HELL'S HALF ACRE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 2) by JACKIE ELLIOTT (diy ebook reader txt) 📕

hand in greeting, as if he was just an early-morning walker. But he need not have worried. She was preoccupied. But still beautiful, he’d thought. He’d then seen Summer Thompson walk down the hill. He wanted to follow her but stayed hidden near her home. He didn’t need her recognizing him yet. As he gazed at her back as she walked away from him, he thought she too, like her daughter, looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Still a handsome woman, the man thought. Thicker round the waist, and she still favoured that bohemian look. He snorted to himself. Summer had never been a hippie. It was just a convenient part she played. It must still work for her, he supposed.

He hung around a little longer hoping Summer would return. He was taking his time, getting reacquainted with his old stomping ground. He’d reveal his presence soon enough. In the meantime, he’d gather information on some of his favourite people. He was getting ready to leave when Summer walked up the hill, her head down. He turned away from her and bent over, as if picking something up or tying a shoelace. She walked straight past him. She stopped at the gate and looked over the bay for a long time. He was fascinated. Could she sense him? Summer had always been very astute.

He watched her turn and walk back indoors. Long after she disappeared from view, he watched for her, hoping to catch just one more glimpse.

Chapter Seventeen

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Jim said.

“Right, then.” Andi felt a buzz of anticipation. She lived for this, teasing out the threads of stories, chasing down leads and exposing the truth. This time she had extra motivation. Andi had looked into Sandra Havers’ eyes and seen raw pain. No mother deserves to live like that, not knowing what happened to her son. Andi had made a promise and intended to keep it.

Earlier, Jim had raised his eyebrows when he saw the brief article Andi had written, but nodded his approval. She pressed “send”. On Friday morning, the residents of Coffin Cove would know they were in the midst of a murder inquiry. Thanks to PC Matt Beaufort and his loose tongue, Andi had her first scoop in a long while.

Andi felt a small pang of guilt but pushed it aside. The police should be held accountable. Charlie Rollins barely moved from his desk to put up a “Missing” poster to help find Ricky, and even Vega had swept aside any suspicion of foul play. Now it was too late for Ricky Havers. The best Andi could do for him and Sandra was to find out what happened.

Andi smiled at Jim, grateful for his support.

They pushed two desks together and spread out the contents of Andi’s file.

Andi had cleared a wall. She liked to have a visual representation of her investigations. It helped her “see” connections. And so she created a story wall. Jim didn’t mind it either.

“All right. For the moment, the start of all of this is Ricky’s disappearance.”

She pinned a picture of Ricky in the middle.

Jim looked at her with raised eyebrows.

Andi explained. “His disappearance wasn’t the start. Like all good stories, we’ve joined in the middle. The plot started way before then.”

Jim nodded. “Fair enough. So what have we got? Facts first — we’ll go over the theories in a minute.”

As if she were telling a story, Andi walked Jim through the known facts of Ricky’s disappearance. She pinned pictures and their own articles on the wall to illustrate her points.

There wasn’t a lot of material.

“Nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything, there was no evidence of a struggle. Ricky didn’t have a car. If he left of his own free will, he didn’t take any clothes. He didn’t take any money, and he hasn’t used a credit card or his bank account since. It’s as if he just vanished about nine months ago, and then turned up dead in an old ruined chapel.”

Jim said, “OK, what about the theories? What have we missed, what have the police missed?”

Andi laughed without humour.

“For a start, Charlie Rollins was in charge of the investigation. I talked to him a few days after Ricky vanished, and all he said was, ‘Ricky’s a grown man. He can leave Coffin Cove when he wants.’ He put up a few posters in the end, but basically did nothing until Sandra started rattling cages and they forced him to. Even then, he just made an appeal for people to come forward if they knew something. He still, to this day, has done nothing.”

Jim nodded.

Andi carried on. “And you know what I find strange about all that? Dennis Havers was the mayor. You’d have thought Charlie Rollins, however lazy he is, would have put some effort into finding the mayor’s son. Don’t you think?”

Jim shrugged. “It looks like a complete dereliction of duty. But we have the benefit of hindsight. Charlie didn’t know there was anything to worry about at that point. It was a reasonable assumption that Ricky had left for personal reasons and was just fine.”

“What if . . .” Andi stopped. She walked over to the wall and taped up a piece of paper with Charlie Rollins’ name on it. “What if Charlie Rollins did nothing because he knew there was nothing to worry about? Maybe someone told him not to waste his time looking.”

“You think Charlie Rollins was complicit in Ricky’s death?” Jim dismissed that. “No way. Charlie’s an idiot, but he’s not a killer. I don’t buy that.”

“No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying maybe someone told Charlie not to worry, Ricky was fine, he just didn’t want anyone to know where he was?”

Jim took a deep breath. “I guess it’s possible. I assume you’re going with Sandra Havers’ suspicion of Dennis?”