Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

Minutes later, Paul pulled up alongside the truck and jumped out. Barry pointed at the wall, and Paul leant over, gagging as he saw the girl in the water.

Grabbing his radio, he barked orders into the mouthpiece. ‘Stop all drainage. All staff head to the cabin and wait there.’

He waited for the other workers to acknowledge, then turned to Barry.

‘Have you phoned the cops?’

Barry shook his head slowly. ‘Nope, told you first, boss.’

‘OK, get yourself over to the cabin. Take my truck and bring the cops when they get here. I’ll ring them now.’

Tossing the keys at Barry, Paul pulled his mobile from his pocket and dialled 999.

Crankle Reservoir, South of Sunderland – 16 November

‘Yet another one,’ greeted Sharpie, shaking Ali’s hand as he arrived in the small car park at the reservoir.

‘Yeah, tell me about it. Like I didn’t have enough to do today,’ grumbled Ali. He’d taken Elvie into the nick with Marlo, then the report of the body had come in and they’d had to leave the kid with the front office staff. He’d phoned his mum to come and pick her up, but he’d still have it all to deal with once he’d sorted this mess out.

‘You had a look yet?’ asked Marlo, suddenly appearing beside him.

He felt his heart flutter at the sight of her in the tight black and grey drysuit. It definitely didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination, and despite the circumstances, he found it hard to tear his gaze away.

‘No, wanna go look together?’ An innocent comment, but in his head it felt almost like he’d asked her out on a date. He actually felt nervous in case she said no, which she didn’t obviously.

Get a grip, McKay. Jesus, what are you? Twelve?

He followed her to the wall and both of them glanced over. It was obviously a body, fresh judging by the lack of damage around the mouth and eyes. The plastic she was wrapped in was translucent white, and looked to have been tied with rope, cinder blocks attached to keep the body submerged.

This was definitely no accidental death.

‘We’ll launch from the shore,’ said Sharpie from his left.

Crankle Reservoir, South of Sunderland – 16 November

Within minutes, Marlo was aboard the RIB with the rest of the team. She’d already been nominated lead diver with Doc as second. Connor pulled the RIB over to the general area and stalled the engine. Knowing she wasn’t likely to require the oxygen lines, she sat and dipped into the water with a small splash. As she swam closer, she heard Doc jump in after her. It would be quicker to recover this one as a team rather than trying to work alone.

Swimming closer to the body, the extent of the girl’s injuries became more visible. Dark bruising surrounded her neck, both eyes were black, and her nose was misaligned. The swelling from the injuries hadn’t gone down. The body had started to bloat slightly under the water, and it gave her face a distorted, mottled grey look.

The plastic had been wrapped and tied tightly with rope, the only gap around her face. Momentarily, Marlo wondered why the killer had done it – left her face exposed when he’d taken such care with the rest, but she knew it was something she might never find out.

One thing she did notice immediately though, was that this girl had similar features to the one they’d pulled out at Washington a couple of weeks before. Similar to that one, and similar to Elvie. Dread settled in her stomach. Could it all be linked?

‘Where the blocks are, we’ll have to cut the ropes and mark the ends so it’s obvious what we’ve done and which the offender’s done. Don’t wanna confuse the lab.’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Doc, ‘trouble is if we remove the blocks, the rest of the plastic might well undo.’

‘I dunno,’ said Marlo pulled closer to examine the ropes. It looks like the blocks were added after the plastic. I think they’re on different ropes.’

‘Well, we can give it a go. Know the forensics team would prefer the plastic intact around the body as opposed to floating out there in the water. Might be something trapped inside they can use. I’ll go grab the bag.’

Marlo pushed off slightly, intending to go around the body to the other side – working as opposites meant the job got done quicker.

She swore under her breath as the front of her leg impacted with something hard underwater. Pain pulsed, and she felt beneath the surface to ensure her suit was still intact. It was.

‘Doc, grab my mask. Wanna check something out,’ she shouted over to the RIB.

Making his way back over, he handed her the mask. ‘Something up?’ he asked, his eyebrows raised.

‘Dunno, just hit my leg on something. Just wanna have a check and see what’s going on beneath the surface.’

Spitting into the mask, she rubbed her saliva around the clear screen, donned it and pulled herself beneath the surface carefully in case whatever object had caught her leg was closer than she thought.

Feeling around in the dark of the water, it would have been easy for her to forget which way was up. Her breath was comfortable. She knew she could hold it for several minutes if needed.

Suddenly her hand closed round something that crackled together and felt suspiciously like the plastic surrounding the body on the surface. It was obviously slimy, and even her Kevlar struggled to maintain its grip. Using the plastic to guide her, she pulled herself along the length, and pulled back when the corner of something hard hit her in the arm. Fuck, it’s another one. There’s more than one body down here.

Popping her head back up, she quickly swam to the