Old Cold Bones: Featuring Inspector Walter Darriteau (The Inspector Walter Darriteau Books Book 8) by David Carter

Author:David Carter [Carter, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: detective novel, British Crime Series, thriller, Crime thriller, Murder mystery, murder thriller
Publisher: TrackerDog Media
Published: 2020-08-26T22:00:00+00:00

Forty-Six

The teenage Madeleine hurried home from college, her mind in turmoil. What would she find? Maybe an ambulance waiting outside, its lights flashing, carting away her damaged mother, a police car too, with concerned and suspicious officers standing waiting, eager to know who had laid a wire trap at the top of the steep stairs.

What do you know about this, young lady? Maybe we should discuss it at the Station.

But there was no ambulance or police car. Everything in the road was quiet. No one about at all, just the usual spaniel taking itself for its afternoon constitutional, a regular sight in the street and village, a dog locals called Higgins, though no one knew where the black and white beast lived, or if that was its name.

Maddy hustled up the path, took out her key, opened the door, went in, and closed it behind her. She gazed at the foot of the stairs, and her prone mother, blue jeans, mauve sweatshirt, lying half in the hall, her left leg high on the stairs, her right leg sticking through the spindles at an awkward angle. She didn’t look well. But she wasn’t dead.

Cicely glared up at her daughter. From where she was lying Madeleine appeared upside down, or maybe the jolting fall was playing tricks on her brain, as blood flooded to her head. She tried to speak but couldn’t.

Madeleine didn’t say a word, just stared down, considering options. Call an ambulance, leave her there and let nature take its course, or finish her off. She’d think about it and take her time doing so.

Cicely spoke. She didn’t ask for a doctor or ambulance. She didn’t even ask for help, but said in a whisper, ‘I knew you were an evil bitch of a witch. You won’t get away with it, Madeleine Martello. I’ll set a curse on you that will bring you down. You will never find peace and never be free of me...’ and the words dried up, though if eyes could kill, Madeleine would have been burned.

Maddy ignored her, shook her head, stepped over the mad woman and ran up the stairs, taking care over the wire trap. Retrieved the pliers from her bedroom and returned to the wire. Cut it in the centre and untwisted and unwound both halves. It took a great deal of effort but they were off.

She crouched down and stared at the wooden spindle. There was a fresh mark caused by the wire triggering, a tiny gash of bare timber beneath the varnish. She thought of finding the tin and touching it up, but figured that would make it more obvious.

Some clever dick imagining he was Sherlock Holmes could glance at it and put two and two together and make five. But the timber blister could have happened anytime through normal wear and tear. She licked her finger, rubbed the abrasion, and the newness faded.

Clipped the wire in small pieces, went to her bedroom, and slipped them in the side pouch of her holdall.

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