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

about being rescued by a knight in shining armour. He thought it was hilarious. I just thought he was stoned.”

Vega nodded. “Where is he now?”

“Passed him on to Nanaimo, sir. Thought he could help with their new drug problem. We found some pills in his stuff, matched the description they’ve been circulating.”

“Good, Sergeant, get on to them and see if they’ve got anything helpful.”

“On it, sir.”

Vega was pleased at the information flowing in the room, but they still weren’t any nearer to finding Jade Thompson. Uniformed officers had interviewed nearly everyone in City Hall. Two people had seen Jade leave on foot and walk in a direction that could have taken her to the fish plant. And then, nothing. And despite Diane Fowler’s keen memory, Vega knew he’d heard the word “Knight” somewhere else.

He checked the time. Andi was waiting for him, and he needed that photo. At the same moment, PC Matt Beaufort put his head round the door and a detective finished a call.

“Sir!” they both said in unison.

“You first.” Vega pointed to Matt.

“Peggy Wilson says Mr Knight checked out this morning. She didn’t see him go, she just found the key in the box, which is normal if someone’s checking out early. He paid by credit card and she says she knows nothing more about him, apart from what we already know: he was a real estate developer. We have the registration of his car, and I’ve started the paperwork to get the credit card details.”

“Outstanding work,” Vega said, and Matt beamed at him.

“You next, Detective,” Vega called out.

“The search on Summer Thompson’s place, sir. It turned up a gun — doesn’t look like it’s been fired recently, but we sent it in to ballistics anyway. Nothing else out of the ordinary — Jade’s clothes in the closet, doesn’t look like she left in a hurry. We also checked with Hephzibah Brown. She did see Summer this morning, checking if Jade had stayed with her. Says Summer was really worried.”

“OK. She’s not off the hook yet, but it looks like Mr Knight is our best bet for Jade. Let me think a minute.”

The room went quiet. Then Vega said slowly, “There’s only one road out of Coffin Cove. Is there any chance at all that this godforsaken town has a camera anywhere on that road?”

He saw heads shake. He knew it was a long shot.

Then Diane Fowler blurted, “The Smoke Room, sir! It has a security camera set up over the door that faces the parking lot. If it’s still operational, it might have a view of the road — enough to see vehicles pass, maybe?”

“Right. Who would monitor that camera?”

Diane said, “I’ll find out. Maybe Dennis Havers kept the payments up, even after Ricky disappeared. Otherwise the company would have retrieved their equipment, I’m sure.”

“Follow up, please, Diane. Get the registration of Knight’s car from Matt. And get the registrations of all the vehicles leaving Coffin Cove today. Let’s check them all.”

Feeling like they were making some progress, Vega left the detachment and drove the short distance to the government dock. He didn’t have time to enjoy the evening air. He had a bad feeling Jade didn’t have time on her side either.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Andrew Vega arrived at the government dock. The sun had lowered behind the cliffs hours ago and the wind was blowing in from the ocean. Clouds scuttled across the sky, obscuring the moonlight. Vega could see the glow of light from the Pipe Dream. A shadow fell across the deck, and he could hear Harry’s voice.

“Over here, Inspector.”

Vega didn’t know why it bothered him that Andi was staying with Harry.

Was he jealous? Vega had this overwhelming feeling it should be him who was “rescuing” Andi, not Harry. Not that she would welcome being rescued.

He didn’t have time for this. He pushed those thoughts away and shook Harry’s hand as he stepped onto the Pipe Dream.

“Sorry to disturb your evening, Harry. But this is important.”

Harry waved away Vega’s apologies and showed him into the galley.

Vega wasn’t familiar with boats of any kind. The galley was cosy, but there was plenty of room for a kitchen area and dining table. He could smell the aroma of something delicious and was aware he hadn’t eaten in hours.

Andi was sitting at the table with her laptop in front of her. Vega saw with relief her colour was back and she looked alert, although worried. Beside her was Jim Peters and an older woman he didn’t recognize.

“Inspector, this is Clara Bell,” Jim explained.

Vega nodded at the woman, who looked at him with a grim expression. “Pleased to meet you, Clara. My officers are trying to reach you, so I’m glad you’re here.”

Vega took a seat and Jim started to talk. “Inspector, we have some information we think is relevant to your investigations. In fact, we think it’s possible a man we all thought was dead has returned to Coffin Cove, and for various reasons has . . .” Jim’s voice faltered. “He’s killed our neighbours. It wasn’t until today after Nadine and the Haverses, well . . . now this makes sense. I’m only sorry we didn’t make the connections before these killings. But I don’t think he’s finished yet.”

Vega nodded and interrupted Jim. This was making some kind of sense. But he didn’t have much time and needed to formulate a plan.

“Jade Thompson is missing,” Vega said without any preamble. “You were right, Andi, there was a connection between Ricky and Jade, but it’s not what you thought, and it has nothing to do with Ricky’s death. I’m certain of that.”

Their faces, especially Andi’s, registered shock.

“Shit!” said Harry.

“I thought something was wrong when she didn’t show last night. I was going to call her, but then . . .” Andi tailed off. Vega guessed she was thinking about