The Doll's House - [29]
She was about to pick up the brick to begin her assault on the door, when her eyes alighted on one of the many pieces of paper that now littered the ground around her. On it was a drawing – crudely done in felt-tip pen – of a green tree decorated with baubles.
Curiosity now got the better of her and Ruby read the contents of the home-made card. It was an Xmas card to her mother from a girl called Roisin. In it, she wrote about how much she missed her family, how they were not to worry about her sudden disappearance and how much she was looking forward to the day when she could put this card in their hands herself. The latter section of the text was stained with tears and the card was dated a little over two and a half years ago.
Ruby dropped it like a stone and sank to the floor. In an instant, the full desperation of her situation became clear. She was not the first girl to have been abducted and held down here.
Which begged the question: what had happened to them? And where was this ‘Roisin’ now?
48
‘You’re not in trouble, Lianne. But you will be, if you don’t start talking.’
Helen was already in a dark mood and the teenage girl’s refusal to talk was only exacerbating her bad humour. When she had burst into the room to confront Nathan Price, she had found him manhandling a teenage girl. A teenage girl who was definitely not Ruby Sprackling.
‘You’re telling us that Nathan Price is a friend of the family.’
‘That’s right.’
‘And do friends of the family usually pop round when you’re home alone?’
Nothing in response.
‘We’ll find out either way. Your parents are coming in – if they can confirm that Nathan Price is a friend of the family -’
‘You haven’t told them, have you? About him?’ Lianne interrupted.
There was real alarm in her face now. Helen felt bad about lying, but needs must.
‘I didn’t have much choice, did I, Lianne? If you won’t talk to me…’
‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘So talk to me. I know you’re scared. I know that he hurt you.’
A livid bruise covered the girl’s right cheek.
‘But he can’t touch you here. Tell me what’s been going on and I swear he won’t come near you ever again.’
Helen held her hand out to the young girl. Lianne looked at it, then dropping her gaze to her lap, muttered.
‘I met him on Friday night.’
‘Where?’
‘Revolution.’
Sanderson shot a look at Helen, but was ignored.
‘And?’
‘He bought me drinks you know. Asked me stuff.’
‘He took an interest in you.’
‘He was nice. He had money too. So we chatted until midnight, then went off.’
‘Where, Lianne? It’s really important you tell me -’
‘We went to his van, ok?’
‘You slept with him?’
‘What do you think?’
‘How old are you, Lianne?’
‘Sixteen.’
‘How old are you?’ Helen repeated more forcefully.
‘Sixteen.’
‘Lianne…’
‘Fourteen, ok, I’m fourteen.’
The girl started to cry. Helen reached out to take her hand and this time the girl didn’t resist.
‘How long did you stay with him?’
‘A few hours.’
‘He was with you the whole time?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Then what?’
‘He dropped me home.’
‘What time was that?’
‘Just after four o’clock.’
‘Just after four a.m. Are you absolutely sure?’
‘I saw the clock as I came in. I was pleased – my folks are dead to the world at that time.’
Helen concluded the interview shortly afterwards, the young girl having agreed to make a formal statement about the events of Friday night. There was some comfort in the fact that Nathan Price would face criminal proceedings – sex with a minor was a serious offence that would land him on the Sex Offenders Register – but it was of little solace to Helen. Lianne Sumner had just cleared Nathan Price of any involvement in Ruby Sprackling’s disappearance.
Like it or not, they were back to square one.
49
He tried to focus, wrenching his mind back to the tasks in hand, but still he couldn’t settle. His unpleasant exchange with Summer had left him unsettled and disturbed – it was hard to concentrate on work today. Clients came and went as usual and he dealt with them in his usual professional manner, but he was on auto-pilot, getting the job done with the minimum of effort and interaction. He just couldn’t stop thinking about her. Why was she hostile to him? It didn’t make any sense. Why was she so… ungrateful? Didn’t she understand what he’d had to go through? The risks he’d taken?
News of the discovery of a body at Carsholt beach had knocked him for six. He’d watched the local news repeatedly since, bought every edition of the local paper, scouring the reports for details. Images of a large police forensics team on site had unnerved him, as had the confirmation that local hero DI Grace would be leading the investigation. Ever since he’d seen the news, he’d been on edge, half expecting a knock on the door. He knew that this was unlikely – he’d been so careful, so meticulous in his work – but it just served to underline the lengths he’d gone to – the sacrifices he’d made – to do right by her.
Why wouldn’t she give him the love he craved? The love he was owed? For the first time, anger flared in him. It could all be so perfect. It was so perfect. So why did she insist on denying him? She was an ungrateful little b-
The international bestseller that "grabs the reader by the throat" (Crime Time).First in the new series featuring Detective Inspector Helen Grace.Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.It's a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn't spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn't believe them.Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case-with its seemingly random victims-has her baffled.
Детектив-инспектор Хелен Грейс расследует серию преступлений, в каждом из которых похищены два человека. Похититель ставит свои жертвы перед страшным выбором – убить другого или умереть самому. Как долго продолжится эта смертельная игра, зависит только от Хелен. Ведь этими похищениями маньяк шлет послание лично ей.
Detective Helen Grace faces her own dark compulsions in the new thriller from the international best-selling author of Pop Goes the Weasel and Eeny Meeny.In a world where disguises and discretion are the norm, and where one admission could unravel a life, a killer has struck, and a man is dead. No one wants to come forward to say what they saw or what they know – including the woman heading the investigation: Detective Helen Grace.Helen knew the victim. And the victim knew her – better than anyone else.
THE FOURTH DI HELEN GRACE THRILLER BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR M J ARLIDGE 'Helen Grace is one of the greatest heroes to come along in years' JEFFERY DEAVER In the dead of night, three raging fires light up the city skies. It's more than a tragic coincidence. For DI Helen Grace the flames announce the arrival of an evil she has never encountered before. Because this is no firestarter seeking sick thrills, but something more chilling: a series of careful, calculating acts of murder. But why were the victims chosen? What's driving the killer? And who will be next? A powder keg of fear, suspicion and dread has been laid.
From the international bestselling author of Eeny Meeny comes the second thriller in the truly excellent series * featuring Detective Helen Grace."A man s body is found in an empty house.A gruesome memento of his murder is sent to his wife and children."He is the first victim, and Detective Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night?The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: a serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives.Helen can sense the fury behind the murders.
Если вы снимаете дачу в Турции, то, конечно, не ждете ничего, кроме моря, солнца и отдыха. И даже вообразить не можете, что столкнетесь с убийством. А турецкий сыщик, занятый рутинными делами в Измире, не предполагает, что очередное преступление коснется его собственной семьи и вынудит его общаться с иностранными туристами.Москвичка Лана, приехав с сестрой и ее сыном к Эгейскому морю, думает только о любви и ждет приезда своего возлюбленного, однако гибель знакомой нарушает безмятежное течение их отпуска.
Если весь мир – театр, то балетный театр – это целый мир, со своими интригами и проблемами, трагедиями и страстями, героями и злодеями, красавицами и чудовищами. Далекая от балета Лиза, живущая в Турции, попадает в этот мир совершенно случайно – и не предполагает, что там ей предстоит принять участие в расследовании загадочного убийства и встретиться с любовью… или это вовсе не любовь, а лишь видимость, как всё в иллюзорном мире театра?Этот роман не только о расследовании убийства – он о музыке и о балете, о турецком городе Измире и живущих в нем наших соотечественниках, о людях, преданных театру и готовых ради искусства на все… даже на преступление.
В номере:Денис Овсянник. Душа в душуИгорь Вереснев. Спасая ЭрикаОксана Романова. МощиТатьяна Романова. Санкторий.
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