THE ABBERLEY BEACH MURDERS an addictive crime thriller with a fiendish twist (Detective Dove Milson Book 3)

by D. E. White

  Delta shot her a look, blue eyes narrowed against the sun. “I wonder what Mickey would be like now, if it had never happened? She’d be eighteen, if she’d lived. A year younger than me.”

  “She would be.”

  “I guess we won’t ever really know exactly what happened, why he killed her. If Jamie won’t tell, Mickey is dead and nobody else witnessed it,” Delta said, throwing a small handful of pebbles down into the quarry. They fell, landing far down with the faintest of sounds.

  “Mickey’s parents, Russ and Claire, confirmed Mickey had just been awarded a scholarship to some elite sports college in Yorkshire. They said they got the letter the day she was attacked, but the mail was late that day and Mickey had already left for school. They intended to tell both the kids the next day, apparently. Perhaps Jamie saw it, realised she would be leaving, and he just lost control. The psych evaluation suggests Jamie displays all the traits of antisocial personality disorder, which makes it easier to understand his reasoning. People with these traits are often manipulative, charming, very controlling and have little or no conscience.” Dove pushed her hair back. “He must have worn gloves to beat Mickey — his DNA wasn’t on her body — although they were never found, which shows forward planning, again typical of his type of personality disorder.”

  “I’ve worked with people like that,” Gaia said. “Their perception of the world, and their place in it, is different. In their heads, they are never to blame for anything. And they are often deceitful and reckless.”

  Her sister and niece stared at her, until she said, slightly irritably, “An ex of mine, okay? I just know, and I did some study into personality disorders when I removed myself from the relationship.”

  “I’m leaving California Dreams next month,” Delta told her suddenly. “I handed in my notice. It’s on your desk right now.”

  Gaia studied her, assessing, “Your choice. I always said it was your choice, Delta.”

  “Did you quit because of Abi?” Dove said sympathetically.

  Her niece shrugged. “Kind of.”

  “So what are you going to do now, or have you just got as far as buying that plane ticket?” Gaia queried, swinging her legs over the drop. She picked up a handful of stones in immaculate manicured hands and threw them over the edge.

  All three sat in silence as the stones finally dropped with a tiny splash into the pool of water, barely even ruffling the surface.

  Delta kept her gaze on the quarry. “Oh, I’ll think of something. But you just know in your heart when it’s time to move on, don’t you?”

  “I suppose you do.” Dove regarded her thoughtfully. “Come on, I checked, and the tide’s perfect, weather’s gorgeous, and Quinn and I are taking the boards over to Claw Beach. Want to come? Gaia, I’ve got beer in the cooler in the car boot. You can sit on the beach and be glamorous.”

  Gaia rolled her eyes at her sister, and impatiently pushed her proffered hand away, “I can get up by myself, you know.”

  They walked slowly away, Delta linking arms with Gaia, Dove leading the way back to the car. She could hear her sister and niece laughing as she took in the sunlit woods, the narrow track, the brambles catching at their legs, absorbing the peace, the memories, and the pain of what had happened here. As the path forked, Dove took one last look back at the place and blinked hard. A cloud threw shadows over the quarry. The sunbeam had moved on, to dance somewhere else.

  EPILOGUE

  ‘Are you scared, Mickey?’

  He’s alone with me now, I think. There are no other voices. I can feel the pressure of a hand on mine, fingers closing around mine. I would love to jerk my hand away but suddenly I realise he isn’t going to hurt me any more. He is happy with me as I am.

  I don’t want to wake up, to face him. I want to keep drifting along, warm and safe in the light.

  But he keeps coming. Sometimes there seems to be a long time between his visits, although I don’t really have much concept of time, of night and day. I dream I have feeling in my hands, just across the palms and around my thumbs, and I can hear my own breathing, deep and slow, like I’m underwater.

  Voices, I recognise, and some voices I don’t. Music, I like to hear. The smell of lemons, and of perfume, heady and sweet with the tang of summer. Caz for a while and now it’s just Jenna. My best friend for ever, her words, her tears soothe me further. Her love, my parents’ love, reaches my dream world, wraps me in warm velvet, and sends me drifting faster and further away. If I could talk to them all, I would say there was nothing she could have done, because it’s true. It was all about me and him, nobody else.

  The final scenes replay over and over in my head, and my body aches as though it is again under attack, but the fear is gone. I can’t move, but the panic has long since faded, and my emotions are not a part of me anymore.

  It is a different feeling to my fear of the man next door and so very far from my terror of the boy in my house. The boy I grew up with.

  It’s a blessing I can’t see his cold, hard eyes, but even when he asks the same question again and again, he can’t touch me. The lightness in my broken body, the gentle warmth enveloping my soul makes me drift off for longer and longer periods. Sometimes I am surprised I wake. Sometimes I don’t want to.

  I think he comes one final time, holding my hand, his voice echoing through my head. But as the warmth and light wrap me closely, and I turn towards them, away from him, I wonder, was he ever there at all?

  ‘Are you scared, Mickey?’

  Finally, I am not.

  THE END

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This was a tough book to write, a bit of a milestone for me. My second novel written during a lockdown, my tenth book in all, and my sixth for wonderful Joffe Books. I am so grateful to be working with such an enthusiastic and professional team.

  Many thanks are due to the whole team at Joffe Books, including Jasper (of course!), Emma, Nina, Elodie, Rudi and Annie. I have been lucky enough also to work with some amazing literary agents: thank you Lina Langlee at the North Literary Agency, and Kate Nash and her team at the Kate Nash Literary Agency.

  Of course huge amounts of thanks and applause for all they do to the bloggers, the book reviewers, the tour organisers and the wonderful readers. Without you my books would never venture so far into the world, or be read by so many. To Jill, Bev, Tracy, Meg, Alan, Debs, Zoe and everyone in my Readers Club Newsletter.

  To my wonderfully supportive groups of fellow authors and creatives — not only do we celebrate together and commiserate together but you provide me with a never-ending TBR pile!

  You are all amazing.

  Finally, thank you to my long-suffering family — my boys who are so used to me thumping out books on my ancient laptop, muttering plotlines and scrawling character notes on random scraps of paper.

  I hope you enjoy Detective Dove Milson’s third outing.

  Best wishes,

  D.E. White

  If you have been, or are currently affected by any of the issues in this book, including domestic violence, you can call these numbers for non-judgemental, confidential information and support:

  UK

  Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247

  USA

  0808 200 0247

  In an emergency call 999 (UK) OR 911 (USA)

  ALSO BY D.E. WHITE

  DETECTIVE DOVE MILSON MYSTERIES

  Book 1: GLASS DOLLS

  Book 2: THE ICE DAUGHTERS

  Book 3: THE ABBERLEY BEACH MURDERS

  RUBY BAKER MYSTERIES

  written as Daisy White

  Book 1: BEFORE I LEFT

  Book 2: BEFORE I FOUND YOU

  Book 3: BEFORE I TRUST YOU

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  Founded in 2014 in Shoreditch, London, we at Joffe Books pride ourselves on our history of innovative publishing. We were thrilled to be shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards.

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  A SELECTION OF BOOKS YOU MAY ENJOY

  THE MURDERER’S SON

  BY JOY ELLIS

  UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWY0PUJ

  US www.amazon.com/dp/B01LWY0PUJ

  What if your mother was a serial killer?

  A BLOODY KILLER SEEMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS.

  A gripping crime thriller by the bestselling author of the Nikki Galena series.

  Twenty years ago: a farmer and his wife are cut to pieces by a ruthless serial killer. Now: a woman is viciously stabbed to death in the upmarket kitchen of her beautiful house on the edge of the marshes.

  Then a man called Daniel Kinder walks into Saltern police station and confesses to the murder.

  But DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans of the Fenland police soon discover that there is a lot more to Daniel than meets the eye. He has no memory of the first five years of his life and is obsessed with who his real mother is.

  With no evidence to hold him, Jackman and Evans are forced to let him go, and in a matter of days Daniel has disappeared and the lonely Lincolnshire Fens become the stage for more killings.

  In a breathtaking finale, the truth about Daniel’s mother comes to light and DI Jackman and DS Evans race against time to stop more lives being destroyed.

  Full of twists and turns, this is a crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the shocking ending.

  MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL

  BY FAITH MARTIN

  UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0763RXLRV

  US www.amazon.com/dp/B0763RXLRV

  DISCOVER THE MILLION-SELLING SERIES NOW.

  MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.

  Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.

  Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.

  Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

  This crime mystery will have you gripped from beginning to end.

  MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL is the first in a series of page-turning crime thrillers set in Oxfordshire.

  HE IS WATCHING YOU

  BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER

  UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KKK5N7W

  US www.amazon.com/dp/B07KKK5N7W

  DISCOVER AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING RACE-AGAINST-TIME THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR CHARLIE GALLAGHER.

  A young woman’s body is left in a metal container in a remote location. The killer is careful to position her under a camera that links to his smartphone. He likes to look back at his work.

  HE IS WATCHING HER. BUT SHE ISN’T DEAD.

  So he will return to finish the job.

  Detective Maddie Ives is new to the area. She is handed a missing person report: a young woman with a drink problem who’s been reported missing fifteen times. It looks like a waste of time. But DS Ives has a bad feeling about the woman’s disappearance.

  DI Harry Blaker is called to the hit-and-run of an elderly man left to die on a quiet country road. There is no motive and it looks like a tragic accident. But he’s been working Major Crime long enough to know that something isn’t quite right. The two officers find their investigations intertwine and they will need to work together.

  BUT THEY MUST WORK FAST. TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE WOMAN IN THE CONTAINER.

  GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH USAGE FOR US READERS

  A & E: accident and emergency department in a hospital

  Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression

  Air raid: attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets

  Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetables or flowers

  Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)

  Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings

  A levels: exams taken between 16 and 18

  Auld Reekie: Edinburgh

  Au pair: live-in childcare helper, often a young woman

  Barm: bread roll

  Barney: argument

  Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids

  Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle

  Benefits: social security

  Bent: corrupt

  Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)

  Biscuit: cookie

  Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in a seaside town

  Bloke: guy

  Blow: cocaine

  Blower: telephone

  Blues and twos: emergency vehicles

  Bob: money, e.g. ‘That must have cost a few bob.’

  Bobby: policeman

  Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)

  Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead

  Bun: small cake

  Bunk: escape, e.g. ‘do a bunk’

  Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant

  Buy-to-let: buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit

  Charity shop: thrift store

  Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket

  Care home: an institution where old people are cared for

  Car park: parking lot

  CBeebies: kids’ TV

  Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments

  Chemist: pharmacy

  Chinwag: conversation

  Chippie: fast-food place selling chips, battered fish and other fried food

  Chips: French fries but thicker

  CID: Criminal Investigation Department

  Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)

  Clock: punch (in an altercation) or register

  Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake

  Cockney: a native of East London

  Common: an area of park land or lower class

  Comprehensive school (comp.): a public (re state-run) high school

  Cop hold of: grab

  Copper: police officer

  Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit

  CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, who decide whether police cases go forward

  Childminder: someone paid to look after children

  Council: local government

  Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic

  DC: detective constable

  Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block

  Deck: hit (verb)

  Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character

  DI: detective inspector

  Digestive biscuit: plain cookie

  Digs: student lodgings

  Do a runner: disappear

  Do one: go away

  Doc Martens: heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole, also DMs, Docs

  Donkey’s years: long time

  Drum: house

  DS: detective sergeant

  ED: emergency department of a hospital

  Eagle: children’s comic, marketed at boys

  Early dart: to leave work early

  Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled, runny egg

  Enforcer: police battering ram

  Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to hous
ing projects)

  Estate agent: realtor

  Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982

  Fag: cigarette

  Father Christmas: Santa Claus

  Filth: police (insulting)

  Forces: army, navy and air force

  FMO: force medical officer

  Fried slice: fried bread

  Fuzz: police

  Garda: Irish police

  GCSEs: exams taken between age 14 and 16, replaced O levels in 1988

  Gendarmerie: French national police force

  Geordie: from Newcastle

  Garden centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold

  Gob: mouth, can also mean phlegm or spit

  GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community

  Graft: hard work

  Gran: grandmother

  Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s

  Hard nut: tough person

  HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck

  HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents

  Home: care home for elderly or sick people

  Hoover: vacuum cleaner

  I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise

  In care: refers to a child taken away from their family by the social services

  Inne: isn’t he

  Interpol: international police organisation

  Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman