The Killer Inside: A gripping serial killer thriller (Detective Jessica Daniel thriller series Book 1) by Kerry Wilkinson Page A

Herald ’s website – she left out that this had been largely an exercise in creative name-calling; and then a third time when he had called her after the second body had been discovered. She explained that they’d also had a very brief talk in a café the previous day.
    ‘How did he get your number?’ McNiven asked.
    ‘I don’t know. He said I was in one of their contacts books, but I doubt that.’
    ‘Why did you call him?’
    ‘I wanted to ask who his source was.’ A half-truth.
    ‘Why did you meet him yesterday?’
    ‘I wanted to explain why causing a panic was not a good idea. I told Chief Inspector Aylesbury I was going to meet him.’
    ‘Did you give him any information?’
    ‘He already had it. That’s why we met.’
    ‘Did you give it to him?’
    That was about as direct as it got. Jessica took a moment to compose her reply. ‘I’ve not given him any tips at all. I wouldn’t even let him quote me.’
    ‘Have you ever met or had contact with this journalist before the incidents about which we have spoken?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Why do you think it was you he contacted?’
    Jessica pressed back in her chair, held her palms up. ‘I don’t know.’
    They went around in circles for another five minutes with the two officers asking essentially the same questions in a slightly different way. Jessica didn’t know anything further, but felt she wasn’t believed. They were at a stalemate when Officer McNiven thanked her for her time and said she could leave. They asked if she could send DI Cole up to meet them.
    Jessica stomped her way back past Aylesbury’s empty office and down the stairs. She found Cole in his office and told him the bad news.
    ‘You’re up. Rosie and Jim want a word.’
    She thought about calling Garry to ask what the hell the Houdini headline was about. Considering the conversations she’d had, though – and the fact the investigators could and probably would check her phone records – she figured it was a bad idea. He would almost certainly say it was his editor who’d written it, anyway. Maybe that was true, maybe not.
    She would have to wait until Cole came back down before they could go through the morning briefing. A few more test results had come back, but nothing very helpful. The previous day’s phone tips had been chased up and ruled out. She spoke to two of the constables who were trying to link the two victims. They had come up with nothing of note. Some of the victims’ kids had gone to the same school, but given they lived relatively close to each other, that was to be expected.
    Jessica went to the canteen for breakfast. Randall had stayed over for the first time the night before and she’d felt slightly awkward after waking up. She’d left the flat early, to avoid seeing either him or Caroline.
    The station’s canteen was on the ground floor, along the hall from her office. At best, the food could be described as ‘poor’. It certainly wouldn’t be racking up positive TripAdvisor reviews. Jessica’s office mate, DS Reynolds, refused to eat there, and claimed he had once needed three days off after eating some canteen stew.
    ‘The tea’s bad enough here,’ he’d advised her. ‘Don’t risk the food too.’
    Jessica wasn’t as passionate about not eating there as Reynolds, but she did try to avoid it where she could. Today, she risked beans on toast, thinking no decent cook could make a mess of that.
    As it was, it wasn’t too bad. She ate it sitting on one of the plastic canteen chairs, fiddling around with her phone. One of the constables assigned to try to link the two victims approached her table. DC Carrie Jones had a very strong Welsh accent that Jessica loved, but others didn’t. Piss-taking was a given in any work environment. Jessica got it for her car, Rowlands for his hair and girl-chasing – Carrie got it for her accent.
    ‘I’ve got some news,’ she said.
    Jessica couldn’t help but smile. ‘ Good news?’
    ‘Good news and bad