Murder on Paradise Island: An unputdownable, page-turning tropical mystery from bestseller D. E. White: Book 1: A Bermuda Mystery by D. E. WHITE

Author:D. E. WHITE [WHITE, D. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue Pier Books
Published: 2023-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

16

‘Mrs C!’

She jerked awake, torn from her dreams, flinging her legs out of bed. The late night, and her subsequent nightmares meant she seemed to have only just fallen asleep. Yet sunlight was streaming in through the slits in the shutters. Her bedside clock said it was just past six.

Antoine was standing at her bedroom window. Chloe fumbled with the shutters and window catches, still half asleep. But the urgency in his voice was starting to send shivers down her arms.

‘It’s Goldie. She’s been stolen!’ Antoine was distraught, sweat soaking through his T-shirt, beading his face and bare shoulders. He wiped a hand across his shorts.

‘Are you sure? Couldn’t she just have got out?’ Chloe grasped wildly for a sensible solution. Goldie wasn’t a Derby-winning racehorse, she was a hack for hire. Her value wasn’t any more than any of the other horses in the stables.

Antoine nodded. ‘I thought the same thing. But she hasn’t just let herself out and wandered off. The stable door was closed and bolted behind her. Someone took her and didn’t care that we knew it.’

‘Is her tack gone?’

He shook his head. ‘No, I checked, but if they can ride, she’s easy bareback in halter… she’d go with anyone.’

‘I can’t believe this. I only arranged the photoshoot last night!’ Her mind was whirling, remembering the gossip that Louisa had passed on. ‘Oh my God, I’ve just thought… You don’t think she’s been stolen to prevent us doing the photoshoot do you?’

Antoine stared at her, wide-eyed and confused.

Chloe said decisively, ‘Let me get some clothes on and I’ll call Finn. I suppose you’ve been out looking?’

‘For ages.’ He glanced down at his watch. ‘Over an hour. I got here early again because Louisa is supervising a delivery and she had to leave at four… There were fresh hoofprints heading down the Railway Trail, but then I lost them across the road at the five-mile point.’

‘I’ll be out as soon as I can. Do you want to come in and make yourself a coffee or something?’

He nodded gratefully, and Chloe padded out of her bedroom in bare feet to open the front door. Who knew about Goldie being chosen for the photoshoot? Fiona at the hotel, of course. Jonas knew. He had been right there when the offer had been made… Arron had made a clumsy crack about selling the land, too.

She called Finn and he promised to send someone over. ‘Oh and Chloe, I heard you saved Sheetal Araminta’s life last night. Well done.’

‘I didn’t do anything really… She would have done it herself if she could.’ Chloe stopped gabbling. ‘Arron said he was going to report the incident to you, to the police anyway, because he seems to think somebody is targeting his artists.’ She remembered the shapes in Kaila’s painting and was about to tell him, when she heard the crackle of a radio in the background.

‘Sorry, I’ve got a possible incident in Hamilton I need to deal with, but sit tight, Chloe. Is Antoine with you?’ Finn, as usual, sounded calm and in control.

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