Chapters (156)
- A DATE WITH DEATH
- Also by Mark Roberts
- A Date With Death
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- The Past
- 1977
- Day OneWednesday, 1st December 2021CatoptrophobiaFear of mirrors
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- The Past
- 1979
- Day TwoThursday, 2nd December 2021OneirophobiaFear of dreams
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- The Past
- 1980
- Day ThreeFriday, 3rd December 2021MonophobiaFear of being alone
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- The Past
- 1982
- Day FourSaturday, 4th December 2021ThanatophobiaFear of Death
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- 116
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- 126
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- 132
- 133
- 134
- 135
- 136
- 137
- About the Author
- An Invitation from the Publisher
‘She looked half-human,’ said Stone. ‘From the neck up, she looked like someone had grafted an alien head on to a human body. I won’t forget it as long as I live.’
As Cole walked over to Stone, his sympathy for his colleague intensified, knowing that he had a wife and two sons to go home to and all that awaited Stone at the end of a bad day was an empty flat and a history of broken relationships to dwell on.
Cole handed Stone a cup of coffee and looked out as daylight oozed over the Mersey Estuary, in the direction of Warrington.
He sat down at his desk, picked up a printed-out image of the Otterspool Promenade victim’s skinned face and scalped head and was glad he hadn’t been like Stone, an eyewitness to the carnage.
The phone on Cole’s desk rang out. He snatched up the receiver, hit speakerphone and turned on record on his iPhone.
‘DC Barney Cole speaking, Merseyside Constabulary.’
‘Duty Superintendent Kate Johnson, Warrington Constabulary.’
‘Thank you for getting back to me, Superintendent Johnson.’
‘I’m going to send you everything we’ve got on our River Irwell victim. I’ll send you a test email. Her name was Sandra O’Day. She was reported missing on August 1st and showed up dead on August 11th. The pathologist said she’d been dead for four or five days before she’d been discovered in the river.’
A bell rang in Cole’s head as he went on to his emails on his laptop, and watched as Superintendent Johnson’s test email came through.
‘How are we doing, Barney?’
‘All good,’ said Cole, replying Thank you to the email.
‘Who’s the SIO at your end?’ asked Superintendent Johnson.
‘DCI Eve Clay.’
There was a brief silence.
‘Oh, that’s such bad news for The Ghoul. And good news for us. Tell her I’m calling a meeting of everyone involved in the case. The SIO our end’s DCI Dave Ferguson.’
‘You’ve just answered the question I was going to ask you next.’ As he spoke, Cole wrote the name Dave Ferguson on his notepad. ‘DCI Clay has asked me to ask you if DCI Ferguson can make it over to Trinity Road police station so we can pick his brains.’
‘I’ll contact him for you right now.’
Cole listened. In Warrington Police Station on Arpley Street, a door opened and a voice spoke with rising urgency.
‘I’ve got to go, Barney. We’ll be in touch.’
As Cole opened the first email and the PDF attached to it, he felt Stone’s presence at his back, moving over him with slow, steady stealth.