Kerry Wilkinson - Locked In (Jessica Daniel Book 1)

Jessica Daniel Book 1

by KERRY WILKINSON

When a body is found in a locked house, Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is left to not only find the killer but discover how they got in and out.

With little in the way of leads and a journalist that seems to know more about the case than she does, Jessica is already feeling the pressure and thats before a second body shows up in identical circumstances to the first.

How can a murderer get to victims in seemingly impossible situations and what, if anything, links the bodies?

Copyright 2011 Kerry Wilkinson All rights reserved.

Second Edition: October, 2011

The killer used a gloved hand to try the front door handle one final time and make sure it was locked. The back door and windows had already been checked and there was definitely no way in a good thing considering the body was already dead on the bed upstairs.

Now the first part was complete, the months of careful planning that led to this night finally seemed worth it. Getting into a locked house and back out again wasn't simple on the surface but, once the idea had been struck upon, everything had happened so easily.

The hardest part had been the final act. Until the moment the life had been choked out of the victim, the killer hadn't been sure they could actually complete the deed. Murdering someone wasn't easy but it had been necessary.

There was no regret, no feelings of anything really. The victim certainly deserved it, as would the others to come.

Jessica Daniel screwed her eyes tightly shut and thought about how much she hated morning people. For some, the dawn sun spilling through ridiculously thin curtains would herald a bright new day full of opportunity but, for her, it was just a reminder she still hadnt asked her landlord to fix some better blinds.

Admitting she had lost the battle to stay asleep, she fumbled around for her mobile phone on the table next to her bed. It was always the first point of call in the morning, if only to remind her how little she had going on in her life. She opened her eyes slowly and struggled with the devices unlock button, before bashing away at the supposedly touch screen front. It only seemed to function to any great degree if your definition of touch was actually, poke very hard until it does what you want.

She had no texts, no missed calls and the only emails were ones offering her enhancements she definitely wouldnt be needing without far more invasive and complicated surgery first.

Marvellous.

Jessica went to put the phone back on the nightstand but, before she could, it started to ring. She cursed herself for setting the ringtone to some upbeat pop tune she didnt even like, the chirpy song really wasnt suitable for this time of the morning. Her eyes were still seeing a hazy grey around the edges but the caller id clearly showed Detective Inspector Jack Coles name. Jessica looked across at the digital alarm clock next to the bed which flashed 06:51. She was pretty sure it was a Saturday too, which just made things worse.

She had been promoted to Detective Sergeant eight weeks ago and calls like this were something she knew she was going to have to get used to. When people were in a more junior position they could often get away with just working regular shifts but now early-morning wake-up calls could be expected more often.

Hello, Jessica said into her phone, trying not to sound too groggy.

DI Cole didnt sound much more awake than she did, which at least didnt mark him down as a morning person either. He told her something big had happened but he wasnt completely sure of the details and tried to give her an address.

She would happily describe herself as messy and disorganised but the one thing she had remembered to do in the past two months was keep a pad and a pen next to her bed just in case of a moment like this. DI Cole started to give her the details and she tried to write them down. At first she just thought her eyes were still struggling with the early hour but then realised her confusion was down to the fact the pen wasnt working.

Hang on, hang on, she said, opening the drawer underneath her nightstand just in case there was a spare pen there.

There wasnt.

It was typical that, even when she had gone out of her way to be organised, things didnt quite work out. She asked the inspector to send her a text message with the details instead then hung up.

DI Cole was Jessicas immediate superior and had been promoted at the same time she had. She had always got on fine with him when they had been in more junior roles. He was a decent guy but perhaps just a bit too nice. He was about as normal a bloke as you could ever meet, one of those people whose descriptions you always hated when you were taking statements from a witness. He was average height and weight, with sensible short brown hair and always wore regular unassuming clothes. He didnt wear glasses or sport any distinguishing scars or facial hair. Even his voice was exactly as you would expect.

In fact, the only thing not really regulation about DI Cole was that he had what most officers didnt seem to, a proper family life. He was in his mid-forties and married, seemingly happily, with two children. He had family days out with them, still took his wife out for meals and to the cinema and booked his time off sensibly so they could all have weekends away together. Unlike pretty much every other officer, he didnt drink and Jessica had never heard him swear. Perhaps that was normal to most people but it was anything-but for the job they had.

DI Cole liked working from his desk and saw any real interaction with criminals, witnesses or anyone out of the station as something he would rather not be involved with. To some it showed he didnt like to get his hands dirty but Jessica understood he just had strengths in different areas.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Jessica ran her hands through her long dark blonde hair thinking that it needed a wash, as it always seemed to. There was definitely not going to be time for that this morning though. She pulled it back into a loose ponytail and hunted around her room for some suitable clothes.

She thought most of her colleagues took plain clothes a bit too literally. Even the younger blokes seemed to take the title detective as a chance to start clocking up department store loyalty points with a wardrobe seemingly consisting of identikit dull suit jackets and a pair of chinos. The only difference between the younger guys and the veterans seemed to be the width of their ties. The new guys would start off with skinny monstrosities around their necks but, the longer they spent turning up in those dreary suits, the wider their neckwear seemed to become.

Jessica knew she couldnt take things too far and still wore a suit to work each day but at least it wasnt the same one with an egg stain on the pocket, unlike a certain colleague or two she could think of. The detective also made sure she dressed something like her age; she was still only thirty one after all. Hunting through her wardrobe, Jessica pulled out a light grey suit to put on and, just to be a hypocrite, a blouse straight from the floor.

Jessica lived in the Hulme district, just south of the main centre of Manchester. It wasnt too bad an area, far enough away from the pubs and clubs and the full-on student areas to be able to sleep through the early hours and only ten minutes drive to her teams Longsight base. Far more important than all of that was the fact it was close enough to the curry mile to pick up a good Madras without too much hassle.

DI Cole had messaged Jessica an address in Gorton, on the east of the city. It took her just over fifteen minutes to drive, despite the roads being fairly quiet. There wasnt too much in the way of traffic but, as ever, the traffic lights constantly seemed to be red. She also nearly ran over some student-type who looked like she was making the dreaded Saturday morning walk of shame. There didnt seem to be any other reason for a girl in a short purple dress to be walking bare-footed across a main road holding some impossibly tall heels in her hand. Jessica wondered if the girl had actually had a good night as she crunched down through the cars gears after swerving around her.