The Chalet: the most exciting new debut crime thriller of 2020 to race through this Christmas by Catherine Cooper

Author:Catherine Cooper [Cooper, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008400224
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-10-30T18:30:00+00:00

29

January 2020, La Madière, France

Hugo

‘A body?’ I ask. ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t think they know much more than that,’ Matt says. ‘A body was discovered early this morning. Until they’ve ascertained what happened, no one can ski in the sector where it was found. They can’t open the lifts in the higher sectors anyway this morning because of the wind, so … There are a few runs open at the bottom, but not much of any interest to anyone except beginners I don’t think.’

‘Oh, how awful!’ Ria says. I look at her for the first time since she came downstairs. She looks pale and startled, but she’s still beautiful. I feel a stirring of lust and am annoyed with myself. I’m still cross with her, I tell myself. I’m not letting her off the hook that easily.

Matt nods solemnly. ‘Yes, awful. All I’ve been told is that a body has been found, the police and mountain rescue are investigating, but it’s taking longer than usual because of the terrible weather. The road into the resort is blocked and they can’t even fly a helicopter in these high winds so …’

‘Poor bugger,’ I say.

Ria looks at me and then across at Matt and – oh God – she holds his gaze too long for my liking. My face grows hot. I bury my face in my paper and pretend to read the news.

‘A terrible thing,’ Matt continues. ‘The police have sealed off a huge area. As you can imagine in a small resort like this, there’s a lot of gossip and speculation going around, but we don’t know who it is yet – not even if it’s someone local or a visitor – and I doubt we will know for a while.’

‘Do they know what happened?’ Ria asks. ‘Who found him? It. Them. Is it a man?’

Matt pulls a face. ‘Like I say, at the moment it’s mainly rumour and speculation. As I understand it, one of the piste-basher drivers almost ran over the body on his way back down to the resort in the early hours of this morning. I’m not sure exactly where it was found, but it sounds unlikely it was a skier – the mountain guys would have scooped up any stray people still on the slopes when they did their final rounds at the end of the day. My best guess is someone had a few too many in one of the bars last night, got lost on the way home and tripped over, or simply fell asleep in the snow.’ He pauses. ‘Not that we should be speculating, of course.’

‘Does that kind of thing happen often?’ I ask.

‘Not too often, thankfully – it’s not something I’ve ever had personal experience of – but you do hear about it now and again, in the press or from other reps. Terrible thing. But people come on holiday, drink too much, and feel invincible. The mountains can be dangerous, and you have to respect them.’

The room falls silent. Matt gives himself a shake and says, ‘Anyway.

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