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Back The Ringmaster Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. The Ringmaster
  3. Contents
  4. Prologue
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. 55
  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
  63. 59
  64. 60
  65. 61
  66. 62
  67. 63
  68. 64
  69. 65
  70. 66
  71. Epilogue
  72. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  73. Copyright

God, he was good. My mother finally had some serious competition when it came to applying guilt, but I was damned if I was going to accept this load. I leaped to my feet and leaned forward with my hands planted on his desk.

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I am not the only one on this investigation and it is certainly not my job to lead it, so don’t look at me for the shortcomings in the whole bloody thing. Leadership comes from the top. Your performance hasn’t been exactly stellar. You need to take a good hard look at yourself instead of looking for scapegoats elsewhere.’ The fuse-wire holding my temper in check had shorted and my voice rose to the occasion.

He smiled, lips slowly exposing a row of perfect teeth and the image of a shark again jumped into my mind. I felt like a minnow under his gaze. I think the bastard was enjoying this.

‘Sit back down.’ He gestured with his hands and I, face burning, did as I was told. ‘Well, Shephard,’ he said, slowing his voice to a drawl. ‘I’ve got to give you credit for having balls. Not many people would dare talk to me like that and keep their job. But I’ll take that one on the chin, for now. So if you’re so well positioned to make an opinion, where do you think the investigation should go? I’m curious. What would you do?’

My opinion was the last thing I expected to be asked for and I wavered for a moment.

He pounced. ‘See, you can’t tell me. You have no idea, do you? So maybe you should—’

‘No, wait, before you write me off, give me chance to speak.’ My hand had shot up, gesturing him to stop and he looked at it and then at me with a look of condescending amusement. I felt like a mouse, being batted around by the cat until it tired of the game.

‘I think we need to go back to the beginning, Rose-Marie’s friends, flatmates, family, boyfriend, look into her life, her university studies, the things we started on before the circus connection became apparent. Get back to basics. We need to look over the other murders, similarities, differences, any connection between the victims.’

‘Yes, well this isn’t telling me anything your average schoolkid couldn’t figure out. You’ll have to do better than that.’