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

‘You talk to Rolfe, and I’ll go talk to Karl,’ Declan suggested, already texting the German mechanic to see where he was right then.

‘We’ll go talk to Karl,’ Doctor Marcos interjected. ‘He’s an old friend of yours, and you might find yourself swayed by that. If I’m there, we’ll ensure it’s by the book.’

Declan almost went to contest this, but stopped himself. He knew Doctor Marcos was right.

‘Anything from Anjli and De’Geer?’ He asked. Billy shook his head.

‘I’ll keep you updated,’ he replied. ‘Go on, get out there and be detectives, while I tell your daughter that she really needs to reconsider her career choices.’

‘Good luck with that one,’ Declan laughed as he moved to the door.

Karl Schnitter had two garages, but often worked out of the smaller one in Hurley Bottom, towards the Henley Road. And it was here that Declan and Doctor Marcos went to. It wasn’t that far from the pub, but Declan still drove the Audi, mainly because he was too tired to bother walking.

‘Did you know Monroe was married once?’ he asked Doctor Marcos as they pulled up outside the garage.

‘He’s been married a couple of times,’ Doctor Marcos replied with a smile. ‘But then again, maybe I have too.’

‘Have you?’

‘You’ll never know, my dear.’

Declan grinned as they walked towards the main entrance. ‘More than once? Twice? Are you a Black Widow? I mean, if anyone knew how to off husbands without people knowing, it’d be—‘ he stopped as he pushed at the main door. ‘That’s odd. The door’s usually open.’

Doctor Marcos pointed at the closed garage doors. ‘Maybe he’s not working here today?’

‘I suppose so,’ Declan said as a crash, the kind of crash that a toolbox of spanners tumbling to a concrete floor would make echoed around the inside of the building. Declan walked to the doors to the garage, hammering on them.

‘Karl!’ He shouted out. ‘It’s Declan! Open up!’

There was still no sound, and Declan banged on the door again. Hearing nothing, he looked around for something to gain height, so he could look through one of the top windows in the garage doors. Rolling a tyre to the door, he clambered up on it to peer through the window.

‘Christ!’ he shouted as he almost fell from the tyre, jumping down and running to the door. ‘Help me get it open!’

He shoulder barged the door, but yelped in pain as his gunshot wound tore. Before he could try for a second time though, Doctor Marcos ran over with a crowbar and, jamming it into the space between door and frame, cracked the lock out of its mounting, smashing the door open.

‘Come on!’ Declan ran into the garage, and for the first time, Doctor Marcos could see what had caused his panic.

The garage had two ramps, with hydraulic lifts, so that they could lift cars over a dip in the ground. Here, mechanics could move freely underneath the cars as it held them in the air. And, on the left-hand side, a SUV had been placed onto the hydraulic lift and raised up to its full height, the top of the SUV almost scratching the top of the high garage ceiling. From wheels to floor, there was a height of about eight, nine feet.

And, at the back of the car, in his overalls, with a ratchet strap around his neck and hanging a foot off the ground, was Karl Schnitter.

‘Quick!’ Declan grabbed Karl’s legs, taking the weight as Doctor Marcos ran to the control box, pressing the DOWN button. As the SUV lowered, Declan saw that someone had tied the small ratchet strap around the rear towbar of the SUV and, as it’d risen, it had pulled Karl up with it until he was hanging off the ground.

Declan saw the toolbox, the contents scattered across the floor.

‘The killer might still be here!’ he snapped as Doctor Marcos grabbed a length of pipe and looked around.

To Declan’s surprise though, as they pulled the strap off Karl’s throat, the German’s eyes opened and he drew in a thick, raspy breath of air.

‘Huh-huh-huh’ was all he could say though as he grabbed at his throat, wide eyed and looking around, a mixture of relief at surviving and fear as he realised that whoever did this could still be here.

‘It’s me!’ Declan said as Karl locked eyes. ‘You’re lucky we found you. A minute or two later and you’d be dead.’

Karl leaned over and coughed onto the concrete, the coughing bringing up bile and a small amount of liquid as he vomited. Eventually he lay back on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. Doctor Monroe was already on the phone, calling an ambulance as Declan rose, looking around. The back door to the garage was open, leading into the back corridor.

‘Where does that go?’ he asked urgently. ‘Stay with me, Karl. Where does that go?’

‘Buh-back door,’ Karl croaked. Declan left Karl on the floor, grabbing the largest wrench that he could find and running to the door, moving into the back corridor and, more slowly now, inching his way to the right-hand turn at the end—

Which led to an open door, leading out to a space at the back of the garage. There was a ten foot high wire fence around the property, but there were enough palettes and parked up car chassis for someone to use one of them as an escape ladder. Whoever had run out of the door was long gone by now.

Returning to the garage, Declan saw that Doctor Marcos had opened the main doors and was now tending to Karl.

‘You’re bloody lucky,’ she muttered as she examined the bruises now appearing around the throat. ‘It’ll hurt for a while but you’ll survive. The ramp rises slowly, so your neck didn’t have the sudden crack that most hangings have, and the ratchet stopped the strap from tightening all the way. So you still gained some amount of oxygen,’ she said. ‘But mark my words, you’d have died