DEAD & BURIED a gripping crime thriller full of twists by Helen H. Durrant

yawned. “Here’s your official invitation. The vicar wants us to have a practice before Sunday, so I’ll let you know.”
    “Come on then, young master Ireson. Let’s give Leesdon Park a whirl.”
    Pushing a pram was a new experience for Calladine. His daughter Zoe had been brought up by her mother in Bristol and he’d missed all the childhood stuff with her. It was about seven thirty in the evening but at this time of year the nights were long and light. He wandered down Leesdon High Street, making for the park, when he almost bumped into Eliza King coming out of the supermarket.
    “Yours?” she asked doubtfully, peering into the pram.
    “No. He belongs to my sergeant, Ruth Bayliss. I’m giving her a break.”
    She gave him an odd look.
    “Have you found somewhere to stay?” he asked.
    “Yes. The pub further down.” She gestured to the Wheatsheaf.
    “It’s a bit rough there. You won’t get much peace and quiet.”
    “Just as well I don’t sleep much then, isn’t it?”
    She had an answer for everything.
    She was clutching a packet of crisps and a bottle of cola.
    “Is that your tea?” he asked.
    “I don’t go a bundle on healthy eating. Work’s so full on, I’m usually too busy. Is there anything else you’d like to know, Inspector, before I crack on?”
    Keep out of my business and leave me alone. It came through in everything she said.
    “I was just being friendly,” he said.
    “Well, you’d be better off making friends with someone else. I don’t do friends. They take up too much time.”
    “Shame. This is a friendly town. The team are an okay bunch too. We should try to get on. We are working together.”
    “No we are not. I’m here on a case that has to do with the Daneside and Yorkshire forces. I’d appreciate you keeping out of it.”
    “That’s me told,” he said.
    “Look, I don’t mean to come across as a narky bitch. It’s just how I am. You can take it or leave it. I come to work to do exactly that — work. I don’t intend to stay round here long and I’m not interested in making friends. Polite conversation is frankly boring and I’ve got a report to write tonight. So if you don’t mind, I’ll let you get on with your stroll.”
    * * *
    Eliza King knew that if she wasn’t careful DI Calladine would be all over her case like a rash. He was as keen on putting Costello away as she was. But she wasn’t going to let that happen. This particular criminal was her catch.
    He’d been right about the pub, though. It was a dump. The room they’d given her was straight out of the seventies. Even two floors up, she could still hear the music and the shouting coming from the bar.
    She took her phone and tapped in a number. “Becca? You okay, love? How did you get on?”
    “Difficult, Mum, and I was a bag of nerves. I don’t like exams and this was GCSE maths. It was hard.”
    “You’ll have done alright, you always do. Look at the marks you got in the mocks, they were brilliant. How’s your sister?”
    There was a silence.
    “She’s gone out with him again — Harvey,” Rebecca King finally admitted. “There was nothing I could do to stop her. She was being a right cow.”
    Eliza’s heart sank. “It’s not your fault. Did he come round? Jade didn’t let him into my house, did she?”
    “No. He rang her and arranged to meet. She’s hardly been home at all. It was four this morning when she got back from last night. She stunk of booze and hardly said two words to me. I think Jade’s drinking too much. She said I wasn’t to tell you. Before she left tonight, she gave me a tenner and made me promise to keep my mouth shut.”
    “She never learns,” Eliza said bitterly. She was angry. This was the first time she’d left her daughters. It wasn’t something she’d do ordinarily, but the Costello case was so important she’d had no choice. She’d made her eldest daughter, Jade, promise to stay at home. She was almost nineteen and Eliza was relying on her. It