Snow Kills by Rc Bridgestock Page A

walked into the kitchen, with Maisy in his outstretched arms. ‘Pooh,’ he said and she chuckled. ‘Just like your Mummy.’
    Jen watched him carefully change Maisy’s nappy. He was a natural. Comfortable and warm, Maisy fell instantly back to sleep in her Moses basket, which gave them a chance to have their meal in peace.
    ‘I was speaking to Norman in LIO today. He says they make your arms ache when they’re babies and your heart ache when they grow up,’ said Dylan looking at Maisy adoringly.
    ‘Yes, and we’ll worry just as much about her brothers and sisters when they came along,’ she said, quietly kissing him on his cheek as she stood to take the dirty dishes to the sink.
    Jack’s face was a picture and she stifled a laugh.
    ‘Isn’t it about time you were going back to work?’ he said.
    Jen screwed up her face. ‘No, I’m thinking I might take a career break,’ she said. ‘And Jack?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Maisy takes after you, not me,’ she said, smiling broadly.
     
     

 
Chapter 11
     
    The search of the quarry and its waters had been carefully carried out. The OSU team was satisfied that there were no bodies or other items of Kayleigh’s clothing in their depths.
     ‘Although to get down to the water was a nightmare, believe it or not once in it was quite clear. I’m sorry we didn’t get a result for you, sir,’ Sgt Clegg said to Dylan.
    He shook his head. ‘No, thank you for your hard work, and pass on my thanks to the rest of the team. I’m very grateful we can eliminate that line of enquiry.’
    She wasn’t there, so where is she? pondered Dylan, as he sat at his desk, hands folded together and his chin resting on his knuckles.
    ‘Vicky!’ he shouted. ‘Get an aerial search done to look for any geological changes on the moors, will you.’
    ‘What you thinking, shallow grave?’ she asked as she stood at his door.
    ‘Perhaps,’ he said shrugging his shoulders. ‘I’m off to Barry Sharpe to see if I can glean any more of what happened when Tina Walker went missing.’
    ‘Back to basics?’
    ‘It can’t do any harm,’ Dylan sighed, picking up his jacket and putting relevant paperwork in his briefcase. He wasn’t happy that only one of Kayleigh’s boots and her coat had been found – it didn’t feel right. He would have expected to have found both boots together if she’d discarded them. Were the garments left there by someone to throw them off a scent, he wondered? Had she got into someone’s car that night and been taken there, or had she started walking home and hypothermia set in? Would they ever know?
    Dylan drove up onto the Manchester Road and stood quietly where Kayleigh’s car had been parked. He looked across the moors. Kayleigh knew the area. She would have known that by travelling further along Manchester Road in the direction she was heading that it would take her out onto nothing but bleak moorland, so common sense told him that if she had headed anywhere that night, on foot, it would have been back in the direction from which she had come and towards nearby dwellings. Providing of course she was in control of her own movements, he conceded.
    He could just see the roof of the nearest house a short distance away. He walked a little closer to the building. When he got back to the police station, he would ensure physical searches were done there and the occupiers checked out. A call and a chat were not good enough at this stage of the enquiry. He needed to be sure she wasn’t being kept somewhere against her will. He knew from experience that predators struck in all types of weather and circumstances, usually when victims were at their most vulnerable, making them easy prey.
    Dylan took out his mobile and rang Barry Sharpe’s number. Thirty minutes later, he was shown into his dining room which looked out onto a large flat perfectly manicured lawn.
    Dylan sat down opposite his tired, dishevelled looking predecessor. ‘Dylan,’ he said holding out his hand.