HELL'S HALF ACRE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 2) by JACKIE ELLIOTT (classic literature books .txt) 📗

Dennis fumbled over his desk. Where was it? He’d taken it out of the safe — where did he put it?

“Is this what you’re looking for, Dennis?” The voice came from beside him.

Horrified, Dennis swung his head to the side and saw the figure half crouched beside him.

“No . . . Sandra . . .” Dennis said, but the last thing he saw was a blinding flash.

***

Sandra Havers woke. She was very groggy. She didn’t know what had woken her, but then she heard the click of the bedroom door opening.

“Ricky?” she said sleepily, then she remembered. Not Ricky. It wouldn’t ever be Ricky.

“Shh . . . Sandra,” a voice said. “Go back to sleep. You’ll see Ricky soon.”

Sandra curled herself under the duvet. Maybe if she slept, it would all be different tomorrow. Maybe she would see Ricky. With a sigh, she closed her eyes.

Sandra didn’t see the light or hear the crack.

The bedroom door closed gently as a blood-red stain spread across the duvet.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The morning sun woke Andi early.

It was only five o’clock. Hephzibah wouldn’t be brewing her first pot of coffee for another hour, but Andi wanted an early start today. After yesterday’s scuffle with that weird junkie at the strip mall, the meeting with the Souths and, to top it all, the belly dancing display, Andi needed to get her head straight.

She twisted out of bed, rolled her shoulders and pulled back the curtain, her eyes drifting to the alley below. Rats competed with gulls for scraps of greasy food that fell around the dumpster. It didn’t matter how careful Walter was with the garbage or how many traps he put out, the rats kept coming. Once a year (apparently that was all he could afford), Walter called in pest control, but as the weather warmed up, the rats multiplied, and their population seemed impervious to any eradication method he tried.

This morning, as dawn illuminated the rats’ activity, they seemed reluctant to scuttle back to their hiding places. The gulls landed in the dumpster too, and in the alley, pecking at the contents. Andi shuddered, closed the curtain and opened her laptop.

Might as well get an article drafted about last night. Jim would be impressed if she turned up with a thousand words and might even cut her a cheque. As much as Andi sensed there was a lot to investigate around Ricky’s murder, she still had to pay her rent.

An hour later, she was pleased with her first draft. Reflecting on what she’d written about Charlie, and Harry’s words last night, she was careful to be respectful of Nadine and the other belly dancers. If nothing else, they’d thrilled Walter. Andi suspected it was the best night they’d had at the Fat Chicken for a long time.

She stretched and checked the time and then took a quick shower. When she was dressed, she snapped shut her laptop and grabbed her phone. She noticed a text message from Andrew Vega and a voicemail. Both of them said the same. “Phone me please, Andi. We need to talk.” She groaned. Later. Coffee first. Then she’d face the music.

Going down the wooden stairs to the alleyway, she didn’t notice at first that the gulls didn’t lift into the air at her approach. She did notice the quick movements of the rats scattering and a piece of tinsel, she thought, waving gently in the morning breeze.

At the bottom of the steps, she could see that it wasn’t tinsel at all. It was a piece of glittery material that had come adrift from a lifeless body.

As Andi stared into Nadine’s open, unseeing eyes, she could hear a strange sound. It took a few moments for her brain to process it was the sound of her own screaming.

* * *

PC Matt Beaufort kissed his wife and left their new townhouse, turning once to wave before getting into his car for the forty-five minute drive to Coffin Cove. It was a bit of an inconvenience to live outside the town, and it was stretching the RCMP regulations to the limit, but Lily’s heart had been set on the tiny two-up two-down, with the new kitchen cabinets and the balcony overlooking the park. They could afford it, with a bit of help from Matt’s in-laws, his salary and Lily’s part-time wages from the pharmacy, which was also within walking distance.

Life was good, Matt thought. He wasn’t supposed to work today, but Charlie had called him the night before and asked Matt to cover. He didn’t give an explanation, but Matt guessed he was feeling very low about the article in the Gazette. Matt didn’t blame him. Charlie was lazy. But he wasn’t a bad man.

On the positive side, Matt was feeling pleased with himself. Although he’d been the one to inadvertently give confidential information to the reporter, he’d redeemed himself yesterday with the arrest of that junkie. He hoped it would lead to some solid information Nanaimo detachment could use. They needed a break. The drug problem was getting worse, with another overdose just the other day.

He’d earned a pat on the back from Inspector Vega and approving nods from Sergeant Fowler.

The last day off he’d had, he and Lily visited his in-laws, Anthony and Doreen Dupre. Another advantage of this posting was the proximity to Lily’s parents. His own family — what was left of it — was far away in Toronto. A car accident when he was only a baby had left him and his brother alone in the world apart from an aunt. She’d passed away just before he finished his RCMP training and his relationship with his brother had long since dwindled to a phone call at Christmas. But Lily and her parents had surprised him by turning up for his graduation and excitedly taking pictures of him