from The Tourist by Jack Everett & David Coles
Detective Inspector White has just moved to the Ridings Regional Crime Squad taking over control of a team of 30+ detectives and support staff. His patch – territory – is the largest in the UK with several cities, airports and shipping ports spread hundreds of miles apart.
He is a fast track officer, university educated and extremely young – early thirties – to be promoted to such a position. His new job takes him away from his home and an aging widowed father.
Detective Inspector White, tell us what made this case so special.
This case was special because it was the first in my new job. I had enough on my plate after the first day in my new job when a report of murders taking place on a major trunk road leading to my area landed on my desk. I guess I knew the perpetrator, a male, was heading towards us. The first murder on my patch made me sit up and notice pretty quickly. After reading the report of the first killings I assumed them to be retaliatory, a case of a mugging gone wrong, the most recent one was something entirely different-- a prostitute in a small town strangled. There was no obvious similarity but I knew in my bones it was the same man.
What made the case hard to solve?
It was hard to solve because we thought we had the man identified as an Alan Cleghorn, an American citizen married to an English woman. We knew he had flown in from Florida. His passport had been checked on arrival and his details registered but his fingerprints didn’t match; neither did his DNA. Only then did I smell a rat and that was when I asked for information from Florida--his point of departure.
Did anyone outside of the police department help you solve this case?
We had advice from a Floridian Sheriff helped identify the perp but the solving was all my own work aided by an able female Detective Sergeant. I must admit at this point that my sergeant was a mild distraction to me because I found her extremely attractive.
Has this case affected your personal life in any way?
Well, the knowledge that she was married and pregnant did appear to put the mockers on any sort of a relationship. So apart from a lasting affection, there has been no effect on my personal life.
Thank you for talking with us, Detective Inspector White. We wish you the best in your new position.
Jack Everett & David Coles has written as a team for over 30 years and wouldn’t want it any other way. The Tourist is due out August 2011 from Acclaimed Books. For information on their books, visit their websites at www.jackleverett.me.uk or www.DavidBColes.co.uk.
RSS Feed
