DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 by Kerry Wilkinson Read Free Book Online

guy unless we really have to”.’
    ‘Great,’ Jessica replied. ‘The cause of death is a broken neck from not wearing the seatbelt. The airbag itself possibly killed him but there is so much damage, it could have
been one of many things.’
    Cole nodded, picking up the conversation. ‘I’ve been onto the labs about the clothes found in the woods. There’s not much to report. We already know the football shirt is
around thirteen years old and the trousers the same age too. They’re both children’s sizes. We asked his mother and know they aren’t Isaac Hutchings’s but beyond that,
nothing. We’re going to ask the parents of the other eight listed if the clothes belong to their children but it’s a bit of a long shot. As for their age, we don’t know what to
make of it. They could have come from a charity shop or one of those vintage places and the labs say they appear to have been washed relatively recently. Christ knows why you’d bury
them.’
    ‘What about Isaac?’ Jessica asked, changing the subject slightly.
    The chief inspector looked pained. His own children were barely older than the boy she had found in the car boot. ‘Our people who were looking after his mother before the body was found
are still with her. We’ve all got the reports about how he went missing. All we know so far is that there was no apparent sexual assault on him. That’s one thing, I guess, but it does
leave us without a motive for whoever took him. We’ve got officers looking into the usual suspects, family members and the like, but a lot of that had already been examined when it was a
missing person’s case. There’s nothing new to report.’
    There was a silence as the three detectives looked at each other, hoping for inspiration. ‘We should get someone looking into unsolved cases from ten to fifteen years ago,’ Jessica
said. ‘I know it’s a lot of work but maybe there’ll be something that could link to the clothes? If not that then I guess it’s the media?’
    Cole nodded his approval. ‘We have people walking back through the woods to see if we missed anything but there’s nothing yet. Another team are heading off to the allotment later to
see if there’s anything more there. We contacted the people who run the plots on either side of number sixty-one last night but none of them say they’ve ever seen anyone around that
land. We don’t know if the driver is the person who used that shed and, even if he is, we don’t know
who
he is. We’re still looking into Glenn Harrison as the plot is in
his name but we definitely know the address listed with the allotment secretary doesn’t exist.’
    The DCI paused for a moment, peering at Jessica. ‘Do you think Isaac could have been kept at the shed?’
    Jessica shrugged. ‘Maybe but there was nothing there to suggest that. Unless he was drugged or subdued or something, anyone nearby could have heard him shouting. I don’t know how it
all connects together. Given the direction the stolen car was going when it crashed, it’s possible the driver could have been heading away from the allotments but we didn’t see any food
or anything that would give the game away. It just looked abandoned.’
    Reynolds had been quiet for a few minutes but leant forward and spoke forcefully. ‘What I don’t get is how this list of children was put together.’ He held up the photocopy to
show them what he meant. ‘We’ve all read through this but how would you know their names and addresses? A couple go to the same school, some of the others live close to each other but
there’s nothing apparent to link them, aside from the fact they’re all boys between the ages of ten and twelve. So how would you know who they were and where they lived?’
    It was something Jessica had briefly considered but not had time to think about properly. ‘I can’t see how it would be a teacher but maybe someone who has access to school admittance
records? It’d still leave a