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

lot of questions about why those nine specifically. It could be someone who worked in a doctor’s surgery, or one of the local cub or scout leaders –
even the coach of a football team. It’s a mystery but I don’t know where we’d start.’
    There was another silence but this time no one had anything else of note to add. They were all struggling to understand quite how all of the elements linked together.
    Jessica eventually broke the silence. ‘If you’re both happy to take the briefing downstairs, I’ll go visit the secretary guy from the allotments. I doubt he’ll have
anything but you never know.’ The two men nodded; clearly relieved it was one job they weren’t going to have to do. ‘I’ll go downstairs and set someone looking into unsolved
cases first of all,’ Jessica added.
    She stood but Cole called her back before she got to the door. ‘Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. I know it’s a pain but we’re all supposed to be having new photos taken for the
website tomorrow. You’d think the press office would have better things to be working on but there’s some relaunch happening. I’ve got the paperwork somewhere . . .’
    Jessica exchanged a look with Jason, who seemed as nonplussed as she felt.
    She responded with an ‘All right, I’ll be here’, then left the office and made her way downstairs, striding through to the main floor, which seemed to be a hub of confusion,
the various officers waiting to find out what they were supposed to be doing. Jessica had no problems spotting Izzy, her flash of red hair standing out against the rest of the bodies. She moved
across the room and sat on the corner of the desk the constable was working from.
    ‘All right?’ Jessica asked.
    Izzy glanced up. ‘Oh no, you’ve got that look.’
    ‘What look?’
    Diamond widened her eyes. ‘That look that says you’ve got a shitty job you want me to do.’
    ‘I’m really going to have to work on that poker face.’
    Izzy smiled. ‘Let’s have it then.’
    Jessica did her best to look sorry as she spoke. ‘Obviously you know everything’s a bit of a mess at the moment and no one knows how it all fits together . . . well, I want you to
grab a couple of people and start looking through the cold cases. Those clothes we found in the woods are around thirteen years old. They were washed fairly recently but could still relate to
something that happened back then. They’re children’s clothes so start with anything that seems relevant: missing kids, dead kids, kids who were in accidents, that kind of thing. You
might not find anything and it’s not as if there’s a shortage of children wearing football shirts but we don’t have much else at present.’
    Although it would be a long-winded job, Jessica knew Izzy was ruthlessly efficient and would be the best person to coordinate something from the station.
    As she had been speaking, the constable had begun to take notes. ‘All right, I’ll get on it,’ Izzy said, starting to add something before stopping herself.
    ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Jessica asked. The constable put a hand on her stomach. Again it seemed as if she had done so unconsciously.
    ‘It just . . . makes you think, doesn’t it?’ She paused for a moment but Jessica waited. ‘You’re bringing kids into this world where someone is cataloguing their
details, kidnapping and killing them. I don’t even know what to say about it.’
    Jessica wasn’t sure what to add. If she was pregnant, the same thoughts would surely be weighing on her mind too. As it was, Izzy shunted her chair backwards, standing to indicate she was
ready to get to work. Jessica put a hand on her shoulder, smiling in as reassuring a manner as she could. It felt a little silly but Izzy seemed to appreciate the sentiment.
    ‘I’ll call in later,’ Jessica said. ‘I’m off to meet the allotment society secretary.’
    She had volunteered to go because she wanted to feel as if she was doing something. The