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Author’s Note During the research for this novel I found a number of websites and papers to be a very valuable resource. Although I have made some references to these sources within this book, Burnt Paper Sky is entirely a work of fiction and all quotes and references are used fictitiously. Along with the characters and events in this novel, the blog posts, online comments and identities, newspaper articles, email addresses and many of the websites are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual websites, email addresses, online comments and identities, newspaper articles and blog posts is entirely coincidental. Any mistakes in police procedure are mine, with apologies to the two retired detectives who kindly advised me. Bristol is as real as I could make it, although there is no playing field beside the Leigh Woods car park, and the descriptions of the interior of Kenneth Steele House are a product of my imagination.
Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother’s love is not. James Joyce In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day. F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Gilly Macmillan grew up in Swindon,
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Burnt Paper Sky Table of Contents A
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JIM BEFORE
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DAY 2 JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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DAY 3 JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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DAY 4 JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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JIM
Page 32 and 33: DAY 5 JIM
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Page 76 and 77: JIM
Page 78 and 79: RACHEL
Page 80 and 81: RACHEL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BIBLIOGRAPH
Page 84 and 85: PROLOGUE NOVEMBER 2013 - ONE YEAR A
Page 86 and 87: imaginary interview goes really wel
Page 88 and 89: But whether I’ve been awake or as
Page 90 and 91: BEFORE DAY 1 SUNDAY, 21 OCTOBER 201
Page 92 and 93: eally honest, I hadn’t noticed it
Page 94 and 95: ‘OK,’ and he was off, careering
Page 96 and 97: as if the woodland was holding its
Page 98 and 99: appeared on the path. Our progress
Page 100 and 101: ‘That’s good news,’ she said.
Page 102 and 103: FM: Do you think that expressing fe
Page 104 and 105: JC: It was a promotion is what it w
Page 106 and 107: suspect, is not going to be an easy
Page 108 and 109: RACHEL John couldn’t stand the wa
Page 110 and 111: It was the awkward twitch of Inspec
Page 112 and 113: ‘Solid eight hours,’ I said. I
Page 114 and 115: RACHEL Inspector Miller said that b
Page 116 and 117: JIM Kenneth Steele House is where I
Page 118 and 119: had four pairs of officers in place
Page 120 and 121: at others. He was always watching m
Page 122 and 123: JIM I was quite pleased with how th
Page 124 and 125: his parents as well as his grandpar
Page 126 and 127: ‘Expertise is on our side,’ she
Page 128 and 129: RACHEL My sister Nicky was waiting
Page 130 and 131: unstoppable. She told me that the w
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the streetlights and the geometric
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JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
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FM: So you recommended Emma for the
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DAY 3 TUESDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2012 Be a
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RACHEL In the car on the way to Ken
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‘If you are the person who is wit
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‘This way,’ she said. She swept
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‘It’s a soft alibi.’ Fraser w
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trace of dignity or vulnerability,
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missing”, and that everybody is l
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looking woman too: nicely dressed,
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‘Were there signs that the arm wa
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accident. But we’ll check it out
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To the insultingly practical: Don
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FM: So apart from the negative pres
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they’re focused on the job? FM: Y
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DAY 4 WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012 Cr
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RACHEL I slept only fitfully after
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WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
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JIM I spoke to Emma before I left f
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say that he doesn’t play by the r
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‘Bye,’ Fount said to him. ‘Wh
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thanked her for what she did for us
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I sat on the bed for a long time, u
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JIM Fraser and I had a pre-meet bef
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‘He’s got an alibi, doesn’t h
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RACHEL Nicky phoned the police and
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door in the middle of the night. Yo
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an orange wash remained. It struck
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RACHEL When I got back inside Nicky
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JIM On the night of Wednesday, 24 O
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DAY 5 THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012 You
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RACHEL I slept the night in Ben’s
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individuals closest to Ben, and he
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‘What about their son, Charlie Bo
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He took another sheet of paper from
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more imperfect than any version of
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JC: She said she was knackered. She
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It led swiftly to the fourth state.
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Quick response appreciated, obvious
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WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
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I didn’t know what to say. I look
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RACHEL Zhang agreed to come and giv
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sensation. Then she spoke to him of
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abstract shapes floating within it,
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JIM I got one of the DCs to pick up
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RACHEL This time, I made no attempt
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dog, black and white like Skittle,
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FM: I’m not intending to. That’
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everything that had happened. But I
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JIM We worked closely with John Fin
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DAY 7 SATURDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2012 An
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RACHEL In the early hours of the mo
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school year, but I started to work
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tight. A hospital band was visible
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cancer himself. The whole family, w
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Another page. A different drawing:
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‘The blog.’ I was slow; I didn
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told him to fuck off. ‘Tell Frase
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‘Stop asking me to be patient. Ho
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JIM In the incident room the blinds
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swing. ‘So what are we thinking?
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‘She’s drunk?’ I asked when h
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JC: Fine. He coaxes his lips up int
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JIM It was Emma who I thought of al
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DAY 8 SUNDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2012 The P
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RACHEL When dawn came there was no
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JIM Nine o’clock Sunday morning,
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RACHEL The hospital receptionist se
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RACHEL My cab driver on the way hom
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tall bear of a man, with very dark
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‘To be honest, I assumed Nicky wo
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He actually put his hand over his h
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‘Cool,’ my avatar said. ‘New
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me wants you here to run the invest
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I behaved in an arrogant and disgus
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RACHEL I logged on to Furry Footbal
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‘I know it was him,’ I said. Th
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Her handbag was on the seat between
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so that my toes were already numb.
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‘It’s what Miss May said, about
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He sat back down. ‘Again,’ he s
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JIM Nicky Forbes was disturbed by m
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RACHEL It took me twenty-five minut
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here. And then I saw something else
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JIM Nicky Forbes’s expression was
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RACHEL They prised me up off the ca
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Operator: OK. They’re a few minut
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RECORD OF EVIDENCE: AVON AND SOMERS
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RACHEL Bristol Children’s Hospita
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‘Is the child all right?’ Mrs M
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RACHEL I approached my son’s beds
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EPILOGUE CHRISTMAS 2013 - ONE YEAR,
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RACHEL A few weeks ago, somebody as
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that he loved so much in return. Th
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JC: Yes. FM: Have you seen her sinc
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RACHEL We might never have closure,
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us that. He came to our house and w
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BIBLIOGRAPHY The following websites
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