Victim of Innocence: A DCI Matilda Darke short story

Victim of Innocence: A DCI Matilda Darke short story
Michael Wood

The nightmare is just beginning… A short story and prequel featuring DCI Matilda Darke, star of Michael Wood’s darkly compelling crime series. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons and Patricia Gibney. She invited the killer into her home… The body of a young woman is found in an apartment block in a Sheffield suburb. She was attacked at home, in a sudden moment of violence that sends shockwaves through the community.  DCI Matilda Darke has no choice but to work with her rival, DI Ben Hales, as the investigation takes them undercover into the dark world of a serial rapist targeting innocent women on the streets of the steel city. But can Matilda and Ben finally put their grievances aside and work together? Or will this case be their last?

Victim of Innocence

A DCI Matilda Darke Short Story

MICHAEL WOOD

One More Chapter

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © Michael Wood 2019

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com)

Michael Wood asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © December 2019 ISBN: 9780008374846

Version: 2019-10-14

Table of Contents

Cover (#uc5dd9760-c503-516f-8729-f78179fc93d2)

Title Page (#u24d6408e-6ee0-55d5-bd43-d50a21ea5496)

Copyright (#ucf1780d4-bd5a-5bec-af43-1c3b966d8cd0)

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

Keep Reading …

Also by Michael Wood

About the Author

About the Publisher

Chapter One (#uea50fca9-7cb2-5bc3-80ec-fe4e6eee6748)

Sunday March 6, 2011

Caitlyn Brown was confused. She staggered forward and held out her arms to hold on to something, anything, to stop her from falling.

What the hell had happened?

She heard the front door closing. Was that someone coming in or going out?