Silent Fall: An absolutely gripping and unputdownable crime thriller (Detective Jack Kent Book 1) by Nicky Downes

Author:Nicky Downes [Downes, Nicky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Google: qKXBEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 194975159
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2023-09-04T13:00:00+00:00

On the last breath, Jack woke with a jolt. This wasn’t the first time that she’d experienced sleep paralysis since Annapurna. Each time, she hoped it would be the last. She tried to convince herself that this wouldn’t happen again and that she didn’t need professional help, that she was getting better. But she wasn’t. If anything, these episodes were becoming more frequent.

There was far too much to do to worry about it, emphasised by the number of emails that had come in during the last few hours. She groaned and headed for the kitchen. Coffee first, then she’d consider what needed to be tackled and in what order.

By 8 a.m., Jack had completed the day’s task list and emailed it to all parties. She yawned as she read through the last batch of emails in her inbox. Kicking herself, she spotted one from SOCO that she’d missed. Why on earth didn’t they flag their emails as urgent? Jack typically got over 100 emails a day and had little time to keep up with them.

She opened it. They’d found a medallion on the edge of the balcony, snagged on one of the pot plants. A photograph was attached. Jack clicked on the file. It took a moment to download. As the picture became clearer, Jack immediately recognised it. She had one of her own that she kept in her climbing jacket pocket, a medallion of Saint Bernard, the patron saint of climbers – not a huge, fluffy dog carrying a casket around its neck, as most people imagined, though if you were stuck on the Alps, you might prefer the latter.

All climbers had their own superstitions and beliefs. The puja ceremonies, prayer flags, and altars on the Himalayas only added to the mysticism. Many climbers developed habits and rituals to keep them safe. Jack never wore a St Bernard medallion around her neck, as she preferred dog tags. If she died on the mountain and was dug up years later, she wanted her rescuer to know who she was. The Sherpas had etched a metal plaque for Hannah at Annapurna, later replaced by a formal memorial laid by Hannah’s parents. Jack couldn’t describe what the first one looked like as shock clouded her senses. All she remembered was the flapping of the brightly coloured prayer flags and how inappropriate they seemed. She didn’t attend the second memorial event despite Hannah’s parents inviting her and even offering to pay her airfare. She never wanted to set foot on that mountain again. The image of the goddess with outstretched arms haunted her night and day, and she couldn’t get over the feeling that she’d let them down by not protecting their daughter.

The medallion told her one important thing. The likelihood was that the climber had been at the flat some time that night. Jack felt relieved. The last thing she wanted was for the investigation to shoot off in another direction. The NCA could take over the organ trafficking angle, leaving them to concentrate on the break-ins and the suspicious death.

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