The Oakhurst Murders Duology (eBook)

Alex R Carver (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018 | 1. Auflage
678 Seiten
ARC Books (Verlag)
978-0-00-009316-5 (ISBN)

Infos

A peaceful paradise in rural England is torn apart by murder and mistrust as a serial killer stalks its daughters. 

Written In Blood: The Oakhurst Murders #1

A peaceful village torn apart by murder, mistrust, and a desire for revenge.

When Oakhurst's daughters begin to turn up, brutally murdered and with accusatory words carved into their skin, the residents of the small, close-knit community are unwilling to believe that one of their own might be a killer.

Suspicion falls on the village's newest resident, Zack Wild, attractive, charming, author of violent crime novels, and possessor of a dark history; he seems like the perfect suspect.

As the investigation continues, the evidence against Wild mounts, but is prejudice against the newcomer affecting the judgment of Sergeant Mitchell, Constable Turner thinks so, and is prepared to do whatever she must to find the killer, whoever it might be.

Who will be proved right, the sergeant or the constable? And will they catch the killer before he can strike again?

Poetic Justice: The Oakhurst Murders #2

Caught, escaped, and now on the run. 
The killer has been caught, but before he can see the inside of a cell he escapes, leaving behind a trail of bodies. 
While Constable Melissa Turner deals with the aftermath of the murders, including the revelation of who was behind them, and a case of vandalism at the local stables, Detective Inspector Martins is given the task of hunting down the killer. 
As the body count mounts, and the killer becomes more and more desperate to get away, a storm builds overhead. Can Martins and the police catch him before more people die, or will the storm provide him with the cover he needs to make good his escape?

Textauszug

“Mitchell,” he said groggily when his groping hand found the ringing phone and brought it to his ear.

“Sorry to wake you, sergeant.”

“What’s up?” Mitchell asked, recognising the voice of Constable Pritchard. “Has something happened?” He could think of no other reason for him to be called before seven a.m. on a Saturday, as the clock on the bedside cabinet told him the time was.

“There’s been a report of a body being found.”

Mitchell instantly became wide awake, though it was a moment or two before he could speak. “Did you say a body’s?” he asked when he found his voice.

“That’s right. The call came in just a few moments ago; that new guy, Wild, said he’s found the body of a girl along the river near that old watchtower. He said she’s dead – murdered.”

“Murdered!” The word escaped his lips before Mitchell could stop it and he looked quickly over at his wife, who was still asleep. “Are you sure about that?” he asked as he slipped from the bed.

“I’ve not seen the body, so I can only go on what Mr Wild said, but he sounded pretty definite about it,” Pritchard said. “I can’t imagine why he’d lie about something like that.”

“Me neither, you can never tell with some people, though, and it’s not like we know Mr Wild well enough to tell what he might do.”

“Do you think it could be Georgina Ryder?” Pritchard asked.

Mitchell went cold at that. The notion that the girl he and his officers had spent the week looking for was dead was not one he liked – the possibility that she had been murdered was worse – but he couldn’t think who else the body could be, the village had only the one missing girl as far as he was aware. “Unless you know of any other Oakhurst girls that have gone missing, I think it has to be Georgina,” he said, feeling no satisfaction at the thought of her having been found.

Pritchard hesitated for a moment and then said, “I wasn’t going to mention it ‘til you came in, I didn’t think it was important, I mean, she’s never home...”

“Are you going to get to the point?” Mitchell asked, pressing the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he struggled into his uniform.

“Mike left a note, Theresa Goulding came in last night to report Lucy missing.”

“Damn,” Mitchell swore, abandoning his efforts at getting dressed. It amazed him how quickly a situation could go from bad to worse. “Okay, here’s what I want you to do; call Doc Kelly and Mel, tell them both I’ll be by shortly to pick them up, then call the inspector. Chances are, Wild’s wrong about the girl being dead, but just in case, the inspector is going to want to know what’s going on.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to call Mike or Adrian?” Pritchard asked. “Mel’s never dealt with a dead body before, perhaps now’s probably not the best time for her first.”

“No, I want Mel, she’s got to deal with this kind of thing sooner or later. Besides, if I have to go and see the Ryders afterwards, Melissa will be more help than either Mike or Adrian. You’d better make those calls, Paul, I’ll be at Doc Kelly’s in a few minutes, tell him he’ll need his bag.”

MELISSA TURNER LOOKED down the bank at the rapidly moving river, and then over at her superior. It made her shudder just to think about what he wanted her to do.

“Wouldn’t we be better off going back and crossing at the bridge?” she asked. “That water looks bloody freezing. I don’t fancy going in there, and I’m sure it’s not a good idea for Doc Kelly.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Kelly said as he settled to the ground and began rolling up his trouser legs. “I’ve never been bothered by a bit of cold water. It’s that far bank I’m concerned about, it looks a little steep for my liking.”

Mitchell looked across the river at the far bank and then at the doctor, before finally down at himself. He wasn’t as large at the waist as the doctor, but he was still far from slim; climbing the far bank was likely to be as much of a challenge for him as for the doctor, but there was nowhere better.

“It’ll be a struggle,” he admitted. “But we’ll manage. If we go back, it’ll cost us three quarters of an hour, maybe more, and there’s a dead-fall on that side, near the bridge, that’s been threatening to drop for a year. I’d rather not be under it, if it finally decides to go.”

Melissa thought that a bit of a weak argument – if the tree hadn’t fallen in a year, it was unlikely to fall while they passed it. She suspected Mitchell had not even thought about crossing the river after parking at the pub and was reluctant to correct his mistake.

“I’ll go first,” Mitchell said. “Doc, you come second, Mel, you bring up the rear. Once I’ve got to the top I can pull you up, Doc, while Mel gives you a shove from behind.”

The river at the chosen spot was only about fifteen feet wide, but it still took the three of them almost five minutes to make it to the top of the far bank. Most of that time was spent climbing the bank on the other side, which Melissa had no difficulty with, but which proved a struggle for her companions.

“IS THAT MR WILD?” MELISSA asked when they had gone another half a mile or so.

“I can’t imagine we’re going to find two people this far out from the village so early on a Saturday. Thinking about it, you’re not likely to find someone out here any day of the week, regardless of the time. I wonder what he was doing out here,” Mitchell said suspiciously before striding ahead so he could reach the man who had disturbed his Saturday morning lie-in. “Mr Wild, Sergeant Mitchell.”

“Hello, sergeant.” Zack held out his hand. “I know who you are, doctor.” He shook the older man’s hand when the other two had caught up. “My neighbour, Constance Hawkins, pointed you out to me in case I should have need of your services. I’ve not seen you before, though, constable, and I’m sure I’d remember.”

Melissa flushed as she shook his hand, having been taken by surprise by the compliment. “Mel, Melissa,” she stammered before taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Constable Turner I mean.” She couldn’t believe how she was reacting to the compliment, or more accurately to him – in shorts and a t-shirt it was clear that he kept himself in good shape, without being overly muscular, which she didn’t like in a man – and the touch of his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“If you’re quite finished,” Mitchell said sharply. “You told Constable Pritchard, when you called the station, that you found a body; what can you tell me about it, the person you found, I mean.”

“Female, mid-teens at a guess, but it’s hard to say for sure,” Zack said as he led the two police officers and the doctor around the bend in the river on his way to where he had made his discovery. “One thing I can tell you for sure, she was murdered, and she’s been out here for at least a couple of days, perhaps as long as a week.”

“How can you be so certain the girl you found was murdered?” Mitchell asked; he couldn’t say why, but he was suspicious of the way the stranger talked so casually about murder, and how long he thought the body had been there. “And how did you find her?” He had to lengthen his stride to keep up with the younger man. “This isn’t the sort of place people come without a good reason. Even the local fishermen use the other side of the village. The last person I can recall that came out this way was an archaeologist we had in the village last autumn, and he only came out here because of the old watchtower.” He gestured to the ruined structure, which stood on a hill a short distance away, where it would have commanded a view of the river and the surrounding lands. “He seemed to think it’s Roman, reckoned there’s an old fort around here somewhere.”

“I was out jogging, that’s how I found her,” Zack said. “I was heading along the other bank from the pub, saw something out of place, got curious, and waded across. Wish I’d ignored it and gone on jogging, I wished that before I was even sure what I’d found; wading the river wasn’t my brightest idea.

“As for how I know she was murdered, there she is.” He indicated with a nod of his head. “You’ll understand when you see her.”

“Bloody hell!” The oath escaped Mitchell the moment he got within a dozen feet of the girl Zack Wild had stumbled on. There was no question about her being dead, or about her having been murdered. He swallowed convulsively against the urge to throw up. “You’d better stay back, Melissa, you don’t need to see this,” he said when he had himself under control.

The warning came too late.

“Oh god!” Melissa turned away from the body on the ground, disgusted by the sight of what had once been a teenage girl, dropped to her knees, and vomited. She threw-up until there was nothing left in her stomach. Only when she was finished did she realise that she had emptied her stomach all over the feet of the man she had so recently met. “Sorry,” she apologised in a weak and miserable voice.

“Don’t worry about it,” Zack said unconcernedly. Kicking off his running shoes, he carried them the short distance to the river, so he could wash them and his feet off.

“No, I’m sorry, they must be ruined now. Let me know how much they cost, and I’ll pay you back.”

“There’s no need to do that,” Zack told her....

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.8.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-009316-5 / 0000093165
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-009316-5 / 9780000093165