DETECTIVE SOPHIE ALLEN
BOOKS 4-6
MICHAEL HAMBLING
THREE ENTHRALLING CRIME MYSTERIES
CLICK ON THE BOOK YOU WANT TO READ
BURIED CRIMES (Sophie Allen Book 4)
TWISTED CRIMES (Sophie Allen Book 5)
EVIL CRIMES (Sophie Allen Book 6)
Books 1-3 are also available in a box set
TABLE OF CONTENTS ALL BOOKS
BURIED CRIMES
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Butterfly Bush
Chapter 2: Local History
Chapter 3: The Worst Thing
Chapter 4: Be At Peace
Chapter 5: Bullying By Proxy
Chapter 6: Faces and Skulls
Chapter 7: Poems of Despair
Chapter 8: Youthful Trauma
Chapter 9: Six Avenues
Chapter 10: Salisbury
Chapter 11: Smoking in the Shadows
Chapter 12: Café Chat
Chapter 13: Walkies, Cuddles and Muesli
Chapter 14: Against the Cut
Chapter 15: Drama Queens
Chapter 16: Soil Samples
Chapter 17: A Happy Little Girl
Chapter 18: Hit and Run
Chapter 19: Infrequently Washed Knickers
Chapter 20: Camberwell Beauties
Chapter 21: Meticulously Pressed Trousers
Chapter 22: Dreadful Death
Chapter 23: Film Star Looks
Chapter 24: Snake
Chapter 25: At Finch Cottage
Chapter 26: On Tenterhooks
Chapter 27: Sisters
Chapter 28: Cynic
Chapter 29: Steamroller
Chapter 30: The Adventuress
Chapter 31: A Dead End
Chapter 32: Scones and Clotted Cream
Chapter 33: Chinese Whispers
Chapter 34: Whatever Makes You Happy
Chapter 35: Welcome to the Club
Chapter 36: Money Matters
Chapter 37: Funeral
TWISTED CRIMES
Prologue
CHAPTER 1: Missing
CHAPTER 2: Bad Moon Rising
CHAPTER 3: Crushed
CHAPTER 4: Uppers and Downers
CHAPTER 5: Morden Bog
CHAPTER 6: A Grim Task
CHAPTER 7: Scar
CHAPTER 8: Fidelio
CHAPTER 9: Tickled Toes
CHAPTER 10: Going Doolally
CHAPTER 11: Ripples on the Pond
CHAPTER 12: Mind Probe
CHAPTER 13: Smarties
CHAPTER 14: Paranoid
CHAPTER 15: A Blessing in Disguise
CHAPTER 16: Sleepover
CHAPTER 17: Follow the Money
CHAPTER 18: Family Questions
CHAPTER 19: Dense and Substantial
CHAPTER 20: Double Checking
CHAPTER 21: The Body in the Woods
CHAPTER 22: Mole Hunt
CHAPTER 23: Barbecue
CHAPTER 24: Sanitised
CHAPTER 25: Cool Smile
CHAPTER 26: Willy-Waggling
CHAPTER 27: Proposal
CHAPTER 28: Dark Horse
CHAPTER 29: Snubbed
CHAPTER 30: Taking the Bait
CHAPTER 31: Skate Park
CHAPTER 32: Death at the Waterside
CHAPTER 33: Poaching Plans
CHAPTER 34: Business Proposals
CHAPTER 35: Stitched Up
CHAPTER 36: Foot in the Door
CHAPTER 37: Balaclava and Baseball Bats
CHAPTER 38: Dirty Harry
CHAPTER 39: Greenhouse Fruit
CHAPTER 40: Catsuit
EVIL CRIMES
Prologue
Chapter 1: Discovery
Chapter 2: Extracts From the Diary of Edwina Davis
Chapter 3: Double Checking
Chapter 4: Dancing Ledge
Chapter 5: Investigations
Chapter 6: Exeter
Chapter 7: Liar! Cheat!
Chapter 8: Yum-Yum
Chapter 9: Wedding Plans
Chapter 10: Family Lunch
Chapter 11: Trompette Militaire
Chapter 12: The Game’s Afoot
Chapter 13: History Books and Sketchbook
Chapter 14: Slugs and Snails
Chapter 15: New Hair
Chapter 16: Organ Music
Chapter 17: Unease
Chapter 18: Sleeping Dogs
Chapter 19: High Heels
Chapter 20: Predator
Chapter 21: Weather Report
Chapter 22: Demons
Chapter 23: Distinctly Queasy
Chapter 24: Swearing and Spitting
Chapter 25: Bridesmaids
Chapter 26: Bruises and Scratches
Chapter 27: Flickering Thoughts in Deep Coma
Chapter 28: Squabbles
Chapter 29: Mistress Pandora
Chapter 30: Troubled Little Girl
Chapter 31: Too Clingy
Chapter 32: Arrest
Chapter 33: Something Bad
Chapter 34: Services Offered
Chapter 35: Jigsaw Puzzle
Chapter 36: Time to Go Home
Chapter 37: Childhood Truths
Acknowledgements
THE SOPHIE ALLEN BOOKS
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CHARACTER LIST
Glossary of English terms for US readers
BURIED CRIMES
A gripping detective thriller full of twists and turns
DCI SOPHIE ALLEN BOOK 4
MICHAEL HAMBLING
First published 2016
Joffe Books, London
www.joffebooks.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this. The Dorchester High School, mentioned in this novel, does not exist. Nor do its staff or pupils.
The right of Michael Hambling to be identified as the author of the work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
©Michael Hambling
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Dedications
To my parents, Nora and Bob. Always supportive and always remembered.
To the memory of the late William S Bennet (died spring 1980, Girvan, Ayrshire). Bill was an intelligent and supportive friend and colleague who made a major contribution to my early adult life. He died tragically young.
Prologue
Midnight.
Leaves, damp bark, stone, dew-covered petals, all reflected the silvery sheen of moonlight. Even the soil in the garden seemed to shimmer with a metallic glow, except for a patch of newly turned earth. Its blackness swallowed any light that fell upon its surface, like a dark star. In the centre stood a newly planted butterfly bush, a figure in miniature, protruding from the shadowy earth. It was less than fifteen inches tall. Its erstwhile home, a plastic pot, was lying to one side of the patch, upturned next to a garden fork spiked into the ground.
The late-night gardener stood back from the freshly turned bed and looked at the results of the past hour’s efforts. Droplets of perspiration, shining in the moonlight, r
an down a pale face and onto the chin, spattering the dark blue jacket. A cat wandered by and paused nervously for a while, tail twitching, hearing the sound of laboured breathing. The gardener leant heavily on a spade and looked around. Nothing disturbed the silence of the cool night. The figure stood looking down at the newly planted bush for several minutes before slowly gathering the tools together and walking back towards the house. The terrible task was completed.
Chapter 1: The Butterfly Bush
Friday night and Saturday morning
Midnight.
A creak. Possibly an old timber contracting in the cool night air.
Jill Freeman lay awake watching the fuzzy outline of the moon through thin curtains. She could hear and feel Philip, her husband, gently breathing beside her, in a deep slumber. In the moments before he fell asleep, he’d told her how contented and happy he felt. She and Phil had moved to the house in Dorchester ten months previously, in early summer, along with their two children, Karen and Paul. It was the kind of house that families such as theirs could usually only dream about. An old, detached dwelling in one of the town’s leafier areas, a throwback to an earlier century. It sat among a hotchpotch of Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian buildings.
Finch Cottage had seemed like heaven for the family of four, after their cramped and noisy terraced house in Bristol. Some of the neighbours were undoubted snobs, but it was a benign kind of snobbery, harmless. And anyway, the area was close enough to permit the Freemans to maintain regular social contact with their Bristolian friends. They were a cheerful and gregarious family who, given time, would fit in to their new social environment. A benevolent great-aunt of Jill’s had recently died and left them a substantial inheritance. She would have approved of their use of the money. They had bought property in an upmarket area, and invested the remainder of the cash wisely.
Jill and Philip were good parents, ambitious for their children. They had married rather later than average, in their late twenties. Now they were fairly fit forty-year-olds, active and careful of their health. Philip was tall and slim. Despite his fair hair, he tanned easily. His freckles multiplied now that he was spending more time outside in the open air. Jill was rather more fit than her husband, but she was shorter, darker and of a heavier build. Karen, the twelve-year-old daughter, was tall, fair and slim whereas the ten-year-old son, Paul, was dark, heavier and shorter like his mother.
The cluster of houses in their immediate neighbourhood, close to St Paul’s church, were all attractive detached properties with sizable gardens. Their new home had been somewhat neglected by its previous owners in recent years, so the Freemans had planned to renovate. This was why Philip had fallen asleep so easily. He had completed the redecoration and fitting of the lounge (sitting room, as the neighbours called it), and they had celebrated by inviting some old friends who were on holiday in Dorset, for dinner that evening. It had been unusually mild for early spring and the four of them had been able to sit with the French windows open, showing a view of the sunset. The Freemans were pleased with their redecoration. Phil’s new job was based in the local town planning office, and his contact with developers and builders had helped him in his DIY work. Their dinner guests ran a small building firm, and Philip had tapped into their knowledge. Bob Walker had helped Phil refit the kitchen before they moved in. He had complimented the Freemans on their choice of decor.
In bed, Philip had talked of his plans for the following day. He would start work on the garden. Many of the trees and shrubs required pruning after several years of unrestricted growth. He was planning to move a buddleia to a more open, sunny position where it might attract a greater number of insects. Then he had turned over and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.
Jill continued to lie awake, uneasy thoughts swirling around in her head. It wasn’t until well into the silent, early hours that she finally fell into a fitful sleep.
* * *
The next morning Philip was in the garden with Karen. He had decided to go ahead with his plans to move the aged, gnarled buddleia, despite the light rain that had started falling during the night. The ground was now sticky and wet, and both were dressed in old clothes and boots.
‘Why’s it called a butterfly bush, Dad?’ asked Karen.
She had finished clearing away some weeds and other debris from the area around the shrub. She stood, leaning on a fork. Her father had begun to dig a trench around the roots, preparing to lever out the plant.
‘The flowers must be attractive to them. Not just butterflies. Lots of other insects too.’
‘How much longer will it take?’ the girl continued. ‘I thought we’d be finished by now. I’m getting tired.’
‘Not too much longer. The preparation always takes longer than you expect, and we’ve done all that now.’ He looked up at the grey sky. The drizzle was starting to turn into a definite downpour. ‘You start at the other side,’ he added. ‘Let’s try to get it out before we get completely soaked.’ He wondered about postponing the final stage of the work, but looked at their mud-caked clothes. It would be easier just to work on, and then clean up with a bath or shower.
‘There’s an old bit of rug or something under this end, Dad,’ Karen said. ‘The fork keeps getting stuck in it.’
‘Take the spade and chop it downwards to clear whatever’s there. It should come out then.’
Philip kept digging, his damp shirt beginning to stick to his back. He heard his daughter suddenly gasp, and looked up. Karen stood with her mouth open, her eyes riveted on the object she held out. Decayed and rotten fabric had partly fallen away from the lump she had freed and picked up. It revealed the bones of a small, human hand severed at the wrist.
Philip looked at his daughter in horror. She had turned deathly white. She stood, mouth agape, staring at what she was holding, as if unable to let it go.
‘Drop it!’ he hissed urgently.
She looked at him uncomprehendingly, then dropped the hand. She moaned once and began to topple over. He caught her limp body before it fell to the ground, hugging her to him as he carried her back to the house.
* * *
The streets around Finch Cottage had rarely seen such activity. Within a few minutes of Philip Freeman’s emergency phone call a squad car had arrived, followed shortly after by a doctor called out to treat the shocked young girl. Karen was pale, and shivered in uncontrollable spasms, still gasping with occasional sobs. She sat, hunched forward, wrapped in several layers of blankets in the warmest room in the house. White knuckles showed the tightness of her grip on the covers. Her thin, white face looked pinched and tearful.
The doctor was present for just five minutes. He talked to Karen, administered a mild sedative and suggested a warm bath followed by a spell in bed. Her father declined a sedative for himself, opting instead for a hot shower and a cup of tea.
‘She’s a lovely girl,’ said the policewoman as Jill led Karen upstairs to the bathroom. Two constables had made a quick inspection of the excavation spot before the older one had returned to the house. Her younger colleague remained outside watching the site, sheltering from the pouring rain in the garden shed. She had spoken to her headquarters by radio, and then talked to Karen and the doctor before he left.
‘What do you think?’ Philip asked, once his daughter was out of the room.
The policewoman shrugged. ‘Can’t say. There is still some old rug or carpet visible, but it’s impossible to say how much. We’ll just wait until the forensic team and the officer in charge arrives.’
‘It could be entirely innocent, I suppose. There are meant to be remains from an old battle all around here.’
‘But they wouldn’t have wrapped the body in a carpet, sir,’ she answered. ‘It’s likely to be quite recent. But as I’ve said, it’s not worth speculating at present.’ She took a cup of tea out to her colleague. The rain was falling more heavily now.
* * *
It was falling in torrents as Detective Chief Inspector Sophie Alle
n stood gazing out from her office window. Her hands were thrust deep into the pockets of her fashionable cardigan. The weather matched her current mood, which was somewhat dark and brooding. She stared at the view stretched out below her second floor window: deserted pathways awash with water. After all, it was a Saturday morning. Who would want to come to work on a morning like this, unless they had to? Well, she’d only called in to collect some paperwork to take home. There was no point in planning any outdoor activities on a morning like this. The door opened and an administrative assistant walked confidently into the room, only to stop suddenly when he realised that the small office was not empty. Sophie looked round.
‘Sorry, ma’am. The light wasn’t on, so I didn’t think anyone was here.’ The young man hesitated, apparently unsure what to do next. He waved the single sheet of paper that he held in his hand. ‘The chief’s office asked me to put a copy on your desk ready for Monday. Last month’s provisional figures.’
Sophie merely nodded, so the young man dropped the paper on the desk, then backed towards the door. ‘Do you want me to put the light on, ma’am?’ he asked.
Sophie sighed. ‘You might as well. I’d better have some light so I don’t take home the wrong report.’ Before she could return her gaze to the damp scene outside, her telephone rang. She picked it up and listened to the message. As she listened, she stood taller, her green eyes opened wider and the frown vanished. She played with an earring and pushed a few loose strands of pale hair back behind her ear.
‘No, I’ll go myself,’ she said. ‘Who’s there at the moment?’ She listened. ‘Get back to them. I shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. And arrange for a forensic team, will you? Make sure there’s an outdoor specialist included. They can move in as soon as the pathologist has finished. Until I decide what we’re dealing with, we treat it as suspicious and do it properly.’
She replaced the receiver, swung her waterproof jacket from the back of her chair and hurried out of the room.