RUNNING SCARED an absolutely addictive crime thriller with a huge twist (Detective Mike Nash Murder Mystery Book 10) by BILL KITSON

Author:BILL KITSON [KITSON, BILL]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-07-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The house on the outskirts of Helmsdale stood some distance from neighbouring properties. It had been derelict for many years. Most of the windows were empty, mere gaping shells. Those panes that hadn’t been totally wrecked were more hole than glass. It had been the target for vandals from time to time, but even they had given up on the place in the end, probably because they thought there was little more they could do to it, other than razing it to the ground. Scorch marks on the exterior brickwork and what remained of the plasterwork in two of the downstairs rooms showed that even that had been attempted. The failure was probably due to damp. Mould and fungus flourished, giving some rooms the impression they had been decorated by some mad surrealist painter.

Despite its unwholesome appearance and unhealthy atmosphere, the house was the nearest thing to a permanent home for a small group of people who lived there peripatetically.

Mains services had long been disconnected. Lack of a gas supply was almost certainly the principal reason the house hadn’t burned down. Disconnection from the water main, while it created severe sanitary problems, had prevented them from being flooded out.

Electricity was another luxury the house didn’t boast. For the residents, this wasn’t deemed a great disadvantage, as much of what went on inside the property was far better conducted under cover of darkness. All four of them were addicts, which was what had drawn them together and drawn them to this place as well. To pay for their addiction they used the only asset they had, which was why one of the bedrooms in the house contained the nearest thing to an item of furniture in the whole building: a mattress.

With only their bodies as a means of earning money, they traded sexual favours for cash in that room. The disgust and self-loathing others might feel at being involved in this trade passed them by. The substances they ingested had long shattered any remaining respect they had for their bodies and if someone was prepared to rent them by the hour, what did it matter, so long as their money was good?

‘I got extra gear.’

‘Extra? How come? You win the lottery then?’

‘Course I have. How else do you reckon I could afford a mansion like this?’ He gestured at their surroundings.

She laughed. ‘So tell me, if you haven’t won the lottery, how come you can afford the extra? One of your regulars? Mr "I own a car showroom and I’ve got money”?’

‘Nah! He came round pleading the poor tale, so would I let him have a freebie. I told him unless he paid up, no cash, no bash.’

‘So come on, tell me, where did you get the loot?’

‘Your friend “Mr Little Dick” gave me it. You remember, last week, the one who kept complaining how cold it was?’

‘Oh, “you’re tiny and it’s frozen”, that one?’

‘Yeah, well, remember those photos and the video I took with my phone? Those of the pair of you hard at it? The thing is, I saw him yesterday when I was visiting my mam.

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