Free Spiritwalker by Siobhan Corcoran

woman drove up behind us like a bat of hell and ran us off the road.  I had to leave Sassy behind.  I didn't have time to get her.”
    “Sassy's not dead? You don't have her?” Jane asked, trying to make sense of what he was saying.  Her relief was palpable “So who did you kill?” fearful of the answer in case it might be Eva or Andrew.
    “Just some old man, I needed his car.”  His response was so blasé it made her shudder.  “Couldn't let him tell them about me.  They would try to separate us, take you away from me. I don't want to talk about it anymore” He rose to leave.
                Jane wasn’t having any of it she had to know what was going on.  “What man did you kill?  Was it Andrew?”  She dreaded the answer but not knowing would be worse.
    “No. just some old guy.  He was nearly dead anyway.  He smelled of piss and whiskey, disgusting.”
    She could tell he was starting to get worked up again, she could read him like a book.   She wanted to know who he meant by the crazy Irishwoman, so she asked.  “Who was the woman who ran you off the road?”
    “That bitch.... She's staying with your sister.  A private detective, a fucking busybody, I'll kill her yet and that's a promise.” 
    Jane could see he was getting agitated again, dangerously so.    She stopped asking questions.  He left and this time she didn't try to stop him. She heard the key being turned in the lock.  She was alone again and she relaxed a little.  She took comfort from the knowledge that her sister hadn't given up on her.  This woman must be good, she had foiled his plans and really got under his skin. Jane prayed would find her soon she was beginning to lose hope.
     
     

Chapter eleven
     
                            DI Morley arrived at the crime scene within fifteen minutes.  The PC on duty waved him through.  He parked the car and noticed that the forensics team were already there taking photographs and dusting for prints.  The pathologist had yet to arrive.  He walked around to the back-door and a tired DS Waters greeted him. 
    “There you are Guv.  I told them to call you.  It looks like it might be connected to our abduction last night.”
    “What happened?”  Morley asked.
    “It looks like the deceased was answering the door when he was attacked.  It looks like he was strangled and his head smashed in.  He didn't stand a chance. Poor bloke.”  Morley went into the kitchen and lowered the sheet covering the corpse.  The man was lying on his back, eyes open staring vacantly ahead.  Dried blood was congealed on the floor under his head and dark marks were clearly visible around his neck.”
    “Any idea how long he's been dead?”
    “Sometime yesterday evening at the earliest.  His neighbour dropped him off home at about ten.  They had been out playing darts in the local. He didn't see anything unusual. His sister called this morning she usually took him grocery shopping on Sundays into Canterbury. Apparently he was banned from driving due to poor eyesight.  When she got here she rang the front door-bell, got no answer, she went around the back and this is what greeted her.”
    “So it might not have been our man from last night?  He was on the loose later.”
    “Well Guv, we have an eye witness who swears that he saw a man fitting our suspect’s description running this way around the same time as the other incident.”
    “Is the witness reliable?  Is he sure of the time?”
    “He seems adamant.”
    Okay, will you get his details I'll talk to him later, and for god’s sake go home to bed, you're beginning to look like something out of the Walking Dead .  Oh and I'm changing your rota, I want you on this case with me.  I'll square it with the Super.  Be in at seven in the morning.”
                Morley went in search of the deceased’s sister.  She was sitting in the living room drinking tea and being comforted by a female