No Smoke Without Fire (A DCI Warren Jones Novel - Book 2) by Paul Gitsham

survived the headlong dash along the motorway and were soon in the room Herts and Beds used for major press conferences. An announcement earlier in the day about the finding of the body ensured that the room was pretty much full.
    The aim of the conference was to formally identify the victim as Sally Evans and to appeal for help from the public, although as usual the press had managed to identify and name Evans some hours before. Mercifully her family and key friends had been notified before the press spilled the beans, but Warren always worried that one day some over-eager journalist was going to cause a lot of distress by breaking such news on air.
    Key to the conference would be the presence of Sally Evans’ parents and her best friend, Cheryl. Between them, they would deliver a carefully written direct plea to the murderer or those that might know him to search their consciences and contact the police. Darren Blackheath was too upset to attend the conference — or maybe he was avoiding Sally’s father. There was definitely more to that story, Warren mused. Hovering in the background were the force’s press officer and a trio of family liaison officers, there to support the victim’s family and friends during the coming months.
    Sally Evans’ parents had insisted on delivering a direct appeal to the public for information but after Bill Evans and then his wife choked up it fell to Cheryl Davenport to finish reading out the moving tribute to the murdered woman. Although it saddened him, Warren knew that the added drama had probably bought them a few extra seconds on the news and a couple of extra lines in the newspaper, which could only be a good thing. The press briefing packs included an uncropped version of the main picture that they were using, with Sally and Cheryl both laughing at the camera. No doubt at least one picture editor would use this to emphasise the human tragedy.
    As he’d predicted, Warren had been introduced then promptly forgotten about. This early on in the investigation, he had little to offer the press and so a well-groomed John Grayson had answered the few perfunctory questions.
    Finally, barely two hours after leaving Middlesbury, the two officers were back at the station. Grayson didn’t even enter the lobby, practically stepping from the back seat of the police car into the driver’s seat of his Mercedes, muttering something about his golf club’s awards ceremony. He left with a squeak of tyres and not so much as a backward glance. Warren sighed and glanced at his watch. Ten past seven. Turning, he headed back inside.

Chapter 10
    Warren had barely taken his coat off, when an excited Gary Hastings appeared at his door. He waved him in.
    “Got something interesting for you, sir. I was checking out Bill Evans’ alibi like you said and it seems that he wasn’t in Leeds the night of the murder. Better still, he hasn’t been up there for months. And a check of the PNC shows that he has previous convictions.”
    * * *
    Fifteen minutes after Hastings’ shock discovery, Warren called a short briefing in his office.
    The team decided to bring in Evans for formal questioning. Why had Evans lied about his whereabouts on the night of his daughter’s disappearance? Was her upcoming marriage to a man he clearly disliked enough for him to lose his temper with murderous consequences? And, even worse than that, after killing his daughter, had Bill Evans defiled her body? Perhaps most alarmingly, according to the pathology report, the rape had been carried out with such care to avoid leaving evidence behind that it had to have been pre-planned to some degree. And what about his previous conviction?
    According to the report, Evans had been arrested drunk outside a primary school twelve years previously, after exposing himself to a couple of mothers waiting to pick up their children. He had been hit with a raft of charges, but had eventually been convicted of being drunk and disorderly and public