’ she asked, putting her seatbelt on.
    ‘My husband,’ replied Janice.
    Jane watched in the wing mirror as Janice reversed back along the lane to the farmyard.
    ‘At least Nick’s in the job so he’ll understand.’
    ‘He will,’ replied Jane, imagining Dixon sitting by the fire in the Red Cow.

Chapter Five
    J anice and Jane arrived back at Express Park just after 2 p.m. to find DCI Lewis waiting for them just inside the staff entrance. They took the lift to the first floor and he waited for the doors to close.
    ‘Well?’
    ‘You know about the vomit and cigarette butts?’ asked Janice.
    ‘I do.’
    ‘They’re on their way to PGL. In the meantime, we’ve got two residents who heard a vehicle of some sort at about twoish.’
    ‘Who are they?’
    ‘An elderly man living on the corner who was up having a pee. He says it may have been a car or van and possibly a diesel. Then we’ve got an old bird further along the lane. She didn’t have her hearing aids in but swears blind she heard a motorbike.’
    ‘Timing?’
    ‘About the same.’
    ‘There’s ten minutes or so between them, assuming they’re both right about the time,’ said Jane.
    ‘Which is unlikely,’ continued Janice.
    The lift doors opened and they stepped out onto the landing.
    ‘So you think they both heard the same vehicle?’ asked Lewis.
    ‘Must have done,’ replied Janice. ‘But the DNA will soon tell us.’
    ‘Perry will be arriving in the next half an hour or so and his parents are waiting down in reception.’
    ‘Shall I go down and see them?’ asked Janice.
    ‘I’ve done it,’ replied Lewis. ‘And I’ve spoken to Vicky Thomas in PR. The press haven’t got hold of it yet and we’re gonna say nothing until they do. I’m hoping we’ll have a DNA match by then and can tell ’em we’ve made an arrest.’
    ‘What about the post mortem?’ asked Janice.
    ‘Poland’s doing that this afternoon.’ Lewis looked at his watch. ‘Now, actually.’
    Jane left Janice talking to DCI Lewis and walked over to the gallery overlooking the reception area. She looked down at an elderly couple holding hands. They were sitting with their backs to the window and the woman was crying. At their feet was a black holdall containing a change of clothes for their son, no doubt. Jane shook her head. Another couple for whom it would not be a happy Christmas.
    ‘Jane.’
    She spun round to see Janice standing at a workstation on the far side of the CID area, waving her over.
    ‘What’s up?’
    ‘Perry’s here. They’re bringing him in the back way.’
    ‘The back way?’ said Jane.
    ‘Anything else we need to know, Mark? Dave?’ asked Janice.
    ‘Not really. It’s difficult to find anyone who has anything bad to say about either of them. Even his political opponents seem to like him, from what I can see,’ replied Pearce. ‘I’ve only searched the web though, so far.’
    ‘He drives a Honda Civic and I checked the cameras on junction 24 for an hour or so either side of 2 a.m. Came up with nothing,’ said Harding. ‘If he did drive down, he didn’t use the M5.’
    ‘He didn’t use junction 24, Dave,’ said Janice.
    ‘I suppose so.’
    ‘He could have got off at junction 23 and gone across country from there.’
    ‘D’you want me to check?’
    ‘Not yet. Let’s see what he’s got to say first.’
    ‘OK.’
    ‘Where’s Harry?’
    ‘Not back