Free Poisoned Blue (Jamie Stanley Crime Scene Investigation Series Book 1) by Katie L Thompson

the
pub on their own.”
    She slowly
manoeuvred her body out of bed, feeling as though it wasn’t attached to her,
knowing she couldn’t stay in the darkened room all day.
    “I didn’t
drink that much,” she moaned as she shuffled across the kitchen floor in her
Scottie dog slippers.
    “Nice jim
jams,” Carl said.
    Jamie opened
her eyes wider. “What are you doing here?” she screamed, the banging in her
head made her wish she hadn’t.
    “You don’t
remember, do you? I came home with you guys ‘cause your house was closer. Pink
really suits you, you know? Not keen on the baggy bottoms though.”
    “They’re
pyjama trousers, what do you expect?”
    “Something a
little sexier, maybe some lace.”
    Alex, who had
stayed scarily quiet for the past two minutes, said, “Don’t you guys have
somewhere to be?”
    Her stomach
turned at the sight of the bacon sandwiches on the table. She retreated to the
safety of her room.
    Opening her
wardrobe, she picked out the first outfit she saw.
    “Jamie, we got
to go,” Carl shouted.
    “Just a
minute.” She slipped a simple, black, v-neck top over her head and tugged on a
pair of baby pink jeans. On her way out of the door she grabbed a chunky
necklace.
    At the
station, Danny was already looking through the file on the fatal car crash that
Sara’s parents had been involved in.
    “Very little
here,” he said, showing Carl and Jamie the single sheet of paper. “There was
however, one survivor.”
    “Who?” Carl
asked.
    “You’ll never
guess … Greg, Mrs Longacre’s ex-husband.”
    “Why didn’t he
tell us?”
    “There are a
lot of secrets in this family. I think there’s a lot of stuff we’re not being
told,” Danny said.
    “We need to
talk to him again,” Carl said.
    “And, we still
need to talk to Mr Longacre about this mysterious woman.”
    There was a
knock on the door, although it was left open the person didn’t come inside.
    “Come in,”
Danny called.
    Neil Longacre
walked into the office.
    “Just the
person we wanted to talk to,” Carl said.
    “I heard my
name mentioned from outside. I just came to see if you were any closer to
solving the case. When can I go back to my house?”
    “Sorry, the
house is still a crime scene. We can’t let you back in there.” Danny waved for Neil
to take a seat opposite him.
    “The house is
just sitting there. It’s not like you’ve been anywhere near it recently.”
    “How do you
know that?” Danny looked curious.
    “No reason,
the neighbours are just keeping an eye on it for me.”
    “I thought you
didn’t get on with the neighbours.”
    “We, I, don’t.
It’s not a crime that the neighbours are watching out for people going to and
from my house, is it?” He’d put his defensive front up again.
    “No.”
    “We have some
questions to ask you,” Carl said before Neil could reply.
    “You always
seem to have questions for me. Maybe if you asked everyone else this many
questions you’d have solved the case by now.”
    “We are doing
our best,” Danny said, “however when people keep hiding vital information from
us it’s more difficult.”
    “I don’t know
what you’re talking about.” He stood up to leave.
    “You’ve been
seen around the area with a woman, who is she?” Danny asked.
    “I know a lot
of women, Mr Brookes.”
    “This wasn’t
just any woman, you two were very close.”
    “Probably just
a work client.”
    “No,
definitely not a work client. My colleague saw you and this woman by the
waterfall in the woods.”
    “I don’t know
of any waterfall and anyway, I haven’t been in the area.”
    Danny was fed
up of playing games. “Show him the picture.”
    Jamie slid the
printed version of the photograph out of its plastic wallet and showed it to
Neil. It was a little fuzzy, but you could clearly make out the two people.
    “Ah,” Neil
said, realising he’d been caught out. “She’s just … um she’s–”
    “Your bit on
the side,” Carl added helpfully.
    “I