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

have cashed in their chit? Demanded payment and, when he failed to do this, killed him? It certainly made better sense now why Nathan Wing was classed as a suicide. And a son hideously in debt was one of the worst insults that parents who were incredibly traditional could endure. It was probably why they wouldn’t speak about it, too.

The Red Reaper had chosen wisely. If it hadn’t been for her dad stepping in, this would have gone as unsolved as the others.

Just like the ones involving her grandparents.

Jess shook away the thought as she turned down Boroma Way, and entered the cafe on the ground floor of the Regal Picturehouse. It was a warm, open space, with a pale, wooden hard floor, under brightly painted yellow chairs around small tables, the white walls and windows contrasting against the emerald green wallpaper behind the counter. There was a young woman at the counter, a barista currently pouring an espresso for a customer, and the cafe was quiet apart from a small group of four teenagers sitting in the cafe's corner, huddled together. Two boys and two girls, they seemed deep in some kind of debate, so Jess decided to start with the barista first. Walking up to the counter, she tried the same smile she’d attempted at the Web Design company. The barista smiled back.

‘What can I get you?’ she asked.

‘Lemonade, please,’ Jess looked around the cafe again, breathing in, taking in the smells of coffee and fresh cakes. It was glorious and calmed her instantly while giving her a conundrum.

How could a teenager who hung around such a place kill himself? How had nobody considered foul play?

The barista placed a glass of lemonade in front of Jess, and she passed across a couple of pound coins. ‘Hey, did you know Nathanial Wing?’ she asked conversationally. The barista paused, watching Jess carefully.

‘He owe you money?’ she replied. Jess shrugged.

‘I think he owed everyone money,’ she said, as if this was a well-known situation. The barista nodded at this.

‘You should join the club,’ she pointed at the four teenagers in the corner. ‘They have badges and everything.’

Thanking the barista, Jess took her lemonade and walked over to the table. The four teenagers were all around the same age; mid teens, maybe sixteen, seventeen at a push. The two girls were both Asian; one was slim and stunningly beautiful, her makeup on point and her clothing obviously expensive, while the other was larger and more relaxed in her look, wearing a denim hooded jacket and jeans over a band tee shirt. Opposite her were two boys, one Caucasian and blond, as equally manicured and dressed as the first girl, while the other one was Mediterranean in looks, olive skinned, his long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, his piercing green eyes looking up at her as she approached.

‘Hi,’ she said nervously. ‘The barista said you were all friends of Nathanial Wing?’

‘How much did he owe you?’ the boy with the piercing eyes muttered.

‘That obvious?’ Jess tried to smile as the blond boy reached across to another table, pulling a fifth yellow chair to the table.

‘Please, sit,’ he said. ‘I’m Leon, that’s Bino, the princess is Meena, and the lesbian is Prisha.’ He ducked a half eaten muffin as Prisha threw it with surprising force at him.

‘I’m Jess.’

‘So, go on then, how much?’ Meena asked, pointing at Bino. ‘So far Bino’s in the lead with three grand.’ Jess’s surprise at this was obvious, because Prisha started laughing.

‘See, boy?’ she said to Bino. ‘Nobody’s as stupid as you.’

‘I loaned him a couple of hundred,’ Jess lied. ‘I didn’t know—‘

‘That he was a serial debtor?’ Leon interrupted. ‘Yeah, that was his modus operandi. We all took the same class as him, and none of us knew that anyone else had loaned him money.’

‘You think that’s why he killed himself?’ Jess enquired carefully, hoping that she wasn’t overstepping. Leon shrugged.

‘If he did.’

He leaned into the group, lowering his voice.

‘I heard he was offed by a loan shark. Owed him ten grand.’

‘I heard you were full of shit,’ Meena responded. ‘Loan sharks don’t kill the debtor. They’d take all of his stuff first.’

‘You can’t retrieve a debt from a dead man,’ Prisha agreed.

‘What kind of loan shark?’ Jess asked. Leon shrugged.

‘I dunno,’ he admitted. ‘But I was with Nate when he took a call, yeah? Scared the crap out of him. Seems he’d run out on someone, and they were telling him that if he didn’t fulfil his end of the bargain, the debt would pass to his parents.’

‘He told you this?’

‘I could hear it,’ Leon shrugged. ‘The phone was close by. Nate grabbed his stuff and ran shortly after. Next thing I hear, he’s dead.’

‘Yeah, but that just sounds like he had nowhere to run and took the coward’s way out,’ Bino replied. ‘If some gangster called me up telling me I’d screwed up like that, I’d be on the phone to my parents immediately. His mum and dad could easily cover a ten grand loss.’

’Just saying what I heard,’ Leon held up his hands. ‘The German seemed pissed, that’s all I’m saying.’

‘German?’ Jess looked to Leon, who nodded sagely at his one believer.

‘Voice on the phone had a strong accent. Couldn’t miss it.’

‘So Nate was owing German loan sharks money and ended up being offed on a golf course,’ Prisha chuckled. ‘You get many German loan sharks around here?’

Leon leaned back, sulking, aware that his great revelation was being mocked.

‘I just didn’t think he was the sort of guy to kill himself,’ Jess muttered, as if surprised.

‘He didn’t,’ Leon insisted. ‘I said what happened.’

‘Leon’s bullshit aside, I agree,’ Meena spoke up now. ‘Nate wasn’t a quitter. Christ, he kept trying to get out of the hole he’d gotten himself into.’

‘By borrowing more money,’ Prisha added.

‘Sure, but he was trying,’ Meena replied.

‘What did he need all the money for?’ Jess asked the group. ‘He never told me.’

Leon laughed at this. ’Nothing,’ he replied. ‘He was