I've Been Watching You: a stunning crime thriller from The North East Police Series by K.A. Richardson Page B
Authors: K.A. Richardson
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himself replaying kill methods in his head, acting out every method he had found with victims who were faceless, nameless shapes. On the rare occasion he managed to sleep, his dreams were filled with bloodshed and vacant eyes staring at him.
He needed to see it for himself. It was growing stronger, almost out of control.
He hadn’t even been to work today. He had phoned his boss and told him in a monotone voice that he was sick.
And he knew he was.
It was no longer about putting his wife in her place, or any other woman for that matter. Now it was all about killing one, a very special one. The one of his choosing.
He pulled his coat over his shoulders, and left the house.
Chapter Nine
7 th June, 0850 hours – Digital Forensics Lab, Sunderland HQ
Ben turned the key to the side entrance door at HQ and made her way inside. She’d been in plenty of times before, liaising with the submissions team as well as those in the photography and chemical labs. She knew the place inside out: its drab walls in need of a lick of paint, the carpets worn along the routes most used. The corridors were adorned with posters about Domestic Violence, latest police campaigns, and union issues. It had always been that way, was the same in the smaller stations too.
She paused at the door to the digital forensics office, taking a deep breath. Get a grip already. Getting so nervous all the time is just plain silly. Pushing her shoulders back, she opened the door and entered.
The office was combined with the lab: with one end of the room fully kitted out with screens and the gadgets the technicians used to recover the data required from seized items. She felt herself grin – it was most definitely not as hi-tech as the TV portrayed in the American cop dramas. But then reality never was. She had often had a giggle to herself watching the CSI shows where the forensics personnel entered scenes wearing high heels, their flowing locks left loose in a way that would contaminate any evidence picked up, and magically got an ident within minutes.
Spotting Jacob working on something at the end of the office, she made her way down.
‘Ben, hi,’ he greeted, glancing up from the screen for a moment, ‘just give me a sec, and I’ll be with you.’
Walking around the desk, she stood behind him, watching the computer screen.
‘The computer was seized from the house of a drug runner. I’ve created the two exact copies I need. This one’s the working copy. I’ve already catalogued the disk contents and I’m just setting up a keyword list to look for related files.’ He spoke quietly, concentrating on typing onto the black square in the middle of the screen.
‘The keyword list checks the slack space and the unallocated areas right?’ asked Ben, pulling a chair over and sitting down.
Jacob looked over at her again, his eye brows raised.
‘Someone been reading from the book-list I take it?’
Ben felt her cheeks turn pink as she nodded. ‘Yeah I got most of them from the library. I’m not technically-minded at all, figured I’d need a good head start.’
‘Not technically-minded? And you chose a digital forensics intro course; why exactly? Not that I’m complaining mind you. It just seems a little strange you would choose to do something you don’t know a great deal about.’
I should have known he would ask.
Giving herself a virtual shake was easy: it was something she did regularly now. Now was as good a time as any to mention the support group.
‘I assist in the running of an online support group for women who have been raped. We were hacked last year and some of our members ended up getting abusive emails. I guess the interest started around that time. At the time, I’d also just finished my training course for the CSI job and that piqued it a little further. When the funding came up through the Education Bursary for Police Staff, I thought it would be a good time to explore more.’
‘Support group? Did you
He needed to see it for himself. It was growing stronger, almost out of control.
He hadn’t even been to work today. He had phoned his boss and told him in a monotone voice that he was sick.
And he knew he was.
It was no longer about putting his wife in her place, or any other woman for that matter. Now it was all about killing one, a very special one. The one of his choosing.
He pulled his coat over his shoulders, and left the house.
Chapter Nine
7 th June, 0850 hours – Digital Forensics Lab, Sunderland HQ
Ben turned the key to the side entrance door at HQ and made her way inside. She’d been in plenty of times before, liaising with the submissions team as well as those in the photography and chemical labs. She knew the place inside out: its drab walls in need of a lick of paint, the carpets worn along the routes most used. The corridors were adorned with posters about Domestic Violence, latest police campaigns, and union issues. It had always been that way, was the same in the smaller stations too.
She paused at the door to the digital forensics office, taking a deep breath. Get a grip already. Getting so nervous all the time is just plain silly. Pushing her shoulders back, she opened the door and entered.
The office was combined with the lab: with one end of the room fully kitted out with screens and the gadgets the technicians used to recover the data required from seized items. She felt herself grin – it was most definitely not as hi-tech as the TV portrayed in the American cop dramas. But then reality never was. She had often had a giggle to herself watching the CSI shows where the forensics personnel entered scenes wearing high heels, their flowing locks left loose in a way that would contaminate any evidence picked up, and magically got an ident within minutes.
Spotting Jacob working on something at the end of the office, she made her way down.
‘Ben, hi,’ he greeted, glancing up from the screen for a moment, ‘just give me a sec, and I’ll be with you.’
Walking around the desk, she stood behind him, watching the computer screen.
‘The computer was seized from the house of a drug runner. I’ve created the two exact copies I need. This one’s the working copy. I’ve already catalogued the disk contents and I’m just setting up a keyword list to look for related files.’ He spoke quietly, concentrating on typing onto the black square in the middle of the screen.
‘The keyword list checks the slack space and the unallocated areas right?’ asked Ben, pulling a chair over and sitting down.
Jacob looked over at her again, his eye brows raised.
‘Someone been reading from the book-list I take it?’
Ben felt her cheeks turn pink as she nodded. ‘Yeah I got most of them from the library. I’m not technically-minded at all, figured I’d need a good head start.’
‘Not technically-minded? And you chose a digital forensics intro course; why exactly? Not that I’m complaining mind you. It just seems a little strange you would choose to do something you don’t know a great deal about.’
I should have known he would ask.
Giving herself a virtual shake was easy: it was something she did regularly now. Now was as good a time as any to mention the support group.
‘I assist in the running of an online support group for women who have been raped. We were hacked last year and some of our members ended up getting abusive emails. I guess the interest started around that time. At the time, I’d also just finished my training course for the CSI job and that piqued it a little further. When the funding came up through the Education Bursary for Police Staff, I thought it would be a good time to explore more.’
‘Support group? Did you
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