Time to Play By KA Richardson Copyright © KA Richardson, 2020 The right of KA Richardson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is coincidental. Names, characters, places and occurrences are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Published by KA Richardson – 2020 www.kerryannrichardson.co.uk Cover design by Emmy Ellis of StudioENP Cover design copyright ©StudioENP Other Books in the Forensic Files Series: Book 1 – With Deadly Intent Book 2 – I’ve Been Watching You Book 3 – Time to Play Book 4 – Watch You Burn Book 5 – Under the Woods Book 6 – From the Dark Book 7 – coming soon Other work by KA Richardson: Hidden ~ a short story included in Dark Minds charity anthology – 2016 Inside Out ~ short story included in When Stars Will Shine charity anthology – 2019 For my best friend, Claire – for keeping me grounded and always believing Glossary of terms: Brown Sugar – Heroin CSI – Crime Scene Investigator CSM – Crime Scene Manager DCI – Detective Chief Inspector DI – Detective Inspector DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid Fed – federation (police union) Guv – Guvnor (used by lower ranks to address higher ranks) HOLMES – UK database for logging major crime HQ – Headquarters ID – identification LV – force terminology used by the force to describe themselves (i.e LV in this instance refers to North East Police as a whole) MIT – Major Incident Team NCA – National Crime Agency PADI – Professional Association of Diving Instructors PNC – police national computer PM – Post-mortem PolSA – police search advisor QT – quiet (you’re not allowed to say quiet or it jinxes the day!) RIB – Rigid Inflatable Boat RVP – Rendezvous Point SOCARD – fictional database for logging crime scene information (real CSI use either Locard or Socket) Super – superintendent. Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Epilogue Acknowledgements Prologue Foster Home, Ryhope, Sunderland – 6 June 1994 I t was cold and cramped. The young girl shifted position, trying to stop the spade digging into her back. She shivered, pulling her dressing gown tighter. Tears filled her eyes. It was her own fault, anyway. She could have been sleeping in the nice bedroom with the floral bedding on her bed, surrounded by her pretty white furniture that held all her new clothes. She could have been warm inside the house rather than cramped in the shed out of sight. But she wasn’t. Because she knew if she’d stayed in the house, he would have come for her. And he would have done far more than just touch her leg this time. She’d been in the foster home now for the total of three weeks and four days – the longest she’d ever been in one place that wasn’t a group home. If she told on her foster mother’s boyfriend, then that’s where she’d end up again. The four-to-a-room home where the noise never stopped. Surely this was preferable? Even with Chris’s roaming hands and his gravelly voice giving evidence of his thirty-a-day habit. The tears fell down her cheeks. She really couldn’t cope with him touching her. It was how she’d ended up in the shed with the woodlice and spiders. She stared through the open shed door at the kitchen window. It felt like she’d been in there for ages. In reality, it hadn’t even been half an hour. How was she supposed to sleep here? There was nowhere to lie down. Can you even sleep sitting up? She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. This was her decision. She’d just have to be grown up and deal with it. Just like she dealt with everything else. She was eleven now. As of today, she was practically an adult. Ann had even been nice and prepared a party tea with a birthday cake – her first ever cake. She had presents too. She should have been happy. But Chris’s wandering hands had made her so upset she’d thrown up all the nice cake and sandwiches. She’d made a decision when she was in the bathroom that if that’s what birthdays were about then she didn’t want any more. Her eyes narrowed as a flash of orange appeared in the kitchen window. The lights danced and moved, and it took her a moment to realise that the kitchen was on fire. Oh my God. That was me. I left the candle burning near the window so I could still see it from out here. Ann will get hurt. It’s all my fault. The candle was Chris’s rule – no wandering in the house putting lights on at night. The girl got to her feet and stood in the shed and stared as the flames started burning harder. What should she do? What could she do? Taking a deep breath, she ran to the back door and flung it open, intending to run past the fire and shout for Ann. The flames flew towards her with a ‘whoosh’ and she knew she wouldn’t get past. She was going to run to the front of the house, but the fire alarm suddenly started squealing. That would alert Ann.
