Shadow Sands by Robert Bryndza

Author:Robert Bryndza [Bryndza, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542023368
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2020-11-03T06:00:00+00:00

30

After Kate left the office to meet Kirstie, Tristan got a text message from Sarah:

I’M STAYING AT GARY’S FLAT UNTIL THE WEDDING.

There was no hello or goodbye and no smiley face emojis. It concerned him that they hadn’t made things up, but they could both do with a bit of space. He left the office and went back to the flat, changed into his running gear, and went for a run along the seafront, past the amusement arcade and out past the other side of Ashdean.

The run cleared his head, and he came home and took a shower. He got dressed and made spaghetti on toast and then came through to the living room and enjoyed the silence as he ate. He then took out his laptop and started to work on finding the names of the two young women who had been found floating in the reservoir in 1989 and 1991. He dug around, and he found them both: Fiona Harvey and Becky Chard. Both girls were from poor backgrounds; Fiona was described in the newspaper as unemployed, and she grew up in a children’s home. Becky was also unemployed at the time of her disappearance, and she was from a single-parent home.

He then made a list of all the victims, both missing and found, starting with Magdalena and working backward.

He was still working on the list when Kate called to say that she had finished her meeting with Kirstie and she was on her way back to Ashdean in the car. He asked if she wanted to come over for something to eat, adding that Sarah wouldn’t be there.

When Kate arrived at Tristan’s flat, he made her some tea and toast.

“What’s with the boxes?” she asked when she sat on the sofa with her plate.

“It’s the duty-free booze for Sarah’s wedding . . . Oh. Shit. Does it bother you?”

Tristan saw how Kate looked at the boxes of Smirnoff vodka and Teacher’s whisky, almost with longing.

“Do you have any iced tea?” she asked.

“I think I’ve got a bottle of Lipton iced tea,” he said. He hurried to the kitchen and found a juice tumbler, a little ice, and he filled up the glass. He topped it off with a slice of lemon, just the way he’d seen her do it at home. She looked relieved and grateful when he presented her with the glass.

“You are a lifesaver,” she said, taking a big gulp. Kate ate some of her toast, and in between mouthfuls she recounted Kirstie’s story.

“Arron Ko? Jesus,” said Tristan. “Do you think she made a mistake?”

“How many senior Asian police officers are there in Devon and Cornwall? There might be more now, but this was a few years back,” said Kate.

“This means that we can’t trust Henry Ko?”

“No.”

“And this bloke kept Kirstie for ten days in the dark?” said Tristan.

Kate nodded and drank more iced tea.

“It’s five days since Magdalena went missing,” she said.

“Do you think she’s telling the truth?”

“I’ve interviewed a lot of criminals and a lot of victims of crime.

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