COFFIN COVE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 1) by JACKIE ELLIOTT (tharntype novel english .txt) 📗

Gavin nodded at his assistant, and she flounced past Andi, before pausing at the door. “Can I get—”

“No!” he almost shouted, and Andi saw with surprise that he was agitated.

“Look, Andi, I know what you’re going to say.” Gavin got up and started pacing back and forth in front of the desk. “I know I signed off on that story, and I could have pulled it when I found out that source was suspect, but it was a damn good story and—”

“What?”

“The story. I know I shouldn’t have let it run, but at the time—”

“You knew?” Andi felt her stomach tighten, as if she had taken a blow. “You let me take the fall? You bastard!”

“Andi . . .” His voice had taken on a patronizing tone. “Look, you should have checked, but you didn’t. It was your story, and as it was, I did get a bollocking.”

“I lost my job! I got blacklisted!” Andi knew she was shouting, but didn’t care. “You piece of shit.”

Gavin came towards her, his arms out, a smile on his face. “Come on, Andi, shit happens in our world, right? And you’ll do OK, a couple of years and everyone will forget. You can leave this shithole and come back to the mainland. No harm, no foul, right?”

“You wanted to get rid of me. So you threw me under the bus. Why, Gavin? Why didn’t you just break up with me? Ask me to leave?” Andi’s voice shook a little. “You never cared about me at all, did you? I was just another bit on the side. Your wife said as much.”

Gavin’s face lost the smile.

“You were out of line, coming to my house! Upsetting my daughter like that.”

“Yes, Gavin. I was out of line. And I’m sorry. Sorry for that poor woman and your child — they both deserve better. And I’m ashamed of myself. But what you did to me was despicable, you lowlife piece—”

Andi heard a cough from behind her. She swung round to see Gavin’s assistant holding a cup of coffee, but she didn’t care. She carried on, her voice steady.

“This isn’t over, Gavin. One day, all your lies and bullshit will catch up to you. You know what? You did me a favour. Maybe the Gazette is only a local newspaper but I’m still a better journalist than you’ll ever be—”

“This is damn well over,” Gavin interrupted her. “We’ll be out of this office in a few days, Andi. Good luck with your wildlife piece.”

He turned and walked back to the desk, and his assistant hurried to his side.

Andi stood for a moment. She’d been dismissed, but it didn’t matter. She’d said what she needed to say, and it felt good.

She turned and left the office. She walked down the stairs and out into the street and took a couple of deep breaths of fresh air.

She wasn’t sure she was “over” Gavin, but it was a good start. And now, she had work to do.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Finally, some progress. The team was feeling it too. The mood was upbeat as they filed into the briefing room.

Vega now knew why the name Hephzibah Brown had been taunting his memory. It was her brother, Harry. Harry had more than one connection to their victim.

He let Sergeant Fowler brief the rest of the team, and he settled in a chair at the back of the room.

“Brown was charged back in the eighties for threatening Mason with a gun. Mason was working for Greenpeace, and Brown’s defence at the time was that Mason had just deliberately rammed his boat, putting his crew in danger and causing damage to his property. He admitted that he’d lost his temper, but the case was dismissed. Then when Mason was here in the nineties protesting the clear-cutting, as we know, Sarah McIntosh disappeared and was washed up on the beach, her arms and legs tied. She was the daughter of Joe McIntosh, owner of the biggest lumber business in the area, and the subject of Mason’s protest.” Sergeant Fowler paused and looked around at her colleagues.

“It was a big deal for the community. A witness implicated Mason, but a full investigation cleared him. Trouble was, the community decided that Mason had something to do with it. Harry Brown’s younger sister, Hephzibah, who now owns the café on the boardwalk, was Sarah’s best friend, and Harry was involved with the initial search. Also, Tara McIntosh, second wife of Joe and Sarah’s stepmother, confirmed that Harry recently took the trouble to inform Joe that Mason was back in town.”

She looked at Vega, who nodded for her to continue. Fowler pointed to the board on the wall, which now had Harry’s picture pinned next to Mason’s.

“Nothing concrete here connecting Brown to Mason until this morning. The diver found a rifle. We don’t know yet if it’s the murder weapon, but it seems probable. The rifle is registered to Harry Brown. We’ve sent it over to the lab for testing. This is all coincidence so far—”

“But as we know,” Vega interrupted, “there are no such things as coincidences in this line of work. I have one other piece of information. Pass this around, please.” He handed out copies of the picture Andi Silvers had given him.

“As you know, Andrea Silvers is a reporter for the Gazette in town.” He broke off and looked around the room. “Some of you might know the name. She used to work for the Vancouver Mail, but they dropped her like a hot brick after she fucked up a case for the Financial Crimes Unit last year. Well, she ended up here and she’s been digging around. I guess she still thinks of herself as an investigative reporter. So far she’s kept out of the way, but she handed over the picture you