Square Snapper (Detective Inspector Burgess) by Deborah Middleton Read Free Book Online Page A

always stated the obvious as if it was an innovative idea and left everyone else to do all the legwork? When would he ever suggest something constructive that really could assist him? He also knew that he would want to go in front of the press and claim any credit, once they caught the murderer. He was famous for his grandstanding and for coveting the limelight.
    “Burgess, are you listening to me?”
    “Yessir.”
    “This heroin… very bad. What with Cup Match coming up, we have to make sure more people aren’t killed by it. I imagine there’ll be more dealing over the holiday. Your team had better be vigilant.”
    “Yessir.”
    “How many have you got on duty over at the Somerset Cricket Club?”
    “We’ve got eighty men in uniform and twenty undercover. We are liaising with Narcotics and the armed response unit, in case we need them and we have metal detectors and sniffer dogs at the gates. The Somerset Cricket Club has also hired its own security and we are liaising with them. We are deploying a few more men than last year and that seemed to be more than enough.”
    “Good. Anything else?”
    “Not at this time, sir.”
    “Okay, keep me informed and let me know if anything develops asap.”
    “Yessir.” Burgess made good his escape.
    As the young detective left, the superintendent wondered just how on top of things Burgess really was. He was hard to read; never seemed to communicate more than the barest of details. His reputation was rock solid and he had a good record for catching criminals, but the recent spate of murders was troubling. He hoped Burgess was up to the task. Maybe he should talk to the commissioner about calling in Scotland Yard. He really hated the thought of them coming over, solving the case and getting all the credit. By extension, his men would look incapable and that might spill over on to him and his leadership skills. No, best wait a little longer. Maybe they would get a promising lead and put this all to bed before it went any further.
     
    Chapter 12
     
     
    Back in his office, D.I. Burgess had assembled his team. They had turned a small conference room into a “murder room” complete with a large whiteboard ready for them to note all their findings and theories. Various photographs of the victims and crime scenes were already in evidence on the board. Archie, Pamela Zuill, Sergeant De Souza and several officers from Narcotics were present as well as the head of the Canadian forensics team, a woman by the name of Jan du Bois. Burgess introduced her to the other members and watched their reaction to her, pretending to consult his notebook. She had short hair cut almost in a Mohawk and wore shorts and a t-shirt with open sandals. Not what you would normally expect from a forensics specialist but, then again, define what a forensics specialist should look like. All he had heard was that she was a fine scientist and, apparently, after a couple of drinks was the life and soul of a party with a keen sense of humour and some hilarious work-related stories. He could certainly live with that.
    He cleared his throat. “Let’s get started. So far we have nothing concrete but we do have a theory for the motive of Rhonda Mayberry’s murder.” He went on to explain what they had found at the beach and the “square snapper” drug importation theory. “Miss du Bois, can you give us anything further on the forensics?”
    “Yes, Inspector. First of all, we managed to lift some partial prints from the spear gun but have yet to find a match on Canadian, U.S. or U.K. databases. We’ll start working with your neighbours to the south to see if there is anybody on file in the Islands. As far as the tyre treads are concerned, you were right. We have matched them to a pick-up truck. These particular tyres are more commonly found on the Suzuki, which I know is popular here. Unfortunately, there was nothing to tell us what colour but we believe, from the tyres, if they are the originals, the year