by Mark Sennen
Savage turned back to the sea and the yachts. A few weeks ago she and Pete had been out there, gliding east towards Salcombe with the wind and tide in their favour. Many tides had come and gone since then, Savage thought. Much water.
Radial was drawing to a conclusion, just a stack of paperwork to finish now, the remaining loose ends all wrapped up.
Devlyn Corran, the team surmised, had met Ronald Wilson up at Full Sutton prison and when he transferred to Devon he’d encountered Peter Wilson over at HMP Channings Wood. Wilson was a common surname – which was the reason the twins were given it as part of their new identity – but of course Peter and Ronald were identical twins. True, Ronald wore a full beard, his hair loose and unkempt whereas Peter had short hair and was clean-shaven. Nevertheless, Corran would have been alerted by the name to underlying similarities in the two men’s appearances and guessed that they were related. He must have wondered why Peter Wilson made no mention of his brother. Corran had probably trailed Peter to the clay pits and discovered Ronald was living there. The team believed that at first Corran might not have known the brothers were the Candle Cake Killers – the blackmail was simply about Corran threatening to reveal Ronald, a serial rapist, as Wilson’s brother: I know who you are. Maybe later, when Corran did some detective work of his own, he’d got an inkling of who he was dealing with.
Mikey, the man with learning difficulties – or as Savage had labelled him ‘the nutter’ – was now in a secure mental hospital where the doctors said he was claiming to be the twins’ younger brother. A DNA test disproved that, but who he was or where he came from was a mystery. As far as anyone could tell the man had been living rough on the streets of Plymouth and the twins had taken him in and cared for him. As an act of compassion it was a strange twist which didn’t fit with the brothers’ cruelty and callousness towards their victims.
‘Charlotte?’
Savage turned to see Riley standing a couple of paces behind her, his breathing quickened by the walk to the top of the island. Riley gestured away from the building and the throng of tourists and they strolled off the path and towards the cliffs. There was no fence, just a sheer drop, dozens of metres, the sea crashing into rocks below, white foam surging back and forth.
‘Why here, Darius?’ Savage said. ‘Bit off the beaten track for you, isn’t it?’
‘Julie, ma’am. Wanted a trip out. I came here with Patrick the other week and thought the Pilchard Inn would be a nice spot for a bite to eat. She’s down there now, nursing a beer. I told her I’d be fifteen minutes, no more.’
‘I see.’ Savage noted the way Riley had first used ‘Charlotte’ and then ‘ma’am’; felt a tinge of regret he wasn’t alone. ‘Well?’
Riley nodded and took something from his pocket. He stared at the piece of folded paper sitting between his thumb and forefinger, the edges fluttering in the breeze. Savage felt her heart rate rise. If Riley opened his fingers the paper would be blown away, carried on the wind over the cliffs and out to sea.
‘Down to me, ma’am,’ he said. ‘Kenny Fallon being incapacitated.’
Fallon was still in hospital. He’d taken the bullet from Ronald in the shoulder. Painful, but he’d been able to use his mobile to summon help. Fallon had called her from his bed a few days after it was all over. He’d suggested she speak to Riley.
Time and help, Fallon had told her. Now Savage knew what he meant by the help at least.
‘You didn’t have to, Darius. Help me, I mean.’
‘I know, ma’am. Fallon was going to give you the registration number of the Impreza up on the moor, you to do the work from there. In the end I looked it up myself. Thought I might as well finish the job. The car’s changed owners a couple of times since of course, but the name you need is on here. As for helping … Well it seemed the right thing to do.’
‘Yes. Thank you.’ Savage paused. The right thing to do. ‘Give it to me, Darius.’
‘Is that an order, ma’am?’
‘No. Off-duty. It’s a request from one friend to another.’
‘Thing is, ma’am, I don’t know if you want to know. I can’t see the information helping much.’ Riley closed his hand around the paper. ‘Could be torture.’
‘Torture is what I’ve been feeling for the past four years. My little girl taken from me. Someone out there, guilty, but enjoying their life scot-free. Absolved of having to face up to their responsibilities, while my family suffers.’
‘But you can’t just take the law into your own hands.’
‘That’s for me to decide.’ Savage moved closer to Riley. Lowered her voice. ‘Look, your Julie. Are you telling me if somebody hurt her you’d trust the system to get her justice? Come on, Darius. We see it every week. Lives ruined on the one side and some scrote getting off with a laughable sentence on the other. No way you’d stand by on the sidelines.’
‘No, you’re right, ma’am,’ Riley said, eyes narrowing. ‘I’d want to avenge whatever wrong had been done.’
‘So what’s the problem? Just give me the name.’
‘But I’m part of this now, aren’t I? I tracked down the guy. The name didn’t come to me by accident.’
‘You should’ve thought of that before you got involved.’ Savage shrugged. ‘But by all means refuse to give me the name if that’s the way you feel. Now I know it can be done I’ll work out who the person is for myself. I’ll ask Fallon.’
‘Like I said, Fallon doesn’t know. Doesn’t want to know either.’
‘Fine. Report the matter in the usual way if you feel obliged to. Whatever happens, I’m going to get justice for Clarissa.’
Riley sighed. Looked down at his fist. Then he passed the scrap of paper across.
Savage took the paper and held it for a moment. Could see her hand shaking. Was Riley correct? Did she really want to know?
Yes, of course she did.
She walked away from Riley, putting a few paces between them, and then turned her back. She unfolded the paper and read the scrawl of biro.
Owen
The name meant nothing to her. She half turned towards Riley and gave him a stare. Opened her mouth to speak but, still puzzled by the name, said nothing.
‘Told you, ma’am,’ Riley said. ‘Better not to have known.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Savage said. ‘Is Owen a first name or surname? I don’t know anyone called that.’
‘No?’ Riley walked over to Savage and took the piece of paper from her hand. He held the paper up in the air and released it. For a second the paper hung there before being taken by the up-draught. It spiralled into the air and was then sucked out seaward, disappearing against the bright sky.
‘No. I don’t get it. Tell me what on earth’s going on.’
‘Owen is the lad’s first name,’ Riley said. ‘You might not know him directly but you sure as hell know his dad.’
‘Darius, please don’t mess me around.’ Savage shook her head, feeling angry with Riley for playing silly games, angry with herself for getting worked up too. ‘Just tell me who he bloody well is.’
‘Full name of Owen Fox,’ Riley said, placing a hand on Savage’s arm, ‘and his dad is Simon Fox, the Chief Constable.’
Acknowledgements
It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was writing the acknow-ledgements for the first DI Savage novel and now here we are at book three already. Thanks for getting this far must go to the following:
All at HarperCollins/Avon for continued faith in Charlotte. My editor, Lydia Vassar-Smith, offered oodles of helpful advice on Cut Dead (most of which I took). Keshini Naidoo provided flawless copy editing which went well past simply correcting my cringeworthy errors. The rest of the Avon team (the unsung heroes) did all the hard work which actually gets the book into your hands.
Thanks to Claire Roberts at Trident Media for excellent representation, advice and more.
A special shout-out to Neil Vogler and Bertel Martin for numerous pub conversations on all things literary, Plymou
th, and beyond.
Thanks to my wife, Gitte, for ongoing life support and also to my daughters who now accept that their dad is an author - although they still don’t understand why they are not allowed to read the books.
Finally, as always, the biggest debt of gratitude goes to you, the reader.
I’d like to highlight two organisations which are mentioned in Cut Dead. They would appreciate your support:
Dartmoor Rescue Group
Storybook Dads
About the Author
Mark Sennen was born in Epsom, Surrey and later spent his teenage years on a smallholding in Shropshire. He attended the University of Birmingham and read Cultural Studies at CCCS. Mark has had a number of occupations, being variously a farmer, drummer and programmer. Now his hi-tech web developer’s suite, otherwise known as a shed in the garden, has been converted to a writer’s den and he writes almost full-time.
Please visit www.marksennen.com for information on the DI Charlotte Savage series.
Also by Mark Sennen
Touch
Bad Blood
A serial-killer chiller about the bloodiest kind of revenge …
Buy bestseller Bad Blood here
He’s been watching. But that isn’t enough …
The first serial-killer chiller in the D.I.Charlotte Savage series
Buy bestseller Touch here
Copyright
Avon
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Copyright © Mark Sennen
Mark Sennen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007518197
Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007518203
Version: 2014-01-22
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also by Mark Sennen
Copyright
About the Publisher
