The ship had set sail on time at 6.30 p.m. After a meal in the luxury dining room he had a couple of drinks in the bar and then made his way back to his room. Maybe it was the fresh sea air, or maybe it was the sheer exhaustion of the last few days but it didn’t take him long to nod off to sleep. To imagine a life in which his daughter was still around.
In his dream, he could see her face as he took her down to the equestrian centre and told her the place was hers. He could feel Julie close to him. It was the first night for as long as he could remember he had slept soundly all night without the recurring nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
EDEN AND TRACY
It was just after 9 p.m., when DI Eden Gold walked into his empty house after stopping off at the local Chinese takeaway. With the long hours he worked and as he was never home, his girlfriend had left him a year after they had moved to Trentbridge and went back to London. He’d just finished his meal and a couple of glasses of wine and was settling down on the sofa, getting ready to watch some football on the Sky Sports channel. The game hadn’t even started when his phone rang informing him of an anonymous 999 call alerting the police to a body in the Saverland staff car park.
DS Tracy Archer had just arrived at her apartment after a visit to Scruffs hair salon, when she got her phone call. She had paid £89 for the privilege of a cut and finish by one of the directors. On top of this, she had left an £11 tip to the young trainee who had washed her hair. Washing hair it seemed was beneath a director. But Tracy had to admit the finished result was worth every penny. Her stunning golden copper hair looked exquisite. Even after the cut, it fell just short of her teardrop-shaped breasts. And with a stunning body, thick curvy lips, round blue eyes, flawless skin and her stunning smile, it was no surprise that before joining the police she’d had offers of a modelling career but what did surprise her friends was when she decided to walk away from it after six months.
As she picked up the newspaper she had bought, it was the date on the front cover that reminded her of the anniversary. Had it really been eight years?
Her father had been a police officer. A detective chief inspector but eight years earlier, while investigating a local corruption case he had told people he was going to meet a potential whistle blower and then simply disappeared. As time went on it was assumed he had been murdered, although no body was ever found and despite a long and extensive investigation, no suspect was ever put in the frame.
By the time Eden arrived at the scene, DS Tracy Archer was already there.
“Hi, Tracy. What have we got?”
“Hi, Eden. It looks like the guy has been shot. His ID says he’s Will Gleeson, ring any bells?”
“The witness in the O’Connor hit and run who suddenly had a memory lapse?”
“Yeah, he worked here as a security guard. That’s his car over there; we found the keys next to it. Looks like he was running away from something, or someone.”
Tracy pointed to the rear of the warehouse. “There’s a camera up there. I’ve got the manager coming back so we can check the footage.”
“Let’s hope whoever did it wasn’t aware of the camera, although knowing our luck they were all hooded up. Any thoughts?”
“You know bloody well what I’m thinking. The same as you. Kevin O’Connor. He must have paid the witness off for the trial, and the guy made the mistake of asking for more.”
“That would make sense. I assume there’s no sign of a break-in at the warehouse, so why else would someone shoot a security guard in a car park.”
“The victim still has his wallet and cards, so the motive doesn’t appear to be robbery. Unless he was into other things we don’t know about. Let’s get a full background check on him. I assume you’ve got someone to go to his address?”
“Yes, one of the first things I did was to run a check on his vehicle and get his home address.”
“We can’t do much more here until forensics have been over it all. Let’s head to his place and see what he’s been up to.”
“We’ll both have to go in your car, Tracy. I had a couple of glasses of wine before I got the call, so I had uniform pick me up. I didn’t want to risk it.”
“No problem, Eden. And I can drop you off at yours.”
It was three years since Eden had moved to the area and started working with Tracy yet he knew very little about her. She seemed like a dedicated officer, although she did make the odd mistake and her paperwork could be a bit shambolic from time to time.
Eden knew he wasn’t perfect. He could be a bit moody when things didn’t go the way he hoped. He knew he was drinking slightly more than he should and needed to exercise more. He had noticed his clothes were getting a bit tight.
“I need to go on a diet and get more exercise,” Eden remarked as Tracy drove.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I’ve overheard people calling you doughboy,” she said as she glanced across at Eden with a grin across her face.
“Bloody charming. I suppose you go to the gym three times a week?”
“On my salary? You must be joking. No, I go jogging and exercise at home. An ex-boyfriend taught me a routine which I still use. Probably the only good thing
