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
Dearest Sally your kind words have come as a great comfort to me. Thank you for offering to come to the mortuary to help me but I really don’t want you to see me in the state I’m in. I am quite alone in this world with no family and the friends I do have are scattered far and wide in Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. Thank you for praying for me and my mother. I will be in touch with you as soon as I am able but for now have to go as I am about to formally identify my mother’s body in the viewing suite. I have dreaded this moment of my mother’s death for years but never imagined that she would be stolen in an instant.
Clay felt as if something toxic had penetrated her scalp and was eroding the surface of her skull. Stolen in an instant?
God bless you Sally. Love to you, Geoff xxxxx ps For the sake of your prayers my mother’s name is Catriona West.
Clay skipped back in time to the day before and she found herself standing in the rain in Springwood Cemetery, Plot 66. She recalled looking at the finest headstone in the group of sixteen graves and the words carved into the marble.
CATRIONA WEST
WIFE AND MOTHER
STOLEN IN AN INSTANT
1940–2001
She called Riley on her iPhone.
‘Gina, track down anything you can about Catriona West on the NPC and HOLMES. Where’s Robin Wren?’
‘He’s in the interview suite with Barney Cole.’
‘If he’s being awkward and refusing to co-operate, he needs to know what McKee’s been up to. If he’s not talking now, he will do when I get back to Trinity Road. I’ll show him pictures of McKee’s handiwork on his victims.’
As she closed down the call, a message came on to her iPhone.
My dearest Sally, I have now identified my mother’s body. I was wrong. I need your support desperately. Can we meet ASAP?
She typed back.
Of course. Where?
She waited, staring ahead into the darkness.
Clay watched unmarked police cars heading away from the Albert Dock and it sparked a feeling of isolation combined with personal power deep at the root of who she was.
She heard the next incoming message ping.
Sally my love, I’m on the fourth floor of the multi-storey car park at the back of the Royal, overlooking the mortuary.
Jesus, she thought, tactical nightmare. Like trying to storm a castle on top of a mountain.
Geoff. I’ll be there in ten minutes. xxxxx
Clay worked it out as she turned her car around and headed back in the direction of the mortuary. From the fourth floor of the multi-storey car park, he had a powerful overview of any approaching vehicles.
Pictures flooded her mind. Women, dead, skinned and scalped.
For a moment, she wanted to stop, to turn back.