04 Murder On the Beach by Jane Adams

Author:Jane Adams
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Philip Rains was dead. The news came just as Alec had dropped Mac at the flat and was heading for home. He spun the car around and returned to find Mac already standing in the doorway waiting for him.

Alec drove while Mac tried to get extra details before they arrived at the prison.

‘Stabbed to death,’ Mac said. ‘A shiv made from a hacksaw blade.’

‘A hacksaw blade? How did that get past the searches? And what’s wrong with the great tradition of the sharpened toothbrush handle?’

‘Apparently his attacker took metalwork classes – they think he got the broken blade from the scrap bin. Whatever, it did the job.’ Mac thought of Alec’s comments about Rains the day before. About him being unable to join the main prison population because of his proclivities. It looked as though he hadn’t been safe anywhere.

‘What do we know about his killer?’

‘His name . . .’ Mac consulted the hastily scribbled note he’d made and tried to read his own writing. ‘His name is Billy Tigh, convicted sex offender, though unlike Rains he prefers young women. Three counts of aggravated rape, just transferred this week, took exception to Rains from the moment he arrived.’

‘No honour among perverts,’ Alec said. He pulled up at the gatehouse. Three marked cars had already parked in the yard beyond, and the scientific support van pulled up just behind as Alec showed their ID. ‘You should have had a cup of Bennet’s coffee,’ Alec said. ‘It’s going to be a long night.’

Fifty miles down the coast, a knock came at Emily Peel’s door. Calum opened it, still on the chain.

‘I’m here to see my daughter,’ Thomas Peel said.

‘You’re what!’ Momentarily too startled to react, Calum soon recovered and pushed the door closed, but the hesitation had been enough and Thomas Peel thrust something long and metallic into the space between door and frame. Shocked, Calum realized that the man was armed, that the metal thing was a shotgun, that he, Calum, was facing both barrels. Hastily, he backed away, pressed against the wall, staring at the weapon, appalled at how solid it looked.

‘Open the door,’ Peel said.

‘I–I can’t. It’s on the chain.’

Peel took a step back. ‘Contrary to what you might have seen in the films,’ he said, ‘wood won’t save you from a shotgun blast, so I suggest you remember that. Shove the door to, take off the chain, open it properly and let me in.’

Calum stared. Behind him, Emily came from the kitchen and into the hall, Frankie at her heels.

‘Oh my God.’

Thomas Peel heard the exclamation. ‘I’ve come to see my girl,’ he told Calum again. ‘I’m not planning on hurting anyone. I just want to talk.’

No one, Calum thought, comes armed with a shotgun when they just want to talk. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I–I’ll close the door and take the chain off.’

He’s going to kill me. Calum’s brain seemed to have switched from paralysis into overdrive. He’s going to kill us both no matter what we do. He looked back at Emily and saw she knew that too.

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