Whisper For The Reaper by Jack Gatland (best book series to read TXT) 📕

‘Possibly,’ Declan replied. ‘My dad worked with Karl Schnitter, a German mechanic who lives in the village. They believed it was a man that Karl had worked with back in Berlin during the fall of the wall. Hauptmann Wilhelm Müller.’

‘That’s the same surname as the two Germans in the dining room!’ Jess exclaimed. ‘Sorry, thought I’d seen a clue.’

‘You did,’ Declan smiled. ‘But, all things in the correct place. My dad and Karl hunted Wilhelm Müller for years, and it ended in blood.’

‘What sort of blood?’ Monroe asked. Declan paused, looking at everyone at the table before speaking.

‘There’s a reason I took this case,’ he started. ‘My dad believed Müller killed my mum.’

‘Your mother was terminally ill,’ Monroe was quieter now, as if shocked by this revelation. Declan nodded.

‘So we all thought,’ he replied. ‘But when they moved the body after her death, they found the same calling card. Dad was away when she died, grabbing a coffee. There was every chance that she was killed.’

‘So we hunt Müller,’ Anjli nodded at this. ‘Nail the bastard good and proper.’

‘Yes and no,’ Declan made a faint smile at Anjli as she threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘Karl Schnitter told me they caught Karl after my mum’s death and, rather than arrest him, my dad took him somewhere and executed him, hiding the body.’

‘Hiding it where?’

‘Probably the bottom of the Thames, knowing dad,’ Declan shrugged. ‘But Karl was convinced that Wilhelm Müller was dead, never asked my dad about it and life went on.’

‘Until three days ago,’ PC De’Geer muttered.

‘Not quite,’ Declan corrected. ‘There’s one more. I spoke to Emilia Wintergreen a couple of days back—‘ he stopped as Monroe rose in anger.

‘You spoke to that bloody woman?’ he exclaimed. ‘You only now mention this?’

‘Yes,’ Declan replied calmly. ‘And we’ll discuss her later.’

‘Who’s Wintergreen?’ Billy asked. ‘I feel like I walked into a film halfway through.’

‘She was a DS who worked with Monroe, my dad and Derek Salmon back in the day,’ Declan explained. ‘She’s in Whitehall now.’

‘Of course she is,’ Monroe mumbled angrily.

‘Anyway,’ Declan returned all eyes to him. ‘She showed me proof that I’d been looking for, proof that my dad didn’t die in an accident. That he was murdered several months back. And in the glove compartment was a Red Reaper card, with only his fingerprints on.’ Before anyone could comment on this, he continued on. ‘And then, as PC De’Geer mentioned, three days ago Nathanial Wing was found on the sixteenth hole with a card that matched.’

‘Copycat,’ Billy suggested. De’Geer shook his head.

‘We thought that too,’ he replied. ‘But when the original cases came up, nobody ever mentioned the cards. There was talk it was some kind of sick suicide cult and nobody wanted the press fallout. If they’re using the same cards, they have to know about them from another source.’

‘It’s worse than that,’ Doctor Marcos chimed in now, checking her phone. ‘Joanna texted me earlier. She compared Wing’s card to Randall’s one, as they were both still in Maidenhead evidence. It’s the same ink, paperstock and age. Which means they were on the same print run. If Wilhelm Müller is dead? Then someone else knew where he kept his toys.’

‘What do you mean is, Doctor Marcos?’ Jess asked, curious. Doctor Marcos shrugged.

‘We have no body, and only the word of your grandfather that he did what he said,’ she explained. ‘He could have scared Müller off, threatened him with something, who knows. And now he’s back.’

‘Who does Wintergreen think it is?’ Monroe asked.

‘She thinks it could be Karl Schnitter,’ Declan replied. ‘And he’s a suspect, no matter what he said to me. But we need to work on several things at the same time here.’ He looked to Anjli. ‘Take De’Geer and go see the Randalls. See if they missed anything when they gave their statements back in 2012.’

‘Sure,’ Anjli wrote in her notepad. ‘Will they want to see us though?’

‘That’s why you’re taking De’Geer,’ Declan smiled. ‘He used to date the daughter, and nobody’s going to argue with you if he’s beside you.’ He turned to Billy. ‘Find out anything you can on Rolfe and Ilse Müller. In particular, if Daddy Dearest was a murdering Hauptmann.’

‘Already on it,’ Billy tapped on his keyboard. Declan turned to Monroe.

‘If it’s okay with you—‘ he started, but Monroe waved him silent.

‘For god’s sake, laddie, it’s your call,’ he said. ‘I might be DCI to your DI, but I’m here assisting you, so lead the bloody thing.’

Declan grinned. ‘You, me and Doctor Marcos will check out Temple Golf Club and Nathanial Wing. With my dad’s death and the name of the club, I can’t help but think this is some kind of message to me.’

‘Because it’s always about you,’ Anjli mocked.

‘And me?’ Jess asked. Declan looked to her.

‘I need you to go undercover,’ he smiled. ‘Everyone got their roles? Good. Let’s get to work.’

10

Par Three

Temple Golf Club was situated just off the Henley Road, or the A4130 to give it the proper name, a country lane that ran north to south from Hurley down to the A404 junction and the eastern suburbs of Maidenhead. Built around 1909, it had once been land owned by the Knights Templar, although knowing things like that didn’t really help you when you were stuck in the rough and two strokes over par.

Declan drove Monroe and Doctor Marcos there in his Audi, even though it was effectively less than a mile to walk across the fields. Although Declan now had wellington boots that fit him, a purchase that came in the last week after various mud-filled wood visits to both Epping and Savernake Forests over the last three cases, visits that had destroyed his favourite brogues, neither Monroe nor Doctor Marcos had a pair, and it was simply easier to drive.

They didn’t enter the main building; the manager of the club was already waiting for them outside when they arrived. A tall, slim, balding man in a