by Helen Phifer
Forty-Eight
Two Days Later
Morgan heard the knocking on Ben’s door and got up to answer it, slipping out of his spare bed that she had done nothing but sleep in since she’d got here. Glad to be safe and alive; it was all they needed now. She went downstairs, her hair a mess, and opened the door to see Amy and Des standing there with four coffees and a bag of fresh donuts.
‘Oh, is this a bad time?’
‘You have coffee, never a bad time.’
They came in, and Ben appeared at the top of the stairs. Amy looked up at him.
‘Bloody hell, whatever you do you better not leave the house without a balaclava on, you look monstrous.’
‘Cheers, Amy.’
He shuffled down the stairs, spurred on by the smell of coffee and donuts. Morgan led them into the kitchen, where they all sat down.
‘So, what’s happened? Was that a body under the bed and who was it?’
‘Hold your horses.’ Amy passed the paper coffee cups out and opened the bag of donuts, taking a huge bite out of one.
‘Some of us have been working non-stop while you two were skiving.’
Des spoke. ‘It was a body, Morgan; it was his sister, and the pathologist thinks she’d been there at least fifteen years give or take. Apparently, she was mummified because of the condition of the room, something to do with the air flow and the dry heat.’
‘Were there any more?’
‘No, but we haven’t been able to locate his mother, so we’re thinking that he might have killed her and hidden her body.’
Amy finished her donut. ‘Sick or what? He’s been taken to a secure psychiatric hospital to be evaluated.’
‘I knew he’d killed them both. I’m pretty sure you’ll find his mother’s body somewhere. How’s Macy?’
‘She’s doing great. She went to visit Charlie’s mum and took her some flowers. She keeps asking about you. She wants to be a copper when she’s old enough, just like Morgan.’
‘Oh God.’
‘Yep, you certainly made a lasting impression on her.’ Amy laughed. ‘Oh, and I have some good news for you: a certain journalist has left to go back to London. He was slapped with an injunction to stop him writing about any of this, and you, for the time being because it’s an open investigation. Tom really enjoyed himself passing on the good news to him.’
‘That’s amazing, tell him thanks.’
‘You can tell him yourself. He said he wants you back at work tomorrow; there’s too much to do with all the mess you’ve caused. Ben, you’re not allowed back until you won’t scare innocent members of the public, and I kind of agree with him.’
‘Cheers, Amy, you sure know how to flatter a guy.’
She winked at him. ‘Right, well before we go I have some not so good news to pass on to you, Morgan.’
‘What is it?’
‘Gary Marks escaped from prison in the early hours of the morning. He was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis and made a run for it.’
All the colour drained from her face. ‘Have they caught him?’
‘Not yet, but Tom said to tell you before you saw it on the news. It’s okay, he won’t come anywhere near here, not if he’s got any sense. He must know that if anyone is going to find him and throw his sorry arse back inside it’s going to be you. Anyway, we better get going, we only nipped in to check you were both okay. Are you both okay?’
They both nodded.
‘Good, we’ll see ourselves out.’
They left Morgan and Ben still drinking their coffee. Ben reached out and patted Morgan’s hand.
‘She’s right, if he’s made a great escape he’s not going to ruin it all by coming back here.’
‘I really hope so, Ben.’
Ben stood up and looked at his face in the small mirror on the wall. ‘I suppose she’s right; it is a mess.’
‘I don’t know, I think you look kind of handsome in a Frankenstein way.’
He laughed.
‘I have just the thing to help with those bruises you know.’
‘Really, what?’
‘A face mask.’
Morgan laughed, dodging the tea towel he threw in her direction. This was all she needed: friends like Ben, Amy, Des and her job – it was the perfect combination.
Are you hooked on Helen’s thrilling mysteries set in the atmospheric Lake District? Check out her unputdownable Detective Lucy Harwin series, beginning with Dark House!
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Dark House
Detective Lucy Harwin Book 1
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Lizzy pulled the covers over her head. Then she realised what was being dragged behind the person with the torch. She rammed her fist into her mouth to stop herself from screaming…
After a previous case ended in a tragic double murder, Detective Lucy Harwin, has been on enforced absence from the force. But when the body of an elderly man is discovered in an abandoned hospital, she is plunged straight back into a case that will test her to breaking point.
For decades, The Moore housed the forgotten children of Northern coastal town, Brooklyn Bay. But ever since a scandal forced its closure, the abandoned building has been left untouched.
Together with her partner, Detective Mattie Jackson, Lucy begins to unearth its terrible history, and soon finds herself on the trail of a killer ruthlessly fixated on avenging the crimes of the past.
As Lucy begins to close in on the killer, a woman is found murdered on her own doorstep. With the attacks escalating, and those closest to her now a target, can Lucy protect them and herself before it’s too late?
An absolutely terrifying and gripping thriller that will chill readers of MJ Arlidge, Angela Marsons and Rachel Abbott to the bone.
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Books by Helen Phifer
Detective Morgan Brookes Series:
One Left Alive
The Killer’s Girl
The Hiding Place
Beth Adams Series:
The Girl in the Grave
The Girls in the Lake
Detective Lucy Harwin Series:
Dark House
Dying Breath
Prequel to the Detective Lucy Harwin Series:
Last Light
Available in Audio
The Girl in the Grave (Available in the UK and the US)
Dark House (Available in the UK and the US)
Dying Breath (Available in the UK and the US)
Last Light (Available in the UK and the US)
One Left Alive (Available in the UK and the US)
The Killer’s Girl (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Helen
Dear reader,
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The Hiding Place. If you did enjoy it and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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Helen Phifer xx
www.helenphifer.com
www.unleashyourcreativemagic.com
One Left Alive
Detective Morgan Brookes Book 1
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She knelt down by the side of the first girl. She had to force herself to breathe as she lifted the soft white cloth covering the girl’s beautiful face…
&
nbsp; When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them. Lying huddled together in the dark basement, each of their faces covered with a small cotton cloth, their bodies cold to the touch.
But as Morgan kneels beside the family, she realises that one of the girls is still breathing. As she holds Bronte’s fragile hand in hers, begging her to hold on, she vows to find out who has done this.
Every day Morgan wakes at 4.25 a.m., her old insomnia now mixed with a new fixation on the case. But every clue about the murdered family leads to a dead end. Until, trawling through old files, she discovers a link to a cold case from years ago. Another family was murdered in this house, and the killer was never caught.
When Morgan returns to the scene of the crime to discover more about this forgotten case, she finds another body. With Bronte still unconscious in hospital, Morgan must act fast to solve this case and lay two families to rest, before the killer returns for the girl left alive…
A chilling and gripping crime thriller that will have fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Patricia Gibney glued to the page.
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The Killer's Girl
Detective Morgan Brookes Book 2
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‘Mama, wake up.’
The little girl reached for her mother’s face with one pudgy hand. But the eyes stayed closed, and the blood continued to trickle across the floor.
When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house. And unprepared for the nightmares it inspires about her childhood.
When the DNA collected gives a positive ID, Morgan can’t wait to put the attacker behind bars. But the person it matches to is already in prison. How could the DNA of someone who has been locked up for over twenty years have shown up in Morgan’s crime scene? And then they make another close match. To Morgan herself.
Faced with the impossible proof that she is somehow connected to this case, Morgan delves deep into the crimes of a killer who stalked the Lake District two decades ago. But distracted by the old case, she misses the signs that he has found a new victim. And when he strikes close to home, Morgan finally realises that she has been living on borrowed time. To find this killer, it’s clear she must confront the nightmares in her past…
A heart-racing, nerve-wracking crime thriller. Fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Patricia Gibney will be completely gripped.
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The Girl in the Grave
Beth Adams Book 1
Silence falls as the coffin is lifted out of the ground, yesterday’s rain cascading from it like a waterfall. Glancing into what should have been an empty grave, everyone gasps at the sight of blueish-white fingers exposed in the soil below...
When the body of a teenage runaway is found hidden inside someone else’s grave in a small-town cemetery in The Lake District, an urgent call is made to Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams. Still traumatised by a recent attempt on her own life, one look at the beautiful girl’s broken body is enough to bring Beth out of hiding for the first time since her attack. She’s the only one who can help her trusted friend, Detective Josh Walker, crack the most shocking case of his career.
Beth struggles to believe it’s a coincidence that the gravesite was scheduled to be exhumed, exposing the evidence. Does this twisted killer want to be caught?
Throwing herself into her work Beth discovers traces of material beneath the victim’s fingernails that sets the team on the killer’s trail. But this critical lead comes at a dangerous price, exposing Beth’s whereabouts and dragging her back into her attacker’s line of fire once again.
With Beth’s own life on the line, the investigation is already cracking under the pressure. Then another local girl goes missing… Can Beth stay alive long enough to catch the killer before he claims his next victim?
An absolutely gripping new police procedural that will grab fans of Patricia Gibney, LJ Ross and Angela Marsons from the very first page and leave them gasping for breath by the last.
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The Girls in the Lake
Beth Adams Book 2
Peering over the side of the boat, the glare of early morning sun catches on something pale in the inky water. The boy’s curious fingertips break the surface, pulling up a tangle of long blonde hair from the reeds below…
The discovery of a young student floating face down in Lake Windermere, her naked skin almost translucent in the freezing water, looks like yet another tragic teen suicide. But the victim’s lack of clothes make Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams want to investigate further. Anything to distract her from the arrival of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s body on the mortuary table that morning.
With witnesses keeping tight-lipped and any clues washed away by the tides, it’s up to Beth to find the evidence her team needs. But then another girl is found in the lake, this time still clinging to life. She tells them she was at a party on a boat, and that she was pushed…
As more bodies surface, Beth finds tiny traces of boat paint present on each victim. It’s a critical lead that links these attacks back to a tragic accident involving a group of school children years ago.
Faced with a killer hungry for revenge, and with her own life spiralling out of control, it’s going to take every ounce of skill and determination for Beth to catch this monster before he takes another innocent life. But will Beth realise he’s been right beside her all along?
An absolutely unputdownable serial killer thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. Fans of Patricia Gibney, LJ Ross and Angela Marsons will have to hold on tight for this nail-biting rollercoaster ride!
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Dying Breath
Detective Lucy Harwin Book 2
Take a breath. Pray it’s not your last.
Just a few months after a terrifying case that nearly took her life, Detective Lucy Harwin is back with her squad in the coastal town of Brooklyn Bay – and this time, she’s faced with a case more horrifying than anything she’s encountered.
Along with her partner, Detective Mattie Jackson, Lucy is investigating what appears to be a vicious but isolated murder; a woman found bludgeoned to death on a lonely patch of wasteland.
But when a second victim is discovered strangled in an alleyway, then a young family shot in their own home, Lucy and the team must face the unthinkable reality - a killer is walking the streets of their town.
While Lucy and the team try to find the link between these seemingly unconnected murders, they uncover a disturbing truth – these murders are replicating those carried out by infamous serial killers.
Lucy must get to the killer before he strikes again. But he’s got his sights on her, and is getting ever closer… Can she save herself, before she becomes the final piece in his twisted game?
A dark, gripping and sinister crime novel that will hook fans of Patricia Gibney, Joy Ellis and Angela Marsons from the very first page.
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Last Light
Prequel to the Detective Lucy Harwin series
Lucy watches the doctor leave, then turns to the nameless victim on the table. ‘I promise I will catch whoever did this to you,’ she whispers.
In charge of a new team, Detective Lucy Harwin is called out to attend the discovery of a woman’s body in an abandoned, crumbling church, and is quickly plunged into a case that will test her leadership skills to the limit.
With no leads except the crudely-fashioned crucifix the victim was displayed on, Lucy is at a complete loss. That is, until another body turns up: an elderly woman who devoted her life to the church.
