Cruel Justice (DI Lorne Simpkins (Book one)) by Tania Mel; Tirraoro Comley Page A

much.

    "Poor Doreen, indeed. Even though she had a bad heart and was still very weak from her recent operation, she still managed to summon up enough strength to put up a fight for her life, the defence wounds across her hands and arms tell us that."

    "She had an angina attack when I told her about her sister's death."

    "I'm not surprised, she had a condition known as arteriosclerosis." Lorne frowned, so Arnaud explained, "Which basically means the flow of blood through the coronary arteries is restricted, the result is a shortage of oxygen travelling to the heart muscle. In my opinion, it was at an advanced stage, her life would have been shortened considerably by the condition."

    The doctor sounded surprisingly emotional. Is this his way of showing me he has compassion?

    "It'll be of little consolation to her family. But it may ease their pain a little knowing she didn't have long to live, anyway. When will the forensic results be back, Doctor?"

    "Twenty-four maybe forty-eight hours as it's the weekend, for some of us at least. I will let you know. We found several hairs and fibres on the body, a piece of dirt, possibly from the offender's shoe, skin under her fingernails and a few fingerprints on the broom. The killer was very sloppy this time. He even managed to leave a bloody shoe print on the doorstep. Perhaps distant sirens scared him off. It's a shame your colleagues weren't a little nearer when you called for their assistance."

    "She lives on the outskirts of town, in a small village. The closest squad car was on another call at the time," she said, sharply, sticking up for her colleagues.

    "Never mind, the deed is done now. I'll wait to hear from you."

    Lorne left the mortuary alone. The frosty night air caught her off-guard and she pulled her jacket tight around her already chilled body. Pete had insisted he would accompany her to the post-mortem, but she had ordered him to go home and get some rest. She suspected the days ahead of them would be long and laborious, it was pointless both of them being dead on their feet.

Chapter Eighteen

    That Sunday, Lorne and Pete were the only ones in the office. She went over the findings of the post-mortem with him and asked how far he'd got with his quest to nail Oliver as their prime suspect.

    "Bearing in mind that it was Saturday yesterday, I reckon I did well. I tracked down Belinda's solicitor at about five o'clock. He was on the golf course at High Wycombe, not too happy about being disturbed I can tell you." He paused to take a sip of coffee. "Anyway, after his initial unwillingness to co-operate, and with a little friendly persuasion from yours truly, he finally came up trumps."

    "In what way?" Lorne knew how much Pete liked to make a mountain out of the tiniest molehill.

    A cocky tone slipped into his voice as he said, "Well, guess who the main beneficiary of Belinda Greenaway's will is?"

    "Stop building your part up, Pete, just give me the damn facts."

    "Touchy this morning ain't we? Anyway, Mr Franklyn-Lewis, Belinda's solicitor, told me that ninety per cent of her money was heading in Doreen's direction."

    "Really, and what do you glean from this snippet of information?" she said, raising an expectant eyebrow.

    "Actually, I glean quite a lot from what he said. Especially as he went on to tell me she changed her will a couple of months ago because she'd fallen out with her son." He finished reading from his notebook and triumphantly threw it on the desk between them.

    "Did he say why?" Lorne sat forward in her chair as the implications behind these new findings sank in.

    "Nope, all she would tell him was that it was a personal matter, one she didn't wish to discuss."

    "It nearly chokes me to admit this, but I think you might have stumbled onto something significant."

    "I told you, boss, he's shifty and I don't need any goddamn women's intuition to tell me that either."

     "Hang on a minute, before you get too smug. If Belinda's money was on its