'Black and White' - The White Bridge Crime Series 2 - LGBT, manXman

5

The ringing phone woke Adrian Sloan only minutes after he'd fallen asleep.

Glancing at the clock, he saw it was almost half past two in the morning.

He rolled over with a groan, feeling his lower back twinge because of Dom's exertions half an hour before, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He managed a mumble that sounded vaguely human.

"Dom?"

"Adrian." Adrian yawned.

"Oh... is Dom there? It's Peter Cole."

"Oh, right. Hang on."

Adrian rolled over and shook Dom's shoulder.

"Dom, wake up."

Dom grunted and rolled over, his arm wrapped snugly around Adrian's waist.

"Dom. Dom!" Adrian hit Dom's face.

Dom sat up with a yelp.

"What did I do?"

"Phone." Adrian pressed it into Dom's hand and snuggled back beneath the duvet.

"Hello?" Dom said groggily, yawning widely.

As Adrian listened, Dom seemed to wake up more.

"Where?"

Dom scribbled something on his arm with the biro that was always sat on the bedside table.

"Tell Rex I'll be there in twenty minutes." Dom hung up, stretched and slid out of bed. "I've got to go," he said, leaning over Adrian and kissing his forehead.

"You've got to shower," Adrian mumbled, wrinkling his nose.

Dom sighed in annoyance and went for a quick shower.

Adrian heard him thumping uncoordinatedly around the bedroom as he gathered clothes and dressed, before kissing Adrian goodbye and leaving.

*

It wasn't a pretty scene.

That was Dom's first reaction as he entered the bedroom with Rex.

Another man lay dead on the bed, a red rose on the pillow beside his head, his throat slit so deeply his head was almost severed.

"The wallet on the sideboard contained credit cards belonging to a James Hancock. Victim's been tentatively ID'd by him by one of the neighbours." Will said in a monotone voice.

The coroner had already started his preliminary examination.

His daughter had been hospitalised the day before with appendicitis and he'd been less than happy to be called from her bedside just as she was going into surgery.

"Similarities? Aside from the rose?" Rex asked.

"Condom wrapper in the bin. Same brand used with Patterson. No sign of the condom though; he took it with him again. No lubricant present, preliminary UV light shows no trace of semen, but there are busies on his hips and torso."

"He was pinned down," Dom said.

"Hard." Will said grimly. "And his wrists and ankles are rubbed raw. He fought back. I'll probably find ketamine in his system, the same as with Alan Patterson."

"How long's he been dead?"

"About an hour and a half." Will rubbed his eyes wearily. "The neighbour was woken when her dog started barking. She looked out of her window and saw a bloke walking down the front path and heading towards the town centre."

"Description?"

"The uniforms downstairs have it." Will said, kneeling beside the body again. "We're about ready to move him. Just need to get a couple of photographs."

Rex and Dom nodded, and left the bedroom.

They found the two PC's searching the back garden. The back door had again been forced with a crowbar, and the front door had been left open after the man had left.

"Will said you had a description?" Rex said.

One of them straightened and nodded.

"Neighbour's outside, waiting with Pierce. She says she saw a man leaving just after her dog started barking. About half past twelve."

They went out to the front garden, and saw the elderly neighbour sat in a police car with PC Pierce. She was clutching a cup of tea.

As Dom and Rex approached, a little white terrier popped his had up over the window and started barking.

"Cleo, hush." The woman chided firmly.

She got out of the car with a little difficulty and shook hands with them.

Although she had to be nearing eighty, the woman's eyes shone brightly, and her grip was strong.

"Good evening, Mrs..."

"Miller. Claudia Miller." The woman smiled at Dom. "This is Cleo."

Dom scratched the dog's ears for a moment, before he pulled his notepad from his pocket.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"Well, it was half past twelve." She began, obviously enjoying having an attentive audience. "I remember, because I'd just finished watching that politics programme with that news reader."

Dom nodded, although he had no idea which programme she was talking about.

"I'd just turned off the television and was going up to my bedroom, when Cleo started barking. She's a quiet dog, normally. She only barks at the postman and the milkman. I looked out of the kitchen window and saw a man walking down the garden path."

"Did you notice anything about him that might help us identify him?"

"He had blonde hair. And was quite tall; as tall as you, at least. And he was white. I didn't see his face though. Just the back of his head."

Dom nodded.

"Is James alright?" Mrs Miller asked. "He's a lovely young man; he always puts his bins away after they've been emptied, and he always says hello when he sees me. He loves Cleo. He's always fussing her when she's out in the garden."

Rex shot Dom a look.

"Mrs Miller, we're very sorry... but James didn't make it."

She paled.

Dom guided her back towards the police car, and sat her on the front seat.

"We're very sorry."

"He was such a lovely man." She whispered.

Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them away resolutely.

"You'll need to call Carly. That's James' girlfriend. She lives on the other side of town. I have her number, if you need it. James gave it to me in case anything ever happened."

Rex nodded, and jotted down the number Miller rattled off from memory.

"You've been very helpful, thank you." Dom smiled at her. "PC Pierce will take you back inside. It's cold tonight."

Pierce took the woman back inside her house.

Rex shot Dom a look as they headed back to the car.

"What?" Dom asked innocently.

"I should tell Adrian how much you use that smile to charm people," Rex said. "I'm sure he'd be very interested to know."

Dom grinned.

"He won't mind. As long as I save my best smile for him, he won't mind." Dom sighed suddenly, and rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "So... this is the second case in three weeks, where a guy's been attack and killed in his own home, and probably subdued with ketamine. And a red rose has been left on the pillow."

"You're thinking what I'm thinking?"

"A serial," Dom said grimly.

Rex nodded.