Free Settled Blood by Mari Hannah Page A

hard hat on
her head, the chin strap of which was hanging loose around her neck.
    Something slithered past her right calf.
    She was sure it was nibbling at her skin.
    A rat?
    Something worse than a rat?
    Jessica struggled but the shackles held firm. She screamed at the top of her voice, trying to look down without knocking off the hat, her terrified eyes searching the water below. Whatever it
was, it slithered past again and she screamed even louder, her voice echoing in the chamber beyond . . .
    HELP!
    And then she noticed something else. Something even more terrifying than whatever was swimming around her in the water below. It was the colour that caught her eye, one she’d hated all her
life. To some it signified triumph, courage and determination. To others, danger, rage, malevolence . . . blood. To her it was the colour of nightmares since the night her mother passed away. At
first she thought she was seeing things. Fear did that to people, didn’t it? Surely her mind was playing tricks. But as she strained her eyes to look again, she realized she was right. Her
dress. No . . . not
her
dress. Someone else’s.
    Why?
    And why hadn’t her abductors gagged her?
    There could be only one possible explanation.
    She was in a place too remote to be heard.

16
    D aniels glanced through the open door hoping to catch a few minutes with her former boss. Detective Chief Superintendent Bright hung up as she entered the room, tapping on the
door on her way in.
    Ellen Crawford smiled as she walked in.
    ‘Am I interrupting?’ Daniels asked.
    ‘No, I was just leaving.’ Ellen made a show of looking at her watch. ‘As soon as Phil signs his mail, which has been sitting on his desk for hours.’
    Bright smiled at her. ‘Don’t suppose you could organize a cup of tea for DCI Daniels before you go? One for me too, if you’re boiling the kettle; I know how you love to save
the planet.’
    ‘I’m your PA, not your tea lady.’ Ellen’s eyes flashed, warning him not to push his luck. But she was smiling when she turned to Daniels. ‘What’s he like? How
on earth you’ve put up with him all these years is beyond me, it really is!’
    Bright scribbled his name on various documents. As he handed them to Ellen, Daniels’ eyes slid over her. She was a woman of indeterminate age; mid to late forties, Daniels guessed. She had
the body of someone half her age, good skin and perfect teeth, her own, not manufactured in some laboratory. She had great hair too, red to match her fiery personality.
    ‘How about that tea?’ Bright made a begging gesture. ‘Just this once?’
    ‘It’s fine, Ellen,’ Daniels said. ‘I can make my own tea and so can he.’
    Ellen relented. ‘Milk, no sugar?’
    ‘You sure?’
    The PA smiled.
    Daniels took a seat as she left the room.
    Bright spoke up as she shut the door. ‘What have
you
got that I haven’t?
    ‘Appreciation might do it.’ She grinned. ‘It usually works a treat, guv.’
    ‘You any further forward? Adam must be desperate for news.’
    ‘Well, he’s going to be disappointed.’
    ‘How’s he holding up?’
    Daniels shrugged. ‘As well as can be expected, I suppose.’
    ‘House-to-house come up with anything?’
    ‘Have you seen his place? It’s miles from the nearest village, not a neighbour in sight – thousands of acres of land accessible from all points on the compass. It’s a
bloody nightmare.’
    ‘I meant around the crime scene.’
    ‘That’s even worse! Open countryside. Big sky. Sheep. And not a lot else. There’s hardly any CCTV from Greenhead in the west all the way to Heddon-on-the-Wall in the east.
I’ve got officers with local knowledge helping us, but it isn’t going to be easy. There are only forty or so buildings within a four-mile radius. Some of those are derelict. I’m
having them all checked out, but my guts are telling me we’re wasting our time up there. You
do
know it’s also a military training area?’ She didn’t wait for an