The Cold Road (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Silence. Silence and concentration. James scrunched his eyes shut as he held his head in his hands. Slowly he rocked back and forth, tilting dangerously close to the edge of his bed. 'There has to be something else,' he murmured to himself, dismissing the idea as soon as it left. He could think of nothing short of following Belberra. It was an idea but not one that he could easily put into motion. How had the evidence disappeared? Someone had deleted it. Rising suddenly, James hit the floor. Swearing loudly he cradled his bruised knees. Upstairs Wallace shouted down asking if he was all right. When James did not reply, he hurried into the room.

'What was that all about?' he asked, stopping when he noticed James on the floor. Stepping forwards, he helped James up. 'You okay?'

'No,' snapped James, wrenching his arm away from the strong hold. 'We have one day until the full moon, no suspects, no evidence, nobody who fucking wants to do anything, and I just bruised my fucking knee!' Sighing, he sat back down on his bunk.

'How could evidence just disappear?' he asked, voicing his thoughts aloud. Not by someone from the outside. How would it benefit the forensic department in Richmond?

'I don't know if you want an actual reply to that,' said Wallace nervously. 'Was it rhetoric?'

Ignoring him, James focused on a spot on the floor. Heinrich confirmed the match, and then sent it out for a reconfirmation. He struggled through the thought process, somewhere after the files were sent off they disappeared. He refused to believe that the forensic lab at Richmond had even received them. There was no way they would have found the results negative and then have lost the research.

He rose suddenly, swaying as lights burst in front of his eyes. His mind went blank as he blinked and the world in front of him faded. He shook his head and sat back down again. What if the information had arrived, been deleted, and then the person, or persons, sent a reply that the results were negative. When Heinrich contacted them, someone else, a real medical examiner perhaps, who was not supposed to look into the matter, found the evidence missing. Perhaps the person, or persons, who deleted the evidence weregoing to write back to Heinrich and make him think the evidence was still available, but someone else got to his email first. James rose again, slowly this time. So, there had to be a mole in Richmond, or someone working from Damascus who could enter the computers at the forensic lab in Richmond. One of the seven people he had seen at the meeting. The question was who?

'You okay, James?'

Rolling his eyes, James glanced at his distraction. 'Fine,' he shot back before returning to his thoughts. Who in Damascus knew they had gathered evidence, where it would be and where it would be sent?

'Um. So I heard you caught someone. Well done,' Wallace continued to talk, taking a chair as he did so. 'But you still haven't found the girl?'

'Not yet,' replied James, distracted. He glanced up. 'I know she's out there. We'll get her back,' replied James, fiddling with his keys. His car sat by the side of the road, the only police car on the street.

'Has Belberra talked?' asked Wallace, nervously hunching into his coat. James cast his eyes on him. 'It's a small town,' Wallace explained, shrugging. 'Plus you have been itching to arrest him ever since you came back.'

'Yeah, I guess I have,' replied James absently, trying to return to his thoughts. 'But I was right to. And no, the bastard hasn't talked. Hasn't even called a lawyer. He's acting smug, like he doesn't believe he's been caught. Well, that'll change. We'll hit him so hard that it won't matter whether he says anything or not.'

'Good,' nodded Wallace. 'That's good. What about the rest of his gang?'

'What?' James turned, confused. 'I don't remember saying we were looking for more than one person.'