CHAIN REACTION an absolutely addictive crime thriller with a huge twist

by Bill Kitson

  ‘He did, ma’am.’

  ‘It appears that Elijah Nelson used the fact to blackmail the squire. Nelson knew what his father had done to his mother, and knew he had to remain on the estate to avoid the discovery of the remains in the BMW. I think that explains a lot. The diary goes on and more or less confirms what Kim Nelson told us, but with one additional piece of information. The first part described how, before Elijah went to that agricultural show, he apparently spied on Kim and Donny from a hiding place he’d used as a child to watch hotel guests having it off with their tarts. When he’d seen his wife betraying him, making love in Keeper’s Cottage, he decided to kill them, emulating his father. Luckily for Kim and Donny, he didn’t have time to act on this knowledge before he had to get to the Game Fair, and by the time he returned, they’d gone.’

  ‘What about the other entries? Does he mention the killings?’

  ‘He does, and in graphic detail.’ The chief constable grimaced as she told Nash, ‘They make horrific reading. It isn’t simply what he did, but the cold-blooded, factual way he describes it — like ordering a takeaway pizza. At a guess, I’d say those prostitutes represented a mixture of his wife and mother, and in his disordered mind, they fully justified the treatment he doled out. To put it bluntly, he abducted them, held them prisoner and repeatedly raped, sodomized, and tortured them until he grew sick of them. After he strangled them, he dismembered their bodies using a chainsaw and left them in the holiday cottage.’

  Nash shook his head and sighed loudly. ‘One thing that did puzzle me was how Nelson gained entry to Track End Cottage. The CSI people reckon none of the locks were forced, but that was before Donny Barton gave me his statement. He told me in their haste to escape, he left the keys on the kitchen table in the cottage, along with a note addressed to the estate manager, apologizing for not returning them.’

  ‘Nelson mentions that as well. Apparently, he went there looking for his wife and her lover, found the keys and kept them. Later, once he’d formed his campaign of vengeance, he removed Barton’s belongings, destroyed the note, and used the house as a body dump in the hope of incriminating Barton.’

  ‘His plan almost worked,’ Nash observed, his tone non-judgemental.

  ‘Yes, Mike, I know. It was certainly clever enough to fool me, but luckily, you and Jackie saw through it.’

  ‘How is Jackie, have you heard?’

  ‘The news is that although the operation was a success, it appears the damage to her shoulder is worse than they thought. It will take some time before it is totally repaired, but at least she won’t have to take retirement on medical grounds. That leads me onto the other point I wanted to tell you about this morning. I’ve called a media conference for eleven thirty. The main part of it will be taken up with the Thornscarr case, and Donny Barton will be there. I will exonerate him in front of the cameras.’ O’Donnell smiled. ‘He said it should increase the demand for his work. But I will also use the conference to update the reporters on the success you’ve had solving the market muggings. Those are two major achievements, Mike.’

  ‘It was a sort of chain reaction,’ Nash replied. ‘Sorry, bad pun,’ he added with a grin, seeing O’Donnell wince. ‘I wasn’t referring to the chainsaw. What I meant was that the market muggings led me to speak to Olivia Brook — she advised me to talk to Jonas Turner, who, in turn, supplied background information about the Harland Estate. By the way, I think a vote of thanks should go to Lee, our teenage photographer. Not only did he take the video providing the identity of the mugger, but he and his girlfriend also led us to Track End Cottage on the estate, which then led us to investigate Nelson for the murders. That was part of what I meant by a chain reaction. The other part refers to what Aaron Nelson did — the effect it had on his son, and Elijah finding the template for his own actions.’

  ‘That might be so, Mike but it was still outstanding detective work. I would like you to attend the media conference and sit alongside me. Will you feel able to do that, given our disagreement over this case?’

  Nash hesitated for a second, and O’Donnell thought he was about to decline. Instead, Nash told her, ‘I will, but only if it doesn’t drag on too long. I need to take tomorrow off. Daniel and Clara are due back, and I’ve to collect them from the airport. I want to try and clear my desk of at least some of the remaining paperwork before I leave tonight.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep it as brief as possible. In fact, why don’t you take two days’ leave, because DS Mironova will be back, and she can cover the weekend as well? You deserve the rest, as long as you’re back on Monday.’

  She then broached a difficult subject she’d touched on earlier. ‘I’m aware that I’ve made one or two big mistakes recently, for which I apologize; especially if in doing so I’ve upset you. The plain fact is that I’ve been distracted and extremely worried by a personal problem,’ she paused before continuing. ‘Charlie, my dear husband, has been very ill. He’s got a heart condition and been waiting for surgery. But that’s over with now. He’s being discharged from hospital next week.’

  ‘You should have said something, ma’am. We could have rallied round.’

  ‘Why? There was nothing anyone could do.’ She paused before adding, ‘That means I’ll be off work for at least the next one, maybe, two months, so with Jackie also out of action, you’ll be the senior officer and will be running the show.’ She smiled and commented, ‘Much as you always do. I’ve tried to find cover, but you know how bad staffing levels are nationally. Sorry to drop all this on you, but of course, we didn’t anticipate Jackie getting shot.’

  Nash tried to hide his disappointment. He’d been hoping to ask for some holiday leave, but in the circumstances that was obviously completely out of the question. Once again, it seemed that he’d have to subjugate his personal life for the good of the team. His reply was all that O’Donnell hoped and expected from him. ‘Don’t worry, ma’am just concentrate on getting Charlie well again. Please give him my regards.’

  As he waited for the media conference to begin Nash wondered how the new situation would affect his own plans. Hopefully, the delay wouldn’t make any difference — except possibly to his sleep patterns.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  It was still daylight when Nash reached home. He turned on the coffee machine, filled a mug, and wandered into the lounge. He stood staring out of the large picture window towards Stark Ghyll, where the lower pastures were populated by sheep. But despite the beauty of this scene, Nash felt depressed. The grisly outcome of the case was only part of the reason for his low spirits. Again he felt lonely, and missed Daniel’s company. As if drawn by some invisible magnet, his eyes went to the painting on the wall, and his mood darkened further. He was still gazing at the landscape when the doorbell rang. ‘What now?’ he muttered. He’d had enough to deal with for one day. He put down the empty coffee mug and trudged wearily down the hallway to open the door.

  If a picture paints a thousand words, then Nash’s expression would have written a book when he found Daniel standing in the storm porch.

  ‘Hola, Papa,’ Daniel greeted him, with a big grin on his face.

  ‘Daniel! What are you doing here?’ Nash gasped with surprise.

  ‘We had to get an earlier flight. There wasn’t enough room on ours.’

  ‘I don’t understand. I thought it had all been booked before you went away. Why didn’t you let me know, so I could collect you from the airport?’ Nash looked beyond him to see Clara and David taking luggage from a taxi, acknowledging him with a smile and a wave.

  ‘We didn’t have time to warn you.’ He glanced over his shoulder. ‘But I’ve brought you a present.’ He ran back to the taxi, opened the back door and an attractive woman with short dark hair, large brown eyes, and tanned complexion, stepped out. She stood alongside him, looking towards his father.

  It wasn’t often that Nash was speechless, but it was several seconds before he managed to splutter, ‘Alondra?’

  Witho
ut a word, Clara and David got back into the taxi and continued their journey home, unnoticed by Nash, who stood staring at the woman before him.

  ‘Papa, do you think we can go in the house now?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Yes, yes, of course.’ He looked at her again, she hadn’t said a word, but her eyes spoke volumes. He signalled with one hand, an invitation to enter, before he grabbed the cases and struggled to carry them indoors, as Daniel watched in amusement and delight.

  ‘Shall I make coffee for you both, Papa?’

  ‘Er. Yes please, Daniel. Er, there’s some in the machine.’

  Leaving his bemused father in the hall, Daniel smiled as he headed to the kitchen, wondering how long it would be before he got any sense out of him.

  Alondra spoke at last. ‘Hello, Mike.’

  Again, all he could say was, ‘Alondra?’ He ushered her through to the lounge, where she stood in front of the hearth staring at the painting and smiled. ‘I see you kept it.’

  ‘I’d never part with it. It means a lot to me.’

  Daniel appeared with a mug of coffee, carried in his one good hand, before returning seconds later with another.

  Nash reached out and hugged his son. ‘Daniel, I’m so sorry, how are you feeling? How’s your shoulder?’

  ‘I’m OK. It’s much better. The swimming helped. In fact, I think I can manage to unpack.’ He turned towards the stairs and grabbed his bag. ‘That’s what I’m going to do now. Hope you like your present.’

  Neither of them noticed that he had failed to close the door fully, leaving it slightly ajar.

  Nash at last found his voice. ‘Alondra, why are you here?’

  ‘Someone convinced me it was the right thing to do.’ She smiled, knowing she had her instructions, given explicitly by the young man who was stage-managing the production.

  Standing outside the door, Daniel crossed his fingers and bit his bottom lip, hoping Clara’s and his plan would work. He heard a mug being put on the coffee table and listened as Alondra continued to explain.

  ‘Daniel came to see me along with Clara and David. He’d persuaded them that as they were in Spain, they should pay me a visit.’

  She was doing her best to stick to the script, implying it was all Daniel’s idea.

  ‘I imagine my expression when I answered the door to them must have been a bit like yours when you saw me. What Daniel told me concerned me. He said you’d been extremely unhappy since I left, and that you mope around the house like a grumpy old man. He said he missed me too, even when he was at school, because he’d nobody special to talk to and confide in. He actually accused me of deserting him when he needed me most. That made me really sad.’

  Daniel heard her sigh.

  ‘In that moment, I realized that he takes after his father when it comes to his ability to charm women. Then Clara told me how much you’d changed at work; being short-tempered and never seeing the funny side of things. She said that in the past, whenever a relationship ended, you quickly found consolation elsewhere. But after what happened between us, you’ve never looked at another woman. She thinks you are overdue a little happiness to make up for all the heartbreak you’ve suffered. It was then that I knew I had to come and talk things over with you and see where we go.’ Her voice faltered as she added, ‘If anywhere. So here I am.’

  ‘I have tried to phone you.’

  ‘I know, but I wasn’t ready.’

  Nash reached out and took her hand. ‘How long can you stay?’ He asked the question quietly, dreading the answer.

  Daniel leaned nearer to the open door; this was the vital moment as far as he was concerned.

  In the room, Alondra looked into Nash’s eyes; the loving expression in them gave her hope. Her voice was little more than a whisper as she said, ‘That depends on you, Mike. I’ll stay as long as you want me to.’

  ‘I want you to stay forever,’ he said, his tone ardent, the sincerity in his voice evident.

  ‘That’s OK, then. Forever suits me fine.’

  From his position outside the half-open door, Daniel gave a huge grin of triumph. He punched the air with delight, then winced as pain shot through his damaged shoulder.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Having taken early retirement from the finance industry, prolific writer Bill Kitson enjoys the challenge of writing both crime and general fiction, often with a twist of humour. Both his series, the DI Mike Nash crime thrillers and his Eden House Mysteries, are set in North Yorkshire, the county of his birth.

  He also writes his Greek Island Romances under the pseudonym William Gordon.

  Living and working throughout most of the North of England he is now settled on the east coast along with his wife.

  His writing never stops, and when he isn’t seeking inspiration from the surrounding countryside he can be found in a small fishing village on one of the Greek Islands, staring out to sea — laptop at the ready!

  For further details go to:

  www.billkitson.com

  www.billkitsonblog.wordpress.com

  ALSO BY BILL KITSON

  THE DI MIKE NASH SERIES

  Book 1: WHAT LIES BENEATH

  Book 2: VANISH WITHOUT TRACE

  Book 3: PLAYING WITH FIRE

  Book 4: KILLING CHRISTMAS

  Book 5: SLASH KILLER

  Book 6: ALONE WITH A KILLER

  Book 7: BLOOD DIAMOND

  Book 8: DEAD & GONE

  Book 9: HIDE & SEEK

  Book 10: RUNNING SCARED

  Book 11: THE BLEEDING HEART KILLER

  Book 12: CHAIN REACTION

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