The central character is the Ashes to Ashes series is Charlotte Ashe, an ambitious journalist who begins the series trapped in the role of weather girl and the light relief. A role she detests. Ashes to Ashes follows her journey in pursuit of her longing to be a respected investigative reporter in a world that values immediacy and opinion over resource and labour-intensive investigation.
As the series progresses, new characters enter and leave.
Less You Know–book two in the series–is Allie’s story. Allie is Charlotte’s best friend. They met in book one and have since become firm friends who share hopes and dreams and cocktails at their favourite hangout Chasers.
They are such good friends that Charlotte asks for Allie’s help in getting Tyrone Garner to confess his part in the events that took place in Bad Things Happen (book 1).
But as Less You Know opens, Allie is missing. And the cops don’t seem to care.
Last time I shared some of the procedural questions the dectives involved in the case would have considered when processing Allie’s case.
Today, I thought I’d share a little of the relevant conversation between Forrester, Bryant and Charlotte after Bryant has reviewed her initial assessment.
Read about UK Missing Persons procedure here
The following scene takes place approximately 24 hours after the initial interview with Charlotte about Allie’s dispearance. Detective Bryant has reviewed her initial assessment and approaches Charlotte with more questions…
Charlotte’s Waterside Apartment, Canary Wharf, 8am December 27th
‘See, this is our problem. Things don’t add up,’ Forrester said. ‘So we have to ask ourselves if the reason you jumped your friend’s fence in the wee hours of a blistering cold morning and didn’t call local command until almost two hours later is because you are the cause of her disappearance.’
‘What? You cannot be serious?’
Forrester leaned back in the couch and rested one ankle on his knee as his hand resumed its couch diving. ‘I’ve been in this job a long time and my copper’s nose tells me you’re a scorned woman. Garner’s loaded. You’re doing your best to get his attention, but your friend catches his eye. Jealousy. Oldest motive there is. When it comes to love and money things can get nasty.’
Charlotte chucked her tepid coffee in the sink. ‘And all this blew up over Christmas dinner, right? I found out, we argued and then I wrecked her house, hid her god-knows-where and made sure I got fingered as the prime—’
‘Fingered?’ Bryant smiled. ‘You watch too many crime shows.’
‘Did you bother to talk to the rest of the neighbours or did you stop after that helpful neighbour told you I’d jumped the fence?’ What else had Babs told them? She had no love for Allie and Babs-the-entertainer wouldn’t waste the opportunity of an appreciative audience. ‘It’s over twenty-four hours since I reported her missing. What have you done since?’
‘Ms Ashe, please stop assuming you know our job better than us.’ Forrester eyeballed her while Bryant perched on the arm of her couch with a faint smile like she was enjoying the entertainment. ‘Forensics suggests there might be more to it than a woman walking out after being stood up for Christmas dinner—’
‘Well, hallelujah!’
‘—but she’s an adult. Free to do what she likes. We are under no obligation to do anything official until the required seventy-two hours are up. Yet here we are. So please, stop being obstructionist.’
‘Yes, here you are, accusing me of lying. Again.’
They might be here now, but they weren’t concerned enough to push the case to Missing Persons, still adamant about that seventy-two-hour window. She wanted them to get on with things, but they’d do nothing if she continued being argumentative and hostile.
Allie was in danger. She needed Bryant and Forrester to take this seriously.
…
About the Ashes Series
Each of the books in the Ashes to Ashes series can be read as a stand-alone suspense thriller. Bad Things Happen (book #1) is Joey Baptiste’s story; Less You Know (book #2) is Allie Brown’s story. If you like the sound of my Ashes to Ashes series the eBooks can be found on Amazon, Kobo and elswhere. My print books are available everywhere. Just ask you friendly bookstore owner.
About Rowena Holloway
I consider myself a reformed academic who discovered fiction writing was preferable to the real world. My love of suspense fiction is thoroughly indulged through writing novels and short stories about Fractured Families and Killer Secrets. My novels have been nominated for the Ned Kelly Award and semi-finaled in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and my short stories have been included in several anthologies including the Anthology of Award Winning Australian Writing. I also review my favourite books, interview fellow writers, and blog about books and writing.
- the links to various sites in this article are purely for your convenience. I do am not affilliated with any businesses and do not generate income when you click a link.
