Free SHADOW OVER THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of suspense by JOY ELLIS

pain. The one thing she did know was that he had once been a soldier, a special forces operative. And she had the distinct idea that Billy Sweet came from that area of his past.
    She stirred her coffee thoughtfully and contemplated the word eggshells. ‘Right. Before you tell me to butt out, my friend, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. What I say may not be my true opinion, but hear me out.’
    Joseph looked at her over the top of his coffee mug, and nodded silently.
    ‘Clearly you haven’t seen this person for years. Could you possibly be mistaken?’
    ‘He looked exactly the same as I remember him, and his face is etched on my memory for reasons that I’d prefer not to discuss, ma’am,’ said Joseph stonily.
    ‘Well, that’s odd for starters. He should have aged.’
    ‘Maybe he had. I didn’t see him for more than a second or two.’
    Nikki decided not to press the point that if he’d only seen him fleetingly, he could well have been wrong. ‘Moving on. Is it probable that this man should turn up in Greenborough?’
    ‘No. Highly improbable.’ Joseph ran a hand through his hair and shook his head slowly. ‘I thought about that the last time I saw him and . . .’
    ‘You’ve seen him before?’ she exclaimed. ‘You never said!’
    ‘It was when I was driving out to see Dr Latimer.’
    ‘I knew you were troubled by something when you came back! I thought Helen had upset you.’
    Joseph told her about his encounter, then sat back and shrugged. ‘I’d convinced myself that it was just some guy that reminded me of Billy Sweet. But now, I’m sure it was him, ma’am. Dead certain.’
    ‘Does he have some sort of unfinished business with you, Joseph?’
    Joseph’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t know. Maybe he knew that I suspected him of some terrible things, maybe not. The other men he served with didn’t want him near them either. He was fearless, but he was a psycho, ma’am. And a loose cannon like that could cost you your life, or that of your comrades. But no, the last I heard he had shipped out and joined a private security force, by that time I was in Civvy Street. End of story, or so I thought.’
    ‘You once told me you had a bad mission, was he part of it?’
    Joseph closed his eyes. ‘I can’t go there right now, ma’am.’
    Nikki knew the answer. ‘Okay. So what do we do next?’
    ‘I don’t know.’ He scratched his head. ‘Why on earth would he be here?’
    ‘I suggest we ask him.’
    His eyes widened. ‘And how are we going to do that? He’s like a will-o'-the-wisp. Here one moment and gone the next.’
    ‘Well, did you notice his clothes?’
    Joseph thought for a minute. ‘Dark zipper jacket, thin nylon material, black jeans and a T-shirt. Pale, dirty white or grey, maybe. Shoes were some kind of suede trainers, really grubby.’
    Nikki nodded. ‘Good. Excellent, in fact. Let’s go back to the control room and get them to track him. Hopefully there’s more than one camera in this town that is actually working, so they should have a good chance of spotting him. Especially if he decided to play chicken in the middle of the Greenborough High Road yesterday, don’t you think?’
    ‘Good point, ma’am. And I appreciate your concern, but this is hardly a police matter. We’ve got a lot of work to do on Martin’s case.’
    ‘Naturally the investigation comes first, but I don’t want some creepy shit freaking out my detectives! So we deal with him, then get on with our own work, okay?’
    Joseph stood up, looking slightly less harassed. ‘Let’s do it.’
    * * *
    ‘What do you mean, inconclusive?’ Nikki felt her temperature begin to rise.
    ‘Sorry ma’am, we found the incident that Sergeant Easter described, but the footage is too grainy to identify anyone specific. It’s certainly not clear enough to lift an image.’
    ‘Oh great! Okay, let me have a tape of it anyway. Thanks for trying.’
    The woman left and Nikki sank down in her chair. If they had