SEVEN DEADLY THINGS (Henry & Sparrow Book 3) by A FOX (new ebook reader .txt) 📕

in on it. Gary said good morning to all eleven of them as they settled uneasily on the low seats lining the walls. Then he retreated behind his desk and let the constable stand up and take over.

‘First of all, I want to say thank you,’ said PC O’Neill. ‘You were all a great help last night, evacuating the holidaymakers and seeing to it that nobody got too upset. We really appreciated your professionalism. Couldn’t have done it without you.’

He smiled at them all and Ellie felt a sense of unreality, not helped by her lack of sleep.

‘Now, I know you’ve all already given a brief statement to my colleagues — and I know that between you all there wasn’t much to tell us. I gather none of you knew the victim or had even met her. Are you all still sure of that? I know that you take it in turns to meet and greet at the reception area in the pavilion… are you all sure you didn’t see this woman at any point during your shift yesterday?’

He held up an A4-sized print of an attractive, dark-haired woman in her 20s; sporty and fit-looking. Everyone shrugged and shook their heads.

‘We say hello to hundreds of people,’ said Nettie. ‘She might have come in, but we just don’t remember her.’

‘You should be aware that Julie Everall was herself a Bluecoat here seven years ago,’ went on PC O’Neill. ‘We don’t know if this is relevant to her murder but it’s possible that it is. Now… we’re not in a situation where we’re asking for the closure of an entire holiday village because of this.’

Gary blew his cheeks out and shook his head.

‘In all likelihood this is the end of it — until we find the person who did this.’

‘How did she die?’ asked Ellie.

‘I’m not able to share any details with you, I’m afraid. Only that her death was not by natural causes and not by her own hand,’ he said.

‘So what about Martin?’ said Ellie. ‘Are you still saying his death was by his own hand? Because I don’t believe it. I never did believe it.’

‘Obviously last night’s incident has thrown a different light on Martin Riley’s death,’ said the PC. ‘We’re not ruling out a link. Which means that you must all be careful to look out for each other.’

‘You mean there’s a Bluecoat serial killer?’ gasped Jenny, always good for a bit of drama.

‘I don’t mean that,’ he said. ‘But to be on the safe side, you all need to stay in pairs and make sure nobody is out wandering on their own after hours, OK? Everyone clear on that?’

‘Oh yeah — we’re clear!’ said Nettie.

‘And if you see anything suspicious… you need to let us know. Right away. Even if you think it’s silly and even if it turns out to be nothing, that doesn’t matter. We need to know.’

By the time he’d finished, Ellie and Nettie had already exchanged glances several times. Ellie knew what Nettie was thinking — the lights on in Barney’s caravan in the early hours… the shadow passing their chalet window. But on any other night they would have thought nothing of it. Bluecoats kept late hours and guests on the site might wander around in the dark, pissed and giggly, trying to locate their chalet. So did it qualify as something suspicious?

That wasn’t the only thing on Ellie’s mind, though. What about the allegation against Martin that she’d seen on Gary’s laptop? Had Gary told the police about that? She had a feeling he hadn’t. She suspected he was the kind who would rather cover up such an unsavoury accusation than take it through all the correct channels and risk a public revelation that might damage the Buntin’s brand. Like Nettie had said last night, he didn’t have to worry about it now. Having Martin kill himself must have seemed like a bit of a free pass from the legal stuff that the family had been threatening. Going back to them to say the man accused had taken his own life was likely to silence them. You can’t sue a dead man, even if you have the stomach for it after news like that. She narrowed her eyes, taking in Gary as he shuffled papers on his desk. Would he bump off his lifeguard to save Buntin’s from bad publicity? Surely not…

And what possible reason would he then have to kill this Julie Everall, who he’d employed here seven years ago? No. It made no sense. And anyway, Gary just wasn’t the type. Under all that Essex hard man gravel he was as soft as butter.

That still left Barney, up in the wee small hours, maybe looming past their window. Question was… what to do? Should she speak to the police officer now? He’d said he and the crime scene investigators would be in chalet 24, where they’d set up their incident room, for the next day or two. She and Nettie had twenty minutes before they were due in the children’s theatre with Uncle Bobby. There was time…

‘I think we should tell them about Barney,’ hissed Nettie, as soon as they stepped outside. ‘Lurking outside our chalet!’

‘But we don’t know it was Barney by the window,’ said Ellie. ‘It’s not like the shadow was backflipping past, is it? It could have been anyone.’

‘The lights were on in his caravan. He was awake,’ said Nettie. ‘And he’s always been a bit… you know… weird.’

‘He’s OK,’ protested Ellie. ‘He’s just… from a different world to us. He’s, you know…’

‘A gypo,’ said Nettie.

‘A traveller!’ Ellie rolled her eyes. Honestly — was she the only Bluecoat who lived in the 21st century?

‘He’s been coming here for years,’ Nettie went on, as they walked on auto-pilot to the small theatre where kids were already lining up excitedly, ready for games and cartoons. ‘I heard he’s been a regular Buntin’s performer for at least a decade. He was only fifteen when he first started