Secret of the Dead by Michael Fowler Read Free Book Online Page A

Hunter had never seen Mike down in the dumps. He was always the life and soul of both the office and the party and Hunter guessed that by the end of the evening, he would have everyone’s attention with another of his funny stories or an array of politically incorrect jokes.
    By 8:15pm most of the squad had gathered.
    Barry nudged Hunter when Tony Bullars came through the doors, a very attractive raven haired woman on his arm.
    Flaxen haired with sparkling blue-grey eyes and chiselled features “very handsome”, as Beth had ribbed him on more than a few occasions Hunter knew that Bully had an eye for the ladies and never settled with a girlfriend for very long. He had seen him with this girl on the last two departmental gatherings, though for the life of him he couldn’t recall her name. He’d make sure he’d talk with her before the evening had ended.
    “Things must be getting serious. Next thing he’ll be telling us he’s decided to settle down,” he said to Barry through one side of his mouth.
    Hunter ordered another round of drinks and slipped away from the bar to take Beth a glass of white wine. He noticed that the original group of Sue, Grace and his wife had expanded. DC Paula Clarke and two wives of other squad members had joined and were engaged in light-hearted chat with the occasional laughter. He wondered who the subject of their gossiping was; no doubt Beth would tell him later.
    Suddenly, the lounge went quiet. He caught the look on his wife’s face, eyes wide and eyebrows raised, her gaze was fixed somewhere over his shoulder. Turning sharply, he spotted Detective Superintendent Michael Robshaw making for the bar. Just as quickly, stepping out from behind him, he saw the flame haired woman, its natural ginger colour subdued by an auburn tint.
    She offered a meek smile.
    “Well that’s certainly killed the conversation,” the Detective Superintendent responded good-humouredly, his keen eyes searching out the faces of his team. “I think you’ve all met DCI Dawn Leggate?”
    She strode the short distance to Hunter, hand outstretched. The gesture took him aback.
    He felt his insides flutter. Seeing her heavily freckled face brought all the angst and uncomfortable memories flooding back: Memories which, until now, had started to dissipate.
    Hunter had last seen the Detective Chief Inspector eight weeks ago in the rear yard of the headquarters custody suite. She and her team were preparing to return to Stirling police station, in Scotland, where she was based, with two murderous villains. He and Barry had helped in their arrest. She had shaken his hand then and he had thought and hoped it would be the last time he would have to see her.
    Nine weeks ago, he had discovered something that rocked his world.
    The sea-change to his life had started at the end of August, while returning from a weekend away with his family. Driving back from the village of Staithes, along the moors, he had witnessed his parents’ car being rammed off the road. They were left badly injured by the driver, who sped away from the scene without stopping. Investigating that incident, he’d discovered that for some strange reason DCI Leggate had been given charge of the enquiry. For a long time it had puzzled as to why a Scottish-based senior detective should be involved in a North Yorkshire job, and tracking her down to resolve that had proved difficult and frustrating. She’d tried to fob him off with weak story once he had finally found her operating in his own back-yard at Barnwell. That had only made him dig his heels in further to get to the bottom of it - with devastating consequences. Almost nine weeks ago to the day, he had raced to his parents’ home after receiving the frantic phone call from his mother and hearing her hair-raising cries on the other end of the line. By the time he had got there, DCI Leggate was already at the crime scene, along with his boss. In anger and frustration he had cornered her into giving