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
‘Sergeant Price, focus on the knees, legs and feet, and the hole in the ground.’ He nodded. ‘Walk with me.’ She stepped forward slowly. ‘I’m walking towards what appears to be a pair of disembodied feet and legs. Her toenails are painted and there is no sign of hair on her legs. There are dark marks on her knees. Bruising? Maybe.’
The rain’s intensity slackened and, as Clay reached the dead woman, it stopped as if some unspoken prayer to an anonymous god had been granted.
‘Closer to the hole and the body, I can see water brimming to the top of the hole, and I estimate that the rest of her body, above her knees, is beneath the surface of the water. This time, the MO hasn’t altered but the water he’s chosen to leave her body in has scaled down from a river in the first and second instance to what amounts to an oversized puddle. Why has he done this? Did he run too much of a risk leaving the body on the mud of the Mersey? Did he run too much of a risk operating in such a wide-open space? Did he throw Annie’s body in the water as the tide was going out? Or did he leave her on the mud?’
She looked around at the intimacy of the space and concluded, ‘He wanted privacy.’ Clay reached the edge of the water.
‘Judging by the fact that most of her body’s concealed by water, I estimate this pothole is probably at least three-quarters of a metre deep.’
Beneath her feet, Clay felt something vibrating in the ground, subtle but gaining in strength with each passing second.
‘I can only make out the shape of her legs and, after that, nothing. To the naked eye, her body ends at the top of her legs.’
Torchlight from DS Mason’s hand played over her shoulder, danced on the surface of the water.
‘In the water,’ said Clay, ‘the tops of her thighs are moving up and down under some force or other, and I guess the rest of her corpse is doing likewise but I can’t see it.’
A bubble broke on the water’s surface and the vibration beneath the ground turned into an anxious growling, as if there was a feral creature buried alive beneath the path.
‘How are Doctor Lamb’s APTs going to fish her body out of the water?’ asked Sergeant Price.
‘They’ll have to haul her out, plain and simple,’ replied Clay.
‘Do you want us to do that now, Eve?’ said Mason.
‘Yes, please. Help her.’
‘Eve.’ She heard Hendricks approaching quickly and was glad to hear his voice.