Little Boy Blue: DI Helen Grace 5 (A DI Helen Grace Thriller) by M. J. Arlidge Read Free Book Online

this over with, shall we? I don’t want to be here any more than you do.’
    He rose abruptly, clearly keen to get the formal identification of his son over and done with. Moira followed suit, hurrying after her departing husband.
    As she left, she glanced briefly back at Helen. After her husband’s harsh words, Helen had expected to see some embarrassment there, perhaps even contrition. But not a bit of it.
    The look Moira now gave Helen was one of pure scorn.

20
    Her fist slammed into the metal, rebounding off it violently. Without hesitating, she raised her arm again, ploughing her clenched fist into the unyielding surface. This time her impact was true and the metal buckled under the assault. Wincing, Helen withdrew her hand and stepped back to survey the damage. To her shame, she saw that she had left a large dent on the unfortunate locker door – a complement to the bloody knuckles on her right hand.
    She turned away, furious with herself, but angrier still with Jake’s parents. They seemed so dismissive, so fixed in their view of him, yet if they had known their son
at all
, they would have known that he was kind, generous and loving. They refused to see that, remaining blinkered to the bitter end. What must it be like to live your life that way, Helen wondered, to sacrifice so much on the altar of your principles? Would it bring them happiness in the end? She suspected not.
    Helen hadn’t trusted herself to return to the incident room straight away, so had been pacing the ladies’ locker room ever since, trying to quell her growing anger. Helen knew that indignation and fury were sometimes positives, driving you to work harder and faster, but this wasn’t like that. For the first time in years, Helen felt outof control. She hadn’t slept at all, which didn’t help, but still she was surprised at how upset and disoriented she was by the morning’s events. She knew that, for Jake’s sake, she had to find a way to contain her emotions. She couldn’t run a major investigation in this state.
    A sharp knocking sound made her look up. Seconds later, the door swung open and Charlie entered, clutching a thin file.
    ‘Sorry to disturb you. I looked for you in the interview suite and Gardam’s office but –’
    ‘No problem,’ Helen said quickly, slipping her grazed hand into her pocket. ‘What have you got?’
    Charlie pulled a sheet of paper from the file, but hesitated now before replying. The look on her face suggested she knew Helen was upset and was perhaps debating whether to say anything. In the end caution won out and, dropping her eyes to the paper, she said:
    ‘We’ve made a bit of progress with Elder’s communications. He sometimes used texts and emails to set up his appointments, but his favoured method of communicating with his clients was Snapchat.’
    ‘Right.’
    ‘Now, most people assume that when Snapchats disappear, they disappear for good, but actually the phone companies store them. We pulled Elder’s this morning, along with his recent texts and emails, so we’ve now got pretty much every communication he sent or received in the last three months.’
    ‘And?’ Helen said, hurrying Charlie to the point.
    ‘Well, we cross-referenced them with mobile phonesthat were transmitting in or near the Torture Rooms on the night Jake was killed and we’ve got a list of about twenty numbers.’
    Helen took this in – their first small lead in a difficult case. As she did so, she saw Charlie’s eyes flit to the dented locker, before quickly returning to Helen once more. If there was a question implied there, Charlie hid it well.
    ‘Any links to anyone with a criminal record?’
    ‘Not yet, but we’re still processing them.’
    ‘Chase them all down,’ Helen replied impatiently. ‘Anything else?’
    ‘One regular texter who
wasn’t
in the vicinity was David Simons. He appears to have been in a serious relationship with Elder until fairly recently.’
    Helen said nothing, her mind