Free The Killer Inside: A gripping serial killer thriller (Detective Jessica Daniel thriller series Book 1) by Kerry Wilkinson Page B

sensitive when you get him on his own.’
    Jessica winked. ‘They all are.’
    The flushing of the toilet brought an end to their conversation but, before Randall could return, Jessica’s phone rang. It took her a few seconds to locate it. She had dumped her bag by her shoes next to the living room doorway and forgotten to take her phone out. She answered a moment before it would have rung off.
    It was Cole.
    ‘DS Daniel? Another body’s been found.’

Chapter Eleven
    T here would have been no instant reason to link this second killing to the first – no reason, that was, until Jessica saw the crime scene. The house was less than half a mile from Yvonne Christensen’s residence. This time, the victim was found in an armchair in the living room. It looked as if there had been more of a struggle, but there were still deep, vicious wounds in the victim’s neck.
    There was one other major difference: this time, the victim was male.
    After viewing the crime scene, Jessica headed into the interview room at Longsight, not knowing how to feel. She had been at work the entire day and the wine she’d shared with Caroline on an empty stomach was only now wearing off. It was late, and she was tired. As time edged into the late evening, her stomach started rumbling and she didn’t feel right. Any crime scene could be enough to make a person feel a bit queasy, but Jessica guessed that a large part of how she was feeling was down to mixed emotions. A part of her was exhilarated that something was now happening, and relieved that she wasn’t necessarily a failure. But another part of her was feeling guilty about feeling that way, because after all, someone had died.
    DI Cole was already sitting at the table opposite the station’s duty solicitor, who was next to a terrified-looking young man.
    Jonathan Prince still lived at home with his parents, despite being twenty-two. He had come home from work and found the body of his father, Martin, in an armchair – photos of which the Scenes of Crime Officers would be taking right now.
    Cole started the tape and Jessica spoke to confirm everyone’s name, plus the time and date, before pausing for a moment. ‘Are you okay, Jonathan?’ she asked.
    No response.
    ‘Jonathan?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m okay…?’ The young man made it sound like a question.
    ‘I have to ask you a few questions, all right, Jonathan? I know you’ve had a horrible time, but anything you can tell us will help us find out who did this. Do you understand?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah… I know.’
    ‘Can you tell me what you’ve done today?’
    Jonathan took his time, blinking away the tears that seemed permanently close to falling. He said he had got up and gone to work as normal. He was a builder, and left the house at half past six every morning. His mum, who worked as a secretary for the council, was always up at that time too, although Jonathan rarely saw his dad before he got home. His dad had used to work for a printing company but had been laid off a few years before. He hadn’t found work since, and rarely left the house.
    ‘He couldn’t find anything to do with himself and no one wanted to give him a chance because of his age,’ Jonathan said. ‘He became a different person. Not bitter… Just sad .’
    Jonathan explained that he had thought a few times about moving out, but his rent helped pay his parents’ mortgage and he didn’t want to leave them in a tough situation.
    ‘Okay, this is going to be hard, Jonathan, but can you talk us through finding your dad?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘It was about three o’clock or so,’ Jonathan started, ‘and we were done for the day. I didn’t have anything on, so I went to the pub for a bit with a few guys from work. After that, I was going to go home and play on the PlayStation.’
    ‘Did you drive home?’
    ‘No, God no. I’d been drinking. Got a taxi.’
    ‘And what happened when you got there?’
    ‘I let myself into the house…’
    ‘So the front