Gone

By Steve Graham

When six year old Lizzie Turner went missing from her home, the occupants of the small town of Helperton were horrified. Everyone rallied round to help with the search, but despite their best efforts, they found no sign of her at all.
Detective Inspector David Jameson and Detective Sergeant Beverley Harper began to investigate, but initially they were frustratingly unsuccessful, and had no idea what had happened to young Lizzie.
Unfortunately this was not the only case that they had to investigate during this time, and when a man`s body was found near the river, just outside of Helperton, Dave and his team found their resources stretched to the limit.
The story continues, with many twists and turns along the way, until the thrilling and traumatic conclusion, which will leave the reader gasping in disbelief.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Graham
• Release date: Apr 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005817589

Steve Graham

Steve Graham is a retired financial adviser, who now lives in Staffordshire. He is married to Anita and they have four children – Lynne, John, Diana and Gary, and three grandchildren – Logan, Dylan and Sami. Not forgetting their dog Stan, a Springer Spaniel / Border Collie cross, that is loved by them all. Now that he has retired, Steve spends most of his time doing the things that he enjoys most, which includes writing, walking. Carp fishing, and looking after his grandchildren.

Book preview

GONE

An Inspector Jameson Mystery

Steve Graham

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2021 Steve Graham

All rights reserved

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you`re reading this book and you did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Discover other titles by Steve Graham at smashwords.com

INDEX

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

About The Author

Other Books By Steve Graham

To my wife Anita.

Thank you for all of your help and encouragement.

CHAPTER ONE

Little Lizzie Turner was terrified. She was just six years old, and she was home alone.

That afternoon, her mother, Ruth Turner, was supposed to pick her up from school at three fifteen, but by three twenty-five there was still no sign of her. Lizzie was still standing there waiting with her teacher, Miss Thompson, but all the other parents had collected their children long before. At last they saw Lizzie`s mum come hurrying across the playground towards them.

‘I`m so sorry Miss Thompson.’ she blurted out, as she arrived, gasping for breath. ‘I just didn`t realise the time.’

‘We all make mistakes,’ the teacher replied, ‘but this is the third time that you`ve been late this term, and Lizzie was getting quite upset.’

‘I know, and I am sorry. Now come on Lizzie, let`s get you home.’

With that, she grabbed Lizzie`s hand, and lead her back across the playground, and out of the school gates.

Back at home, Ruth made Lizzie her dinner.

‘It’s only beans on toast Lizzie, I’m afraid.’

‘Oh not again Mum.’ Lizzie replied.

‘I thought that you liked beans on toast.’

‘Yes, but not every night Mum.’

‘Well I`ve not had time to go to the shop, so there`s nothing else. Just eat it up before it goes cold, there`s a good girl.’

‘Yes Mum.’ she replied, looking rather dejected.

Ruth Turner was twenty-five years old and a single mum. Lizzie was a result of a one night stand, so she had never known her father. Ruth had to bring her up by herself, and she was struggling to cope. Before Lizzie was born, Ruth had rather gone off the rails somewhat, drinking heavily and even taking drugs. Fortunately she rarely touched drugs now, and she drank less too, although she did slip up in that regard occasionally. Money was very tight, and she scraped by with the help of benefits, and a few part-time jobs from time to time, but she was forever struggling to make ends meet. There had been a succession of boyfriends over the years, but none of them ever seemed to stick around for long. She was always asking them for money to help her get by, and they all soon got fed up with that.

‘Why can`t I find a decent bloke?’ she often asked herself. ‘The one`s that I meet only seem to be after one thing, and then they`re gone.’

At six o`clock that evening, Ruth told Lizzie that she was going out.

‘Please don`t leave me by myself again Mum, you know I don`t like it.’ Lizzie pleaded, and she started to cry.

‘Now that`s quite enough of your snivelling young lady.’ Ruth replied sternly. ‘I won`t be long. Now just go and watch the telly, and I`ll be back as soon as I can.’

After her mother had gone, Lizzie watched television as she had been told. She watched CBeebies, which she quite enjoyed, but unfortunately that finished at seven o`clock that evening, and she couldn`t find anything else that interested her, so she turned the television off. The house seemed very quiet now, and every little creak and noise made her jump. As time went by she became more and more nervous, and still there was no sign of her mother.

At about half-past nine she started to hear a lot of noise from next door, where Stan and Tracey Jones lived. Lizzie and her mum lived in a terraced row of houses, and the walls were very thin, so it was not unusual for them to hear the neighbours. This time however, the Jones`s were having a blazing row, and they were screaming at each other. Stan had just returned from the pub, rather the worse for wear, and Tracey certainly wasn`t happy about it.

‘Look at the state of you.’ Tracey screamed at him. ‘You`re an absolute disgrace.’

‘I work hard at that factory all week. Surely I deserve to have a few pints on a Friday night. What`s up with that?’

‘A few pints! You can`t even stand up, and you stink of beer. I don`t know why you bother going to work, because you spend half of your wages in that pub, and the other half in the bookies. If it wasn`t for the bit I earn down at Tesco`s, we`d starve. What on earth I ever saw in you, I just don`t know.’

They were shouting so loudly that Lizzie heard every word. She tried putting her hands over her ears, but it didn`t seem to help. Then she heard a loud crash, and everything went quiet for a while. She didn`t know what had caused that noise, but she knew that it wasn`t good, and she started to sob. She was so frightened that she was shaking, and then she heard a knock at the front door. She knew that it wasn`t her mum, because she`d just use her key, and no-one else would come to the door at that time of night. She crept towards the window, and carefully peering through the curtain, she saw a man standing there. She hadn`t been careful enough however, because the man saw the curtain move. He walked towards the window, and rapped his knuckles on the glass.

‘I know you`re in there.’ he shouted. ‘You can`t hide forever. Now open the door and let me in.’

Now Lizzie didn`t know who the man was, but she wasn`t going to hang around to find out. She was certain that the man was going to hurt her, and was terrified. She ran through the kitchen, unlocked the back door, and swinging it open, she went outside, and ran as fast as she could.

CHAPTER TWO

When Detective Inspector David Jameson arrived at the police station the next morning, it was a hive of activity. A young girl was missing, and the desk sergeant, Paul Brown, was busy trying to organise the search for her. He was 53 years old and had been at Helperton police station since he joined the force at age 18. He was a very competent and well-liked officer, but was feeling a little out of his depth trying to deal with this case. Sergeant Brown had rung Inspector Jameson at seven o`clock that morning, to let him know of the situation, and as soon as Dave heard what