Death on the River by Clare Chase

Author:Clare Chase [Chase, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786817396
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2018-10-16T22:00:00+00:00

As she hung up, she realised Blake was standing just behind her. ‘Stephen Ross?’ he said.

She nodded.

‘He’s at home?’

‘No. He’s out at that house they’ve all been left, on the Forty Foot Bank.’ She gave Blake a look. ‘He’s gone off there to write poetry and avoid social interaction with the other remaining Acolytes. He knew all about Christian Beatty’s death by this morning, apparently. Probably read it on Not Now’s bloody website, given how quickly my erstwhile colleague Shona turned up at the scene.’

Blake looked thoughtful, his dark eyes on hers. ‘Yes, I heard she materialised as if by magic.’

‘I visualise her as a vampire, out at all hours of the night, scenting blood and then seizing on her prey.’

Blake gave her a half smile. ‘She’s always put me on high alert, when our paths have crossed.’

‘A healthy reaction, I’d say.’

He nodded. He had a coffee in his hand – as usual – and was swigging the dregs out of the bottom. ‘So you’re off into the Fens?’

‘Yes.’ She really wanted to see both Stephen Ross and the bolthole the Acolytes occupied. What’s more, she was glad to go without Wilkins. She reckoned she could pick up on much more when he wasn’t wading in. But all the same, darkness would fall before she could make it home again, which wasn’t her idea of fun – not that she’d ever admit it. Her mother lived in that direction and she tried to avoid it in winter, when the roads were icy. She knew how treacherous they could be. Ralph Cairncross was witness to that. Still, she wouldn’t give up the interview on account of the location.

Blake slapped his empty cup down on a random desk. ‘Just a moment,’ he said, turning back towards the corridor that led to his office. ‘I’m coming with you.’

Automatically, she glanced round the room, but there was no one left to hear his announcement. In particular, no Wilkins; he’d already gone off to mishandle the interview with Thom King. Just as well. She could imagine what he’d have said.

She followed Blake out into the corridor. ‘What do you mean you’re coming with me? I’m quite all right on my own.’ She stood in his office doorway. ‘I know I let the side down and required backup when that murderer tried to kill me in the Fens, but I don’t intend to make a habit of it.’ She’d thought she’d been streetwise back then, when she’d made her living as a hack – but she knew a lot more, now that she’d retrained.

Blake was dragging on a black woollen coat. Although he was looking down she could see there was a twinkle in his eye. ‘I know.’ Having fastened his buttons, he lifted his head to meet her look. ‘If you were in a stand-off with our mystery conspirator it’s them I’d be worried about.’

‘That’s all right then. So, what’s going on?’

‘I want to see the house. I wasn’t there in the summer, don’t forget, when Ralph went into the drain.

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