Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
‘Then stop fidgeting like you’ve got ants in your bloody pants.’
After another excruciating ten minutes, Sharon closed down her laptop and smiled.
‘Good work, Rachel. Very comprehensive summary. How’s the team shaping up?’
‘Fine,’ Rachel said. ‘We’re pulling in resources from across the county. I’m meeting Chris Young from the media team tomorrow morning to discuss how we handle this externally. The press have gone into overdrive now that we’ve confirmed this is a murder investigation.’
It was going to be Rachel’s first case as Senior Investigating Officer. She was excited and terrified in equal measures.
‘You think Ade’s up to something like this?’ Sharon asked.
‘Absolutely,’ Rachel said. ‘She’s very competent.’
‘It’s going to be a shitstorm, you do realise that? You’ll need to make sure all your team are aware of the importance of not speaking to anyone outside the police about this case.’
‘Absolutely.’ Rachel sat up straighter in her chair and maintained eye contact with her superior, even though it felt as if Sharon was using her eyes to try to scoop out Rachel’s soul.
‘Okay, Rachel. I’ve read the file. Now, I want you to give me a summary of where you are, what your next steps are and how quickly you think you can get this one done and dusted.’
Done and dusted? Rachel’s mouth fell open, but she closed it again when she realised the stunned fish reaction wasn’t what her boss was asking for.
‘Nick and the other guests were at the villa to mark the five-year anniversary of the crash. There was a bigger event the previous weekend for the victims’ families. The weekend at the villa was just about the eight survivors, although only five of them were there. Two others live in Crete and, understandably, chose not to fly over. We’re still trying to track down the missing survivor, Robbie Fuson. Along with the five survivors, the other guests were Adam Murray, who heads up the Vivienne Kinsella Foundation, Simon and Bella Gilbert, and Adam’s agent, Jake Harris with his girlfriend Felicity Sparks.’
‘What sort of tosspot brings his agent along to something like that?’ Sharon said. ‘Never mind, continue.’
‘Clodagh Kinsella discovered Nick’s body at approximately 4:45 a.m. on Sunday. Pathologist has put time of death at around five or six hours earlier, between ten forty-five and midnight. Cause of death was blunt trauma injury to the back of the head. He was hit, repeatedly, possibly with one of the stones on the beach. He’d been drinking quite heavily. His blood alcohol level was just below 0.15 per cent. We know he rowed with at least two of the guests, Adam Murray and Tara Coleman. He also sent a text message to Clodagh Kinsella at 9:47 p.m., asking to speak to her. Although she claims that conversation never happened.’
‘Forensics?’