Killer Collusion by SM Kahan

Author:SM Kahan [Kahan, SM]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Andrea Witt

23

Journalist’s Demise

The call came in just as Hunter was heading from Matthew’s school to the police station the next morning.

“There’s been another body found,” the control room operator told him. “Same MO. It’s a male victim on a property out of town.”

Already, Hunter was veering off the road to the police station that he’d been following. Instantly, his heart rate was spiking.

“On my way. Send the coordinates,” he said.

A third murder in as many days? He shook his head, turning right and right again to backtrack his route as the coordinates came through.

Surely there was no way that Rogan could redeploy him or tell Gibson to pull him off the case now. Could he? This was now a murder epidemic. He had no idea who this latest victim would be. But he was sure, with a cold certainty, that the man would somehow be linked to the others.

A toy manufacturer? An activist? He didn’t know and could only guess. The happiness of the early morning’s activities – the visit to the vet, the pronouncement that the kitten was in good health, Matthew’s fascination as the vet had given Merlin his shots – all this now faded into the background as he sped to the scene. At least he’d gotten Matthew to school. Now, he followed the road out of town, thankful that he was going against the floods of traffic coming in.

The victim has been identified as Mick Coombes; the radio told him as he drove. That was all he had. He didn’t know who Mick Coombes was. All he had was a name and an address – which was leading him to a quiet housing estate that juxtaposed a larger tract of land where development was taking place. Bulldozers and cranes were hard at work creating a high-density estate backing onto this quiet road.

Hunter swung into the street, seeing police lights ahead.

Parking behind them, he got out of the car and hurried up to the house – a modest, double-story home with a shabby look to it and a garden growing wild. The front door was open. Outside were a few people gathered, with a police officer keeping them back from the doorway.

Briefly, Hunter greeted the officer. He put on foot covers and a head cover and went in.

The hallway was a bloody sight. He guessed this man might have been ambushed there on his way in or out. Car keys lay on the floor near him. Blood streaked the white wall tiles and spattered the floor. The coroner was already on site, bending over the body.

“Morning, Hunter,” he said, glancing up, brisk and businesslike as he went about his examination. “This victim was killed yesterday afternoon. Probably around three or four p.m. I believe one of the witnesses outside, from a neighboring house, has just confirmed this. She heard a bang, but thought it was work being done on the construction site.”

So he’d been killed yesterday? Hunter considered that fact as the coroner worked.

And then, he moved aside, and Hunter saw the body clearly for the first time.

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