Page 32 of The Truth Will Out
“Shit,” Bob cussed. “I don’t know her password to get into the system.”
“Nor should you. Let me see if I can figure it out.” Sam entered the obvious information, such as family members’ names and dates of birth, which she located on Claire’s personnel file. She eventually found the right combination and polished her fingers on the lapel of her jacket. “I did it. I broke the code.”
“Smart arse,” Bob muttered, rolling his eyes at her accomplishment.
“That’s why I’m your senior officer, because I thought outside the box.”
He raised his hand and coughed, discharging a single word: “Bullshit.”
Sam pounded the keyboard and searched Claire’s history tabs, the ones she’d recently closed. “Here we are. She’s been searching the archives for articles relating to Pendle House. This tab was closed at twenty-one thirty yesterday.”
“That has to be it.”
Instinctively, Sam checked Claire’s emails but saw nothing out of the ordinary in there.
“Check the Deleted box,” Bob said.
Sam gasped when she saw that an email had arrived at twenty-one twenty the evening before. “Bingo!” She opened it and read the message from the unknown sender.
The heading read:Four Must Fall,and the message itself said:
You thinkyou’re the only one who cares? This time, they will pay. One by one, with their lives. Starting with the doctor.
Sam and Bobstared at each other, neither of them finding the appropriate words to say.
Bob pointed at Claire’s phone on charge. “What an idiot. She didn’t take it with her. She had no means of contacting either of us.”
Sam shook her head and let out a long sigh. “Shit. You’re right, she was out there on her own. She should have taken her phone with her.” There was a tap on the window, startling Sam. “What was that?” A crow cawed sharply in the wind. It had grabbed their attention then flown off.
“Jesus, that’s never happened before,” Bob said. “Bloody spooky, if you ask me.”
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 afterall. 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.”
