‘On the other hand,’ he was saying, ‘the case largely came to our attention through Dana. She was contacted on an informal basis by an old university friend of hers, now head of student counselling at Cambridge University.’
‘What’s the case?’ I asked.
Joesbury opened the file. ‘That stomach of yours still pretty strong?’ I nodded, although it hadn’t exactly been put to the test much lately. He took out a small stack of photographs and slid them along the table towards me. I looked briefly at the one on the top and had to close my eyes for a second. There are some things that it really is better never to see.
4
EVI RAN HER eyes along the brick wall that surrounded her garden, around the nearby buildings, into dark areas under trees, wondering if fear was going to overshadow the rest of her life.
Fear of being alone. Fear of shadows that became substance. Of whispers that came scurrying out of the darkness. Of a beautiful face that was nothing more than a mask. Fear of the few short steps between the safety of her car and her house.
Had to be done sometime. She locked the car and set off towards her front gate. The wrought ironwork was old but had been resprung so that a light touch would send it swinging open.
The easterly wind coming off the Fens was strong tonight and the leaves on the two bay trees rustled together like old paper. Even the tiny leaves of the box hedging were dancing little jigs. Lavender bushes flanked each side of the path. In June the scent would welcome her home like the smile on a loved one’s face. For now, the unclipped stalks were bare.
The Queen Anne house, built nearly three hundred years ago for the master of one of the older Cambridge colleges, was the last place Evi had expected to be offered as living accommodation when she’d accepted her new job. A large house of soft warm brickwork, with blond limestone detailing, it was one of the most prestigious homes in the university’s gift. Its previous occupant, an internationally renowned professor of physics who’d narrowly missed the Nobel Prize twice, had lived in it for nearly thirty years. After meningitis robbed him of his lower limbs, the university had converted the house into disabled-living accommodation.
The professor had died nine months ago and when Evi was offered the post of head of student counselling, with part-time teaching and tutoring responsibilities, the university had seen a chance to recoup some of its investment.
The flagstone path was short. Just five yards through the centre of the knot garden and she’d be at the elaborate front porch. Carriage-style lanterns either side of the door lit the full length of the path. Usually she was glad of them. Tonight she wasn’t so sure.
Because without them, she probably wouldn’t have seen the trail of fir cones leading from the gate to the door.
Already an S. J. Bolton follower?
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LIKE THIS, FOR EVER
COMING SOON!
Bright red.Like rose petals. Or rubies. Or balloons. Little red droplets.
Barney knows the killer will strike again soon. The victim will be another boy, just like him. He will drain the body of blood, and leave it on a Thames beach.
There will be no clues for detectives Dana Tulloch and Mark Joesbury to find.
There will be no warning about who will be next.
There will be no good reason for Lacey Flint to become involved … And no chance that she can stay away.
Also by S. J. Bolton
Sacrifice
Awakening
Blood Harvest
Now You See Me
Dead Scared
About the Author
S. J. Bolton is the author of five critically acclaimed novels: Sacrifice, Awakening, Blood Harvest, Now You See Me and Dead Scared.
Sacrifice was nominated for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel, and voted Top Debut Thriller in the first ever Amazon Rising Stars. Awakening won the Mary Higgins Clark award for Thriller of the Year.
In 2010 Blood Harvest was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year, and in both 2011 and 2012 S. J. Bolton was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library, an award for an entire body of work, nominated by library users.
S. J. Bolton lives near Oxford with her husband and young son.
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IF SNOW HADN’T FALLEN
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448168408
First published in Great Britain
in 2012 by Transworld Digital
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © S. J. Bolton 2012
S. J. Bolton has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
An Extract from Dead Scared
Coming soon: LIKE THIS, FOR EVER
Also by S. J. Bolton
About the Author
Copyright