St. Morien, Cornwall. Beautiful. Peaceful.
Deadly.
Detective Inspector Aidan Urquhart has a mystery on his
hands. Three young women reported
missing back in the summer have been found dead; all still wearing the clothes
in which they vanished; all frozen solid on the cold shore.
When Jenica Zimmerman realises her sister is missing, she
heads to the Cornish coast where the police have few clues. The DI leading the
case warns her not to take chances, to go home and leave the case to his team.
Determined to stay, Jenica takes a room at a local inn and attempts to find her
sister herself.
With Christmas fast approaching, all she wants is a happy
ending. But when a fourth body is discovered, all tidings of comfort and joy
seem far away.
Extract:
Two girls had been found dead on
the beach at St. Morien in the last two weeks. Neither were Thea, but Jenica
couldn’t help but worry.
On a hunch she checked the photo
app on her phone that Thea was addicted to. Her breath caught as she realised
Thea hadn’t posted since August.
August? How hadn’t she noticed? She
barely checked that particular app these days. She checked another social media
account, again one she no longer used much, to find the same thing. Thea hadn’t
posted anything since mid-August when all her posts were filled with work and
this bloke she’d mentioned.
Something was definitely out of
kilter.
Trembling fingers vied for
attention with her roiling stomach as she looked up the number for the local
Cornish police station.
“St. Morien Police. How can I help
you?” A bored, young voice answered the phone.
“Hello, could I speak to the
officer in charge of the murder cases, please?”
“That would be DI Urquhart.”
“Then could I speak to him,
please?”
“One moment…” A click followed by
footsteps, then a yell, “Sir, phone. Some woman wanting to talk to you about
the murders.”
The sound of a door slamming
against the wall came through the phone. “And would this lady have a name?” The
broad Scottish accent seemed out of place.
“Didn’t ask.”
“Well, that was intelligent. Is she
a reporter after another exclusive?”
“I have no idea. She asked for the
officer in charge.”
Jenica rolled her eyes. Great way
to run a police station. Obviously, she was meant to be on hold, but wasn’t.
And she was eternally grateful she wasn’t a journalist. If she was, she’d
probably be tempted to hang up, even if it was a personal matter.
And if this wasn’t such an
important matter, she’d hang up right now.
The phone clicked again. “DI
Urquhart. How can I help you, ma’am?” The Scottish voice was clipped,
professional, and the sort of voice she could listen to for hours on an audio
book. All velvety chocolate smooth and swoon worthy.
He’d also called her ma’am. She’d
never been called that before. Ever. She wasn’t sure whether he was being
polite or something else.
Only this wasn’t a book, and she
needed to talk to him with a level head. “Hello, Inspector. My name is Jenica
Zimmerman. I’m worried about my sister. She moved to Cornwall in May and we
haven’t heard from her in a while. Actually, make that a long while. Since
June. And she hasn’t posted anything online since August the fourteenth. Which
is more than a little strange. She normally posts several times a day.”
“I see. Have you filed a missing
person’s report?”
“No…it’s complicated. I know she’s
not one of the bodies found on the beach, because we’d have been told if she
were, but I can’t help but worry.”
“How do you know she’s here?”
“I don’t, exactly. But I had a
postcard from St. Morien saying she was staying around there somewhere. She’d
taken a job locally and had a boyfriend, but didn’t give me any more
information than that, I’m afraid.”
DI Urquhart sighed. “What’s your
sister’s name?”
“Thea Zimmerman.”
Scribbling noises followed for a
second or two. “OK, I’ve made a note. If she shows up, I’ll ask her to call
home. Has she done this kind of thing before?”
“Once or twice. She did write a
while back and say work was getting busy and she might not be in touch for a
bit, that’s why no one has worried until now, but…” Jenica took a deep,
supposedly calming breath. “Maybe I should come down there. If there are other
missing girls, then—”
“I’m sure it’s not connected at
all,” he interrupted. “You can file a missing person’s report with your local
station, Miss Zimmerman. They’ll forward it to all the relevant departments
down here. Thank you for calling.”
The line went dead.
Really? File a report and forget
it?
She couldn’t do that. He might not
be worried, but then he didn’t know Thea and her propensity for getting herself
into trouble. Right then, Jenica decided she was going to Cornwall to search for
Thea. She’d retrace her sister’s steps, find out where she stayed, who she was
friends with and so on. She’d read plenty of detective novels, more than enough
to know how some of this worked.
Now she had to go and sort out
work. Preferably by phone as it was a day off and work was a good half hour
drive in the wrong direction. As she’d need a few thicker jumpers for a Cornish
winter anyway, she grabbed keys and jacket and headed out to the car. She’d
combine sweet talking her boss with emergency shopping, a much-needed cup of
tea and some cake at her favourite tea shop.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Christmas-Clare-Revell-ebook/dp/B09J1Q61LM
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Christmas-Clare-Revell-ebook/dp/B09J1Q61LM
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