Kush yawns and rests his head on my thigh. His eyebrows twitch a few times then he closes his eyes. He stays like that whilst I finish the joint. Once I’ve got down to the end I flick it off into the darkness, the tiny luminous tip spiralling down towards the water. It hisses as it makes contact.
‘C’mon,’ I say, getting up, stretching my arms over my head. ‘Let’s go get something to eat.’
I turn round to see a figure standing a few metres away watching me. I didn’t hear her arrive, and don’t know how long she’s been there.
‘Hey,’ Tanya says.
Hearing her voice again brings everything into focus. I’ve had so many days stolen from me that I can’t imagine losing any more.
I step forward and pull her into my arms.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to Joel Richardson at Penguin who inherited this book but took it under his wing nevertheless, and applied his thoughtful and insightful editing throughout. My agent, Simon Trewin at WME, for sage advice and clandestine garden centre meet-ups. Jennie Roman for an extremely sensitive copy-edit and Sarah Kennedy for the final polish. Trevor Thrower who advised me on technical aspects relating to car repairs. Mary Jain for her continued support and guidance. To the people who have to remain anonymous because they’ve been forced to break the law in order to treat their conditions: what you’ve suffered is appalling and nothing short of a travesty. Here’s to the change being swift and decisive.
And to Zara, who continues to amaze and inspire.
I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H bomb blast.
Ronald Reagan
The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.
Carl Sagan
WELCOME TO AMSTERDAM
‘Utterly enthralling … looks set to be one of the key sequences in modern crime fiction’ Crime Time
‘This is a great debut’ Crime Fiction Lover
A body is found hanging on a hook above the canals of Amsterdam’s old town. In a remote coastal village, a doll lies in the ashes of a burnt-down house. But the couple who died in the blaze were childless. Did a little girl escape the blaze? And if so, who is she and where is she now?
Inspector Jaap Rykel knows that he must halt a clever and brutal murderer. And the investigation reveals two dark truths: everybody in this city harbours secrets – and hearing those secrets comes at a terrible price …
‘This gripping detective novel will thrill fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and bears comparison to Fatherland …
Utterly unputdownable’ The Sun
‘Complex … intriguing … keeps the reader hooked’ Euro Crime
A body is found on a rooftop, the dead man’s hands blowtorched, his head removed.
The man tasked with tracking down the killer is Amsterdam Inspector Jaap Rykel. But as he searches the headless body for clues, Rykel finds something which makes his blood run cold: a picture of himself on the victim’s phone.
And then a message from the killer reveals the location of a second mutilated corpse. It’s another day in Western Europe’s murder capital …
‘A strong sense of place matched by storytelling that keeps the plot accelerating’ Daily Mail
‘Taut, expertly woven and beautifully written’ Craig Robertson
A body is found, the victim’s head wrapped in cling film, hands tied behind her back. The small island’s police force needs help from Amsterdam’s Murder Squad’s veteran Detective Inspector Jaap Rykel.
A suspect confesses, but the killer has no history of violence, no motive and no connection to the victim.
Across the country, a similar murder is reported and Rykel wonders if these are random senseless acts, or something far darker …?
Rykel walks a thin line between spotting patterns no one wants to see, and a sinister, sprawling case which will consume everything in its path …
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published 2019
Copyright © Dark Sky Productions, 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Design and figure by Tom Sanderson, alley and canal image © Shutterstock
ISBN: 978-1-405-92266-1
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
The Copycat Page 32