Sinner (DI Sally Parker Book 10), page 1
SINNER
DI SALLY PARKER
BOOK TEN
M A COMLEY
To my rock, my beautiful mother, who is now watching over me. Dementia sucks. Remembering all the good times we shared together.
You took a huge chunk of my heart with you. Love you and will miss you, until we’re reunited once more.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks as always go to @studioenp for their superb cover design expertise.
My heartfelt thanks go to my wonderful editor Emmy and my proofreader Joseph for spotting all the lingering nits.
Thank you also to my amazing ARC Group who help to keep me sane during this process.
To Mary, gone, but never forgotten. I hope you found the peace you were searching for my dear friend. I miss you each and every day.
ALSO BY M A COMLEY
Blind Justice (Novella)
Cruel Justice (Book #1)
Mortal Justice (Novella)
Impeding Justice (Book #2)
Final Justice (Book #3)
Foul Justice (Book #4)
Guaranteed Justice (Book #5)
Ultimate Justice (Book #6)
Virtual Justice (Book #7)
Hostile Justice (Book #8)
Tortured Justice (Book #9)
Rough Justice (Book #10)
Dubious Justice (Book #11)
Calculated Justice (Book #12)
Twisted Justice (Book #13)
Justice at Christmas (Short Story)
Prime Justice (Book #14)
Heroic Justice (Book #15)
Shameful Justice (Book #16)
Immoral Justice (Book #17)
Toxic Justice (Book #18)
Overdue Justice (Book #19)
Unfair Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Irrational Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Seeking Justice (a 15,000 word novella)
Caring For Justice (a 24,000 word novella)
Savage Justice ( a 17,000 word novella)
Justice at Christmas #2 (a 15,000 word novella)
Gone in Seconds (Justice Again series #1)
Ultimate Dilemma (Justice Again series #2)
Shot of Silence (Justice Again series #3)
Taste of Fury (Justice Again series #4)
Crying Shame (Justice Again series #5)
To Die For (DI Sam Cobbs #1)
To Silence Them (DI Sam Cobbs #2)
To Make Them Pay (DI Sam Cobbs #3)
To Prove Fatal (DI Sam Cobbs #4)
To Condemn Them (DI Sam Cobbs #5)
To Punish Them (DI Sam Cobbs #6)
To Entice Them (DI Sam Cobbs #7)
To Control Them (DI Sam Cobbs #8)
To Endanger Lives (DI Sam Cobbs #9)
To Hold Responsible (DI Sam Cobbs #10)
To Catch a Killer (DI Sam Cobbs #11)
Forever Watching You (DI Miranda Carr thriller)
Wrong Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #1)
No Hiding Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #2)
Cold Case (DI Sally Parker thriller#3)
Deadly Encounter (DI Sally Parker thriller #4)
Lost Innocence (DI Sally Parker thriller #5)
Goodbye My Precious Child (DI Sally Parker #6)
The Missing Wife (DI Sally Parker #7)
Truth or Dare (DI Sally Parker #8)
Where Did She Go? (DI Sally Parker #9)
Sinner (DI Sally Parker #10)
The Good Die Young (DI Sally Parker #11)
Web of Deceit (DI Sally Parker Novella with Tara Lyons)
The Missing Children (DI Kayli Bright #1)
Killer On The Run (DI Kayli Bright #2)
Hidden Agenda (DI Kayli Bright #3)
Murderous Betrayal (Kayli Bright #4)
Dying Breath (Kayli Bright #5)
Taken (DI Kayli Bright #6)
The Hostage Takers (DI Kayli Bright Novella)
No Right to Kill (DI Sara Ramsey #1)
Killer Blow (DI Sara Ramsey #2)
The Dead Can’t Speak (DI Sara Ramsey #3)
Deluded (DI Sara Ramsey #4)
The Murder Pact (DI Sara Ramsey #5)
Twisted Revenge (DI Sara Ramsey #6)
The Lies She Told (DI Sara Ramsey #7)
For The Love Of… (DI Sara Ramsey #8)
Run for Your Life (DI Sara Ramsey #9)
Cold Mercy (DI Sara Ramsey #10)
Sign of Evil (DI Sara Ramsey #11)
Indefensible (DI Sara Ramsey #12)
Locked Away (DI Sara Ramsey #13)
I Can See You (DI Sara Ramsey #14)
The Kill List (DI Sara Ramsey #15)
Crossing The Line (DI Sara Ramsey #16)
Time to Kill (DI Sara Ramsey #17)
Deadly Passion (DI Sara Ramsey #18)
Son of the Dead (DI Sara Ramsey#19)
Evil Intent (DI Sara Ramsey #20)
The Games People Play (DI Sara Ramsey #21)
I Know The Truth (A Psychological thriller)
She’s Gone (A psychological thriller)
Shattered Lives (A psychological thriller)
Evil In Disguise – a novel based on True events
Deadly Act (Hero series novella)
Torn Apart (Hero series #1)
End Result (Hero series #2)
In Plain Sight (Hero Series #3)
Double Jeopardy (Hero Series #4)
Criminal Actions (Hero Series #5)
Regrets Mean Nothing (Hero series #6)
Prowlers (Di Hero Series #7)
Sole Intention (Intention series #1)
Grave Intention (Intention series #2)
Devious Intention (Intention #3)
Cozy mysteries
Murder at the Wedding
Murder at the Hotel
Murder by the Sea
Death on the Coast
Death By Association
Merry Widow (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
It’s A Dog’s Life (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
A Time To Heal (A Sweet Romance)
A Time For Change (A Sweet Romance)
High Spirits
The Temptation series (Romantic Suspense/New Adult Novellas)
Past Temptation
Lost Temptation
Clever Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Tragic Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Sinful Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Keep in touch with M A Comley
PROLOGUE
“Gather around, men.”
The staff congregated in front of Kevin Galen. It was great to see all the familiar faces surrounding him on this job. It had been touch and go there for a while, thanks to the idiotic folks, or how he preferred to call them, ‘jobsworths’, at the Planning Department, who spent half their day stipulating this, that and the other had to be in place before they could even entertain the commencement of construction on site.
Searching the sea of faces before him, he could tell how relieved the crew were to begin their shift for the day. Kevin outlined what he expected from them, nothing different to the countless jobs they’d embarked upon before, when they’d worked together.
“There it is in a neat nutshell. Let’s get cracking. I’ll be around for the rest of the day should anyone need me. Good luck. Let’s get the machines running at full pelt, at least try our best to get the project back on some form of bloody workable schedule.”
The men smiled, nodded, and some of the younger ones even high-fived each other before they left the area. The welcome sound of heavy machinery filling the air was music to Kevin’s ears after months of daily negotiations with the planners. They’d forced him to perform several circus acts to get this particular show on the road.
The row of cottages was in dire need of demolition now, after a gas explosion had torn through them around six months before. Kevin had earmarked the site as a potential area to erect a block of flats. Some members of the planning council had agreed it was the way to go to in order to ease the lack of housing in the community, while there were various objectors, determined to keep things as they were in that particular part of the countryside. While he sympathised with the objectors on a personal front, as a builder and businessman, he was also fully aware of the need for regeneration with the view to adding more bodies per square metre to a project, to fulfil the need to get people on benefits out of local hotels et cetera.
He entered the Portakabin and settled down behind his desk, as usual, a pile of paperwork awaiting him. Everything was going to plan until the noise of the site died down around lunchtime. Kevin thought this was strange; most of the men tended to bring lunch with them and insisted on eating it on the go, eager to keep to their tight schedule. He sat there for an extra few minutes and dealt with another email, distracted by the silence to the extent that he could no longer stand it.
Opening the door, the sun’s rays hitting him full force, he strained to see across the site and shielded his eyes from the glare. Over to the edge of the plot was a group of men, all pointing and staring at something in front of them. Kevin tore down the steps and blazed a trail through the heavy plant equipment to see fo r himself what the dickens was going on.
“Everything all right here, men?”
“Umm… I was just about to come and fetch you, Kev, to see what you made of this,” Harry, his foreman, stated.
While he’d been in his office the cottages had been knocked down and the rubble cleared away. Puzzled, Kevin’s gaze shifted from Harry’s hefty frame to the ground that had been turned over by the huge digger. Unsure what he was looking at, he took several steps closer to the hole. There was no mistaking it, not now. The sandwich he’d been nibbling on in the office was threatening to re-emerge. He stared at Harry and whispered, “What the fuck do we do?”
“We need to call the police, let them deal with it. However, this is the bad part: I know from past experience, the frigging site will be shut down.”
Kevin ran a hand through his short dark hair. “Fuck, that’s all we need.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I suppose ignoring it is out of the question?”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “I know you’re under pressure to get this site cleared, boss, but yes, that would be out of the question. They’re human bones.”
Kevin kicked out at several of the stones close to his feet, spun away from the skeleton that he knew would blight his life for weeks, if not months to come, and let out a thunderous yell of frustration.
The crew all stared at him, most of them wearing sympathetic expressions, but there was the odd frown of disbelief thrown into the mix, as well.
“Okay, gents, we need to down tools for the day until someone official gets here.” He stomped back to the cabin, the men’s groans of irritation following him. Inside, he took a few moments to get his own frustration under control before he eventually walked over to the desk to place the call.
“Yes, police, please. I’ve found the remains of a dead body.” He closed his eyes and shook his head over and over as the operator bombarded him with questions he simply couldn’t answer. “Look, all I know is that we started digging on site this morning, and a few hours into the excavation process, my men have unearthed what appears to be human remains, hence the reason why I’m making this call. Do with it what you will, I can’t say anything else about the situation.”
“Okay, sir. I’m merely following procedure.”
“And now you’re expecting me to apologise to you? It ain’t going to happen, lady. Do what you have to do and let us get back to work ASAP.”
“For your information, the site will be closed down immediately.”
“For how long?”
“That will depend on the authorities concerned, sir. Leave it with me, I’ll arrange for an officer to attend right away.”
“Gee, thanks. How to ruin my day in one bloody sentence. How long are they likely to be?”
“They should be with you soon, depending on who’s available.”
Kevin ended the call and threw the phone back on the desk. He moved over to the window and glanced out at the men milling around, close to the corpse. “This just about sums up my year, finding this bloody thing on top of getting a divorce and losing access to my kids.” He raised his gaze skywards. “What else do you intend throwing at me?”
CHAPTER 1
Sally beamed, seeing Jack Blackman, her former partner, poking his head around the door to her office. “Hello, you. What brings you here today? Never mind that, how are you? Come in, sit down.”
“I don’t want to disturb you. I know how damn busy you can be day in and day out, and no, I don’t miss all the tension and drama that goes on around here.”
She gestured for him to sit opposite her, and he smiled.
“It’s great seeing you and the others. I’ve missed not being around, well, kind of. Some things I’ll never miss, like making you a cup of coffee when you’ve got a cob on.”
“Bollocks, that never happened. It must be your imagination playing tricks on you. Genuinely, it’s great to see you up and about again. How are the physio sessions going?”
“Don’t ask. Sometimes I swear I know what a victim goes through who has been trussed up and tortured for days on end before we’ve come along and set them free.”
Sally laughed. “I doubt if that’s true. How’s the family coping with having you around full-time?”
“You mean, hanging around their necks like a tightened noose?”
She grinned. “Yeah, that as well.”
“I’m driving them potty. Donna has told me to get a hobby, take up golf or something inane like that, and quickly. Long gone is all the sympathy they showered me with when I first had my accident.”
“Poor you. They love you really. Seriously, what do you intend to do now you’re a man of leisure on a healthy police pension?”
“Healthy? If that’s what you think during a cost-of-living crisis that is getting harder and harder each day to overcome. Oops… sorry, I swore to Donna I would never get on my soapbox about that subject again.”
“Yes, I’m with Donna on that one. No point dwelling on it, Jack. It’s up to the powers that be to sort it out. We need to be thankful we’re in the middle of summer now and not having to find extra money to cover all the heating bills.”
“Yeah, that’s what Donna keeps telling me. She’s busy squirreling money away to cover the bills in the winter, not something I would ever think about doing. Well, we’ve never had to sink to that level in the past.”
“That’s why women are invaluable around the home, we manage all the bills without you men having to deal with such mundane tasks. We’re great organisers, most of the time, figuring out what’s on the menu daily, sorting out the washing and ironing and every other major thing that helps to keep the household ticking over nicely.”
He cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Tell me, when was the last time you had to do any of that shit?”
Sally frowned, scratched her head and twisted her mouth from side to side. “Umm… admittedly, not that often now that I’m married to Simon. He tends to keep the house running like a well-oiled machine, but I have my moments, been known to pull my weight around the house now and again.”
He lifted his eyebrow once more, coughed and said, “Bullshit!”
Sally screwed up a used brown envelope lying to the side of her and threw it at him. “You, cheeky sod. Why don’t you go on a course to learn something useful?” She clicked her thumb and forefinger together. “I know, enrol in a cookery course at the college.”
“Never, not in a bloody million years. I have a reputation to consider with my mates.”
“Jesus, I’ve heard it all now. Donna told me at the hospital, you’ve never once made her a meal, not even beans on toast.”
“That’s right, and I’m proud of it. It’s not the man’s place to spend hours in the kitchen, picking up crippling burns, risking the hairs on his arms, while cooking for his family.”
“Christ, you really do live in the Dark Ages, don’t you? I’ll get Simon to give you some lessons, if you like. He adores cooking, sees it as a pleasure, not a sodding chore.”
“He’s different. He had to fend for himself for years until you two started dating.”
“Is that the only reason you married Donna? Because she could find her way around the kitchen without resorting to using a compass?”
He smiled smugly and winked. “Yep. Next question?”
Sally spread her hands over the desk. “As you can see, I have a shitload of work to keep me occupied, so, as much as I would love to spend the next few hours pointing out where you’ve gone wrong in your marriage, it’s not going to happen.”
He wiped his brow. “Thank fuck for that.” He winced as he rose from his seat.
“Are you all right? Should you be out and about so soon?”
“I needed to collect my stuff before the end of the week. Anyway, I wanted to invite you and the rest of the team to the pub this evening, for my leaving do.”
“For the obligatory orange juice in your case,” she teased.
“Yep, I’m totally off the drink, haven’t touched a drop since the accident. Not worth the bloody risk, take my word for it.”
“Don’t, I still feel guilty you didn’t join me and Lorne that night at the pub.”
