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
‘As in Edgar McKee, sexual action man?’
‘Spot on. Do you need me, or are you happy for me to go down to the Royal to the medical records department?’
‘Edgar McKee’s records?’
‘And Norma Maguire’s while I’m at it.’
‘That sounds like a very good plan, Clive. Get what you can on their medical backgrounds and get back to the farm.’
As he headed down Booker Avenue for Mather Avenue, the music of Susan Hurst’s laughter rang in his ears. And he pictured Edgar McKee’s face when that music was played back to him loud and clear.
120
10.33 am
As she approached the open doorway of Norma Maguire’s kitchen, Detective Sergeant Gina Riley could tell by the look on the young constable’s face that he had conquered something particularly difficult and had made a first-rate job of it.
‘How did you get on with the plaster chips from the basement, Tom?’
‘I think I’ve pieced it together, though it’s not perfect.’
Riley looked at the dust in the bucket at his feet and at the assembled plaster on the table in front of him.
‘Some of the letters aren’t complete. I’ve been through the bucket looking for the chips to round them off but I reckon the missing black paint is on the dust particles. But you can tell what the words are.’
‘Do you know what? You’ve got more than enough here, Tom. Very well done.’
Riley read the jagged and broken words out loud. ‘And, so, off she floats to nowhere.’
She took a series of photographs on her iPhone and sent it directly to Clay with a message.
Eve - This puts Norma Maguire’s basement in a totally new light. Where’s she going to float to? The Irwell? The Mersey? A flooded sinkhole? OMFG Gina.
Riley raised the hatch and, torch in hand, stepped on to the wooden stairs leading into the basement.
Walking deeper into the room, she cast a beam of light around the walls. She picked out the wall-mounted light near the door to the adjoining room and turned it on.
Riley walked to the space in front of the hacked-out wall and, looking at the image on her iPhone, mentally transferred the words in front of her on to the wall.
‘And, so, off she floats to nowhere.’
Images of Annie Boyd on the riverbed and Amanda Winton in a water-filled sinkhole flashed through her mind and the words took on a chilling significance that tightened the twisting knot in her guts.
She walked backwards, further from where the graffiti had been hacked away, but the words flew around the pathways of her brain.