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
‘Most definitely. He’s arranged to meet Gina Riley at eight o’clock tonight around the Albert Dock. She’s posing as Sally, a twenty-something lonely heart.’
‘Gina’s not going though, is she?’
She felt him pulling his hands away and tightened her grip on them.
‘Please, Thomas. I’m the SIO on this case. I’ve decided to go in her place.’
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Eve…’
‘Please, Thomas.’
She saw mounting panic in his face, felt the pain that her unwelcome news was causing him, and black guilt overwhelmed her.
‘Listen, Thomas, listen to me.’
‘Let go of my hands.’
She loosened her grip and watched as he folded his arms across his chest, the tell-tale body language she’d come to read in every major argument down the years.
‘Go on, Eve, I’m listening.’
‘There was no other way to tell you other than straight. But here’s the thing. This is a massive sting involving over fifty plain-clothes officers, most of them armed. I’ll be carrying a Glock handgun and I’m not frightened to use it. There’s no evidence so far to suggest that he uses firearms. And even if he does, he’s heavily outgunned. If he turns up there’s no way out for him.’
Thomas was unusually still and quiet, as if he was digging down deep inside himself.
‘Please say something, Thomas.’
‘Why you, Eve?’
‘Because the whole thing was my idea. I couldn’t put this plan on the table and allow someone else to go in for the fight.’
The tension and anger she saw in him dissolved and gave way to something fragile and afraid.
‘You told me and Philip you wouldn’t take any unnecessary risks. This strikes me as being just that. A massive unnecessary risk.’
‘It’s a risk, certainly. I won’t lie.’
Thomas stood up and walked to the window and looked out. She watched his back, saw the slowly forming stoop of his shoulders, the thin strands of grey that seeped into the darkness of his hair.
‘We’ve got a victim in captivity, Francesca Christie. If she’s lucky she’s got days to live. We’ve manufactured a chance to save her. Tonight is probably the only chance we’ll get to catch him and rescue her.’
He turned from the window and she recognised the look on his face. He was furious but trying to mask it by staring blankly into space.
‘How have you organised the sting, Eve?’