Page 14 of The Truth Will Out (DI Sam Cobbs #18)

Shaken, Sam reached for Claire’s phone and took a punt that the passcode would be Scott’s birthday. She was right. She hit the messaging app and opened the last message Claire had received—the one that had ultimately led to the sergeant’s death.

You’re smart, Claire. Smarter than most. That’s why I picked you.

But during your research, you overlooked something important. Do you want answers?

Meet me at Whitehaven Harbour. 10:15 p.m. Come alone.

“What the fuck!” Bob said, fury edging his voice. “Why didn’t she contact us? What a stupid bitch. Sorry, but this should never have happened. She should have known better than to go alone. There’s more to this than Claire just receiving a message.”

“I think you’re right. Hopefully, we’ll find out what that is when we start digging into the file. I can’t believe she lost her life because of this. There’s no doubt about it, Bob. We’re dealing with a sadistic killer, possibly one of the worst we’ve encountered over the years.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I had kind of figured that out for myself.”

Silence filled the room as both of them drank their coffee.

Sam finished hers and declared, “You were right, it was crap after all. Funny how our taste buds are different first thing in the morning.”

“Yours might be, mine ain’t, just saying.”

“Whatever. There’s nothing we can do until the rest of the team arrive.”

“You could forward that file to me, and I could go through it.”

“Okay. In the meantime, I’ll deal with my post. Give me a shout when the others arrive. I’m not looking forward to sharing the news with them.”

“I have to say, apart from the initial shock, you’re taking it better than I thought you would.”

“Maybe I’m still in shock. I’m also annoyed that Claire felt the need to go behind my back.”

“Maybe she wanted to feel more appreciated. To be honest, she’s been sat behind her desk for years, rarely getting out there to deal with any real police work.”

“You think? The thought never even crossed my mind. Her skills were needed here; she was a whiz on the computer. I considered her to be a valued member of our team. She’d never let me down in the past. Right now, I feel she turned her back on me, and that’s what got her killed.”

“You’re wrong. My take on it is that she wanted to prove herself, and with the information to hand, she went for it.”

“In that case, she was a damn fool. More to the point, why the fuck did the killer contact her in the first place, instead of me?”

Bob’s mouth twisted as he thought. “You’ve got me there.”

Sam left the conversation because, by now, her blood was searing through her veins. She closed the office door behind her and rested her head back against it.

Why, Claire? Why did you go behind my back, our backs, like this?

Sam continued to her desk and completed her morning chore.

Bob knocked on the door half an hour later. He stuck his head in and said quietly, “You asked me to tell you when the rest of the team got here.”

“Thanks. I’m coming now. ”

He stepped into the room. “Are we all right?”

“We? As in, you and me?”

“Yes. Only you stormed off before, and I thought I’d upset you.”

“No more than usual.” She smiled. “Sorry if it came across like that, mate. No, I’m angry about being deceived by Claire. I have no idea what we’re about to uncover or why the killer chose to contact her directly.”

Bob fell silent.

Sam knew when he had something on his mind. “Come on, what are you keeping from me?”

“Nothing. Umm… I think you should tell the team before they get stuck into their tasks for the day.” He left the room.

Sam frowned. He seemed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Why?

Am I such an ogre that my team can’t open up to me? What am I doing wrong?

She stretched out the knots in her back and ran a comb through her hair. Then she left the office to break the unwanted news. It was then that it hit her. She hadn’t told Scott yet.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

She decided another ten minutes wouldn’t hurt and braved telling the rest of the team first.

She entered the outer office, and Bob clapped to gain everyone’s attention.

“Gather around, folks. There’s been a development in the investigation overnight.”

Nick raised his hand. “Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but shouldn’t we wait for Claire to arrive?”

Sam shook her head and inhaled a deep breath. “Umm… we’re going to have to solve this case, and future cases, without her.”

The other members of the team looked at each other, their brows furrowed, all of them perplexed.

“Are you all right?” Bob asked.

Sam swallowed down the lump that had appeared in her throat. “I will be. I’m sorry, team, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to tell you. Last night… our friend and colleague, Claire, was murdered.”

The team’s reaction was everything Sam had expected. They all fell silent for a second or two and then started bombarding her with questions, getting more and more irate when Sam remained quiet.

It was Bob who stepped in to calm things down. “Listen up, guys. I know you’re as shocked as we are to hear the news. The truth is, we don’t know who did this. Since the boss and I got here this morning, we’ve been trying to piece together Claire’s final steps.” He filled the rest of the team in.

Just listening to him, Sam felt drained.

She turned her back on the others and headed towards her office. “I’m sorry. I have to let Scott know the news now. I should have rung him earlier.”

“Shouldn’t you tell him face to face?” Bob called after her.

“You’re right. I’ll give him a call and see if he’s at home. I know Claire told me he works away a lot of the time, overseeing developments out of the area.”

“Yeah, you’re right, he does,” Bob agreed.

“I’ll make the call in my office.” She closed the door and stared out of the window for a few minutes, trying to summon up the right words. With her courage mustered, she sat behind her desk and slowly dialled Scott’s mobile number.

“Yeah, Scott Owen.”

There was a lot of background noise. Sam had to shout to be heard. “Scott, can you hear me?”

“Barely. Speak up. Who is this? Is that you, Claire?”

“No. How about now?”

“Nope. You’re going to have to shout.”

“I am shouting. This is DI Sam Cobbs, Claire’s boss. Can you go somewhere less noisy? I need to speak with you. It’s urgent,” she added as an afterthought.

“Who is this? I can’t hear you. Look, if you can’t be bothered to shout then I’m hanging up. ”

“Scott. Can you hear me now?” Sam shouted even louder, straining her vocal cords.

The door burst open seconds later, and Bob stood in the doorway, looking concerned. Sam gave him the thumbs-up. He backed out of the room again.

“Yes, I can hear you. Who is this?”

“It’s Sam Cobbs, Claire’s boss.”

“Her boss? What do you want? Is she at work?”

“Are you away at the moment?”

“I should be home in a few hours. Why?”

Sam inhaled and exhaled a few deep breaths. “It’s important I speak with you.”

“About what?”

There was a loud bang in the distance.

Scott shouted. “For fuck’s sake. Be more careful; that’s coming out of your wages, Les.”

Sam held the phone away from her ear. This is a ridiculous way to hold a conversation of this magnitude. Nope, I refuse to do it.

“Scott, I can tell you’re really busy there,” Sam yelled. “Can you give me a call when you return home?”

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll do that. Is Claire all right?”

“I’ll talk to you later.” Sam ended the call before he could say anything else. She leaned her head back and released a frustrated sigh. “Jesus, that was hard work.” She removed the bottle of water from her drawer and eased her sore throat before she joined the rest of the team.

“How did he take it?” Bob asked.

“It wasn’t the right time to tell him. He was on site. I wasn’t prepared to shout the information down the phone at him.”

“Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I think you did the right thing. When are you going to tell him?”

“He’s back in a couple of hours. I’ve asked him to give me a call when he gets home. I’m going to be on tenterhooks until then.”

“I don’t think you’re going to get a chance to. I need to speak to you privately. ”

“Can it wait? I need to bring the DCI up to date.”

Bob shook his head and walked past her and into her office.

Sam glanced around the rest of the team.

They all avoided eye contact with her, making her dread what Bob was about to tell her.

She marched into her office and closed the door.

She sat opposite her partner and searched his eyes for the answer to her unspoken question.

“I’ve forgotten something. Bear with me.” He jumped out of his seat and darted out of the room. He came back holding a sheet of paper.

“This looks ominous. Does this have something to do directly with Claire?”

“Not this, not exactly. Umm… I’m not sure how to tell you this.”

Sam’s patience was already tighter than a prison cell door at lights out. “Get on with it, Bob. I can’t stand the suspense much longer, and don’t forget I’m eager to see the DCI.”

“Sorry, I’ll get to the point. Rhys’s name crops up in the file.”

Sam frowned and shook her head. “What?” She opened the file on the computer and scrolled through it to check for herself. “Holy shit balls! What the fuck?”

“Have you found it?”

“Shh… I’m reading it now,” she said, preferring to read from the screen for herself rather than what he’d printed out, as if it made any difference.

It didn’t—the fact was there in black and white.

Rhys did a placement at Pendle during his time at university.

Sara stared at her partner and muttered, “He’s never mentioned it. ”

“Why would he?”

“True. Oh shit! What else are we going to bloody uncover, Bob?”

He fidgeted awkwardly in his seat, and she could tell he was keeping quiet about something else.

“Let me have it.”

“I couldn’t resist it. I know you only conducted a brief search of Claire’s computer earlier. Well, I took the liberty of digging a bit deeper and… ”