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
The policeman in the driver’s seat looked straight ahead; relief came in floods like sudden rushes of blood from the heart.
The recent memory of Sally’s voice came as a consolation. She sounded as thick as she was insipid, a lifelong loser who thought she had something to offer in life when all she really had to offer was her corpse.
Planning out the night ahead was the best way to cut through the stress that constantly chewed at the gut and pressed down on the skull like an invisible clamp.
Watch Sally from a distance, savour her mounting agitation as she realised she was being stood up by Geoff, and follow her sagging shoulders to the place where she had parked.
As she arrived at her car, perform a quick but thorough three hundred and sixty degree check to make sure there was no one and nothing around to witness the first words hitting the back of her neck. ‘Excuse me!’
Dread mounted as another car came closer on Grassendale Road.
The car slid past. It wasn’t a marked police car. But that didn’t stop it being an unmarked vehicle. It carried on. Was it from the neighbourhood? Could’ve been; no way of knowing for sure.
As soon as possible, Sally would receive a picture of Richard Ezra to her iPhone that would surely get her hopes up so high that when she fell she would land with a mighty crash.
Carry her down the wooden steps like a bag of potatoes but enjoying the warmth and vulnerability of her body against the power of The Ghoul.
Picturing the look on Francesca Christie’s face when she saw she had a roommate, stress gave way to joy, joy gave way to ecstasy.
‘Look what I’ve got, Francesca. Look at me, Francesca. Look at me with the look of love, love, love. Lurrraaammeeeeee!’
70
10.55 am
‘Eve, I was just about to call you,’ said DC Cole as she entered the incident room. ‘How did the call to Geoff go?’
‘He’s a slimeball who knows how to press all the right buttons. He’s also a slimeball who doesn’t know it yet but he’s bitten off far more than he can ever chew.’
Cole held up a black leather book.
‘What’s this, Barney?’
‘Richard Ezra’s address book, as supplied by Brian Doherty, his last employer before he died.’
Clay sat next to Cole.
‘Anything?’
‘It’s mainly business contacts, contractors, solicitors, surveyors, advertising agencies, printers, other estate agents and the like. How did your meeting with Norma Maguire go just now?’