Two Wrongs (Detective Inspector Ross Reed Book 1) Read Online Free

for dog walkers, joggers, teen drinkers and the odd temporary gypsy settlement with caravans and tethered horses. The plants grew wild with only the tracks that had been worn into them over a period of years spoiling the natural setting. Reed had been there once as part of a team of officers who had moved on a group of Lithuanians that had made a small area amongst the trees their home. He had stood watch as tents, clothes and food had been packed away but rubbish left. A week later, complaints had come in from the public that the immigrants had simply moved to the cared for side of the common and set up there, forcing everybody to admit that they had been less of a problem where they had been in the first place.
    The body had been found on the side that was left to look after itself and as they approached the outskirts of Thetford and the Common began, traffic had begun to slow as people tried to get a glimpse of what the police were doing. Reed could see police cars peeking through the bushes as they approached and wondered if they could have been better hidden. Parked on the road was a red Vauxhall Corsa with its hazard lights flashing and an irate-looking pensioner who was holding a Yorkshire Terrier in his arms and arguing with a uniformed officer that above all else, his dog’s walk was paramount. Other officers solemnly stood around awaiting instructions. There were two Crime Scene Investigation vans waiting to do their work. Whitehead had promised Reed that nothing would be disturbed until he got there to have a look.
    The journey had been quiet and Reed looked over to Plumridge. He was a plump man who always seemed to have a thin layer of sweat on his head during the summer, making the wispy hairs at the side and back of his head stick down flat to his skin. He wore grey trousers, brown loafer shoes, a white shirt that had faint red stripes running vertically, and a bright red tie to set the look off. Reed didn’t think he had seen him in anything different for work. A grey suit jacket in winter maybe, but the styles and colours always stayed the same.
    Plumridge was concentrating hard on the road ahead of him. He was normally a chatty man but he had hardly spoken a word since they had started their journey. There wasn’t a lot to say really and Reed took the time to contemplate whether he’d wished for a breakthrough in the case a little too hard. He hadn’t given up hope of finding Carmella Chapman alive. Not until about forty minutes ago anyway. The body hadn’t yet been identified but to Reed’s knowledge there were no other missing females that it could be, so if it wasn’t Carmella, it was some other poor soul who hadn’t been noticed as missing yet.
    “Do you think it’s her?” Plumridge finally found his voice.
    “Yes.” Reed replied. Then he went back to chewing his lip, letting the silence take a hold just as quickly as it had gone away.
    As they finally pulled off the road, Plumridge guided the vehicle between two squad cars. Reed kept praying for some sort of mix up and that it wasn’t really Carmella. It could be a mannequin. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened. His brother, who was a retained fire-fighter at Watton, had spent five hours waiting for crime scene officials to give the OK to remove a suspected body from a pond. Only it wasn’t a body; it was two carrier bags caught amongst fallen branches under the water. They had probably been there for years but with winter clearing the algae and the inquisitive mind of a dog walker, two undecided PCs; it had sparked a full scale murder scene enquiry. Reed was hoping for something similar here.
    As he exited the car he was greeted by a police officer, “Hello, sir. I’m PC Ashton; I was the one who first attended the call.”
    “Good of you to come over, can you give me a quick rundown?” Reed said, pulling the collar of his coat up to protect his neck from the fine drizzle that had begun to fall.
    “Well,