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

out his left hand and beckoned to her. She paused, staring at him warily, but then blinked and shook her head, seeming to get it, before reaching out to lace her fingers into his. Instantly he felt a charge travel through him. At any other time, this would be the last thing he needed to find the dowsing state but today it quickly pulled every curl and wave and zig-zag of frequency into a cohesive tapestry of information. Sid began to spin and then to swing in a very specific direction. Lucas moved, still holding Kate’s hand, taking them both along a skinny, winding path through the line of stunted coastal trees.

Kate said nothing, but he could sense her mounting dread. She was battling with the suspicion that one of her own group was a murderer… and he could not tell her she was wrong. He led her on, in silence, while the leaves whispered in the breeze. Beyond the tang of the leaves and Kate’s own distinct scent, he could smell the sea salt in the air and the mineral perfume of freshly moved sandy earth. ‘Was there a landslip here earlier?’ he said, as they moved quietly on, past the perimeter and the far end of a series of chalet blocks.

‘Um… yes,’ she said. ‘I heard some kids talking about it as they passed us. Not a big one. It’s not uncommon around here. The beach is safe — there are flags and notices to stay away from certain parts. Why? Is that relevant?’

‘Don’t know. I just sensed a landslip around here earlier today. It’s why I decided to come and find you earlier than planned. Shit… mind out.’

He had to step over three or four frogs, scrambling and leaping across the damp path.

‘What the hell?’ murmured Kate.

Hell. Yes. That was very much what he was picking up now. They were getting closer. He led her out of the trees towards the pebble-dashed end wall of a row of chalets. It was quiet. A family was leaving one of them and heading away towards the pool complex, kids already in swimsuits. He could sense that a couple of the other chalets were occupied, one further along the block of six and another in the block that faced it across the stretch of grass and some neatly planted cherry blossom trees. The chalet Sid wanted was the closest.

‘Oh god,’ murmured Kate. ‘That’s Bill’s chalet. We thought he’d driven home. Did he just stage that? Did he park up and come back and-?’

‘Kate,’ said Lucas. ‘Can you get me in there?’

Kate pulled a skinny piece of metal from the pocket of her dress. ‘I used this on Julie’s chalet door last night. Didn’t think I’d need it again… but obviously I’m more dowsey than I realise. Seems I brought it with me on more than a whim.’

He turned and looked at her. ‘Open the door… and then let me go in, OK?’

‘No way,’ said Kate. ‘I’m not getting you into another crime scene!’

‘If that’s what you think this is,’ he said, ‘you shouldn’t go in either. We should both go and find the Suffolk coppers and bring them here.’

Kate stood, staring at the patio door, flicking the metal in her fingers. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘But… I want to know first. We can close the door again, and then go and get them if there’s anything suspicious in there.’ She stared through the window. ‘I mean… look… there’s nothing to see. It’s probably fine. He probably—’

‘You’re burbling,’ Lucas cut in. ‘Open it or don’t. Make a decision.’

Kate bit her lips together and glanced left and right, and then worked the skinny pin of metal into the lock and jiggled it until there was a click. She slid the door along and stood for a moment, looking into the sitting-dining room beyond. Lucas stepped up behind her. ‘Seriously,’ he said. ‘Don’t go in. Go and get your Suffolk coppers. Do it now.’

Kate gave a short exhalation as something landed on her open-toed sandals. ‘Jesus — look at that!’ The frog had leapt away into the grass a moment later. There were three more making an ungainly bid for freedom across the wood-effect flooring.

‘Kate!’ He reached for her, but she’d already gone in. ‘Kate…’ Dammit. She was right. He had no business entering another crime scene. But he was already getting a vivid sense of what she was about to encounter, and he couldn’t let her see that alone. Shit. He stepped over the threshold, inhaling a mildewy scent mixed with an acrid, urine-like odour. He caught up with her just as she nudged the bathroom door open with her foot.

Another frog leapt past her and he heard the choking noise and the slap of her hands meeting her mouth. A second later he was inside the bathroom with her, taking in the full picture.

A black man, wearing only red boxer shorts, lay dead in the bath. His face was crumpled against the wall of enamel beneath the taps and the overflow and his feet were propped over the end of the tub. There was a small red wound in the middle of his forehead and a sticky smear of blood and matter on the area of tub behind his skull. Also sharing the bath with him were perhaps thirty frogs — most of them alive but some clearly dead. Especially the ones stuffed into the dead man’s mouth, their legs splaying out across his chin. The one filmy eye visible was open as if in shock at such an invasion. It was easy to guess that the source of the mildewy scent was the amphibians, but the more acrid smell was coming from the man’s feet.

Lucas narrowed his eyes, trying to work out what he was seeing. ‘What’s that between his toes?’ he whispered, as if he might disturb the slumber of the corpse.

Kate was still holding her mouth, her eyes blinking back tears. She stepped closer and stared at her