The Page 69 Test - Dead Man's Wharf an Inspector Andy Horton crime novel
Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where an elderly resident, suffering from dementia, claims she's been attacked by an intruder. Horton is ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings until he discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman's belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in his cell. Coupled with a series of threatening telephone calls to a television personality, and a mother's conviction that her son's death on Christmas Eve was no accident, Horton finds he is caught up in a complex investigation that has far-reaching international implications. With the pressure on to find a killer, and hampered by his belief that his bosses are lying to him, Horton discovers that he's stepped into a web of intrigue, deception and corruption that stretches back into the past. So here it is:
The Page 69 Test - Dead Man's Wharf , an Inspector Andy Horton crime novel
Horton pushed back the door to the custody cell block and the heat hit him like a bomb blast. Along with it came the smell of sweat, dirt, shit and something indefinable to anyone but a police officer.‘Has someone died in here and no one’s bothered to check?’
‘Sorry, sir. Two junkies brought in this morning.Haven’t had a chance to put them through the sheep dip yet.’
If only, Horton thought.
‘Oh, and DCI Bliss was asking for you, sir. Wants to see you as soon as you come in.’
Now what? Who had complained?. Knocking first, then entering her office, he drew up startled. She was clearing her desk.
Her usually pale skin was flushed, but it wasn’t with anger because Horton could see that under her crisp exterior she was secretly very pleased with herself.
‘I’ve been seconded to the Performance and Review Team,’ she said without preamble. ‘I shall be working out of headquarters for the next three months helping to review best investigative practices.’
God help us all, thought Horton, but took care not to let his feelings show. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and at least she’d be out of his hair.
‘As from tomorrow you will resume command in my absence. Superintendent Reine’s instructions.’
Ah, so not hers and clearly against her wishes. Wellgood on Reine. Perhaps he wasn’t such a stuffed prick after all. ‘I’m being made up to acting DCI?’
She eyed him incredulously.
‘So it’s the job without the pay or the rank,’ he added bitterly. He might have guessed.
Cramming the last of her files into her overcrowded briefcase, and straightening up, she said, ‘Detective Constable Harriet Lee has been assigned to help you. She starts tomorrow and will be here on secondment for a while.’
He hadn’t heard the name before. She wasn’t from this station. ‘How long is a while?’
‘Until the permanent appointments are announced.’
Which would be at the end of January. ‘Where’s she from?’
‘Headquarters. I’m told she’s a highly respected officer.’
Yeah, but not operational, Horton thought, and did she have any experience in criminal investigations? He had been hoping for PC Seaton or PC Somerfield on secondment. It was just his luck to get a paper pusher.He followed Bliss into the corridor where she paused. He couldn’t mistake the triumphant gleam in her eyes. He guessed this was her dream come true. But why had she been plucked from here to be set down in HQ? She’d only been a DCI one month, and here for about the same length of time, so hardly long enough to make a name for herself. Perhaps it was that e-mail that had impressed the powers that be: C.A.S.E. = Results. He had no idea what the CASE stood for but it looked as though Bliss had got a result all right.
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