Death on the Isle by M.H. Eccleston

Author:M.H. Eccleston [Eccleston, M.H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803280370
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-four

Astrid sat at the table, content that she had nowhere else to go. She took out her sketch book and dashed off a quick drawing of Wren from memory. Then she sat back and stretched her legs out, facing the last golden rays of the evening. She eyed the rail of the pier. It was almost chest height. Could Cynthia really have thrown her husband over it? She was strong enough to lift two metal garden chairs without blinking, but a grown man? That was another kettle of fish.

A family of five shuffled up to a spare table. They scraped the metal chairs back and sat down, the father lifting a white plastic bag and plonking it down in the middle of the table. He dished out a parcel of fish and chips. Astrid watched them tear open the paper wrappers and dig in with their fingers.

Ten minutes later, Melody emerged from the side door of the café. She locked up, then crossed the entrance of the pier and walked on past a row of parked cars. When she reached a stone slipway down to the waterline, she stopped and checked over her shoulder. Then she tiptoed down to the shore.

Strange, thought Astrid. The double-checking that she wasn’t being followed bit. Which was a good enough reason to follow her. Astrid gathered her things and walked through the entrance of the pier.

She leant over the right-hand rail. There was no sign of Melody on the sliver of shoreline below. It was only twenty yards long. After that, the water came all the way up to the sea wall. So there was no way Melody could have gone that way. She must have turned back and carried on under the pier.

On the other side of the pier was another short stretch of shingle beach at the bottom of the beer garden of The George hotel. No sign of Melody there. So, she must be under the pier.

The gaps between the big wooden planks were too thin to see down there. All she could hear was the waves lapping up against the rocks. Astrid left the pier and followed Melody’s route past the parked cars and down the slipway.

There was a jumble of rocks before you got under the pier. Astrid clambered over them and blinked in the shade. Melody was sitting in a shallow bowl of dry sand, her back against a sloping flat rock. She exhaled a cloud of grey smoke. Astrid caught the whiff of marijuana.

‘You mind if I join you?’

Melody kept her eyes straight ahead on the low waves forming around the pier. ‘Sure…’ she said sleepily. ‘I’ll budge up.’ She shuffled sideways a few feet, and Astrid sat next to her. Five yards ahead of them, gentle waves rushed at the sand, the sound echoing off the planks above them.

‘This is a good spot,’ said Astrid. ‘I’d have loved this as a teenager.’

‘It’s my favourite place to get my buzz on.’ Melody took a long drag on her joint, the tip glowing orange.

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