The Wrong Woman

THE WRONG WOMAN An absolutely gripping crime mystery with a massive twist HELEN H. DURRANT Detectives Lennox & Wilde Thrillers Book 3 Joffe Books, London www.joffebooks.com First published in Great Britain in 2023 © Helen H. Durrant This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this. The right of Helen H. Durrant to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. We love to hear from our readers! Please email any feedback you have to: [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-80405-746-9 CONTENTS Love Free Bestselling Fiction? Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Epilogue Love Free Bestselling Fiction? The Joffe Books Story Also by Helen H. Durrant A Selection of Books You May Enjoy Glossary of English Usage for US Readers Love Free Bestselling Fiction? Join our mailing list and get a FREE Kindle book from a bestselling author every week! Click here to join our mailing list and also get a free box set of short stories! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @joffebooks Prologue Thank you for choosing this book. Join our mailing list and get FREE Kindle books from our bestselling authors every week! CLICK HERE TO GET MORE LOVELY BOOK DEALS Adam Lansing tore at the sealed envelope, fingers trembling, the tension evident on his face. He looked at the young detective by his side, hot tears in his eyes. “What if this isn’t the end? What if the kidnapper changes his mind? What if he doesn’t give Lori back but simply demands more money?” “Best not get ahead of ourselves,” the detective advised. “For now we follow the instructions in that letter.” Adam knew he couldn’t cope with more waiting, he was already a nervous wreck. “He said one payment would secure Lori’s freedom, but will it? Can I really trust someone who’s kidnapped my wife, who’s held her captive this last week, taunting me Chapter One Three weeks later Monday The sight was grisly, grotesque, so horrific it made DS Jess Wilde shiver. It wasn’t the fact the woman was dead — after all, death and murder came with the job. It was the way the victim’s face had been practically obliterated. That, and the fact that she’d been left dressed in old-fashioned clothing, made for an odd scene. At first glance, the victim’s face appeared to be heavily made-up, but Dr Melanie Clarke, the pathologist, had already discovered that she was wearing a mask. A mask that gave their victim pale skin and red Cupid’s bow lips, like those old Victorian dolls with heads of china that you see sometimes in antique shops. Her blonde hair, now thickly matted in blood, was done in ringlets with red ribbons that matched the colour of her lips. The entire effect