“No,” said Sarah.
Pete shifted his gaze in her direction.
“There’s blood on Charlie’s boat. And I bet once we tell the police, they’ll find prints, and who knows what? Blood and prints on the gaff hook too?”
Pete’s smile faded.
The gun barrel slowly rose, right at chest level.
His son, still standing back by the filled oil drums spoke: “Dad.”
And that voice, that word, signalled to Sarah that Pete Owen might not be fully in control of himself.
If he killed Charlie, he might kill again.
“Okay. Right. This ends here. Now,” said Chris.
Sarah’s breath caught in her throat.
Still no siren in the distance.
Had something happened to her father?
“Dad,” Chris repeated. “Christ, don’t—”
Pete’s eyes scanned her, then Jack, then his son—
Jack moved.
And, not for the first time, it was incredible to see how, chips on the table, Jack Brennan could move so fast.
*
Jack reached out to the front of the gun, hand wrapping around the barrel, and then in a classic move of disarmament — a move he had performed so many times …
So many times, he thought, but still terrifying.
A twist, and the barrel pointed up to the roof. Often the weapon would spring free, the gunman startled by the sudden jerk forward.
In other cases — like this one — that didn’t happen.
Pete’s finger locked on the trigger. Then, a blast, echoing horribly in the barn.
But Jack could wrench the gun free.
A glance to Sarah, signalling to watch the others; though at this point, he guessed the only one here with an appetite for killing was Pete Owen.
The gun now in Jack’s hand, he swung it around, and quickly sent the stock smacking into the farmer’s face as if it was a solid uppercut.
And Pete flew back.
Just as — as if on schedule — the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.
Jack turned to Sarah.
“You okay?”
And she nodded. “I guess as long as you know how to do things like that, I am!”
And despite the fact that gun smoke hung in the cavernous room like a cloud, and Pete was trying to recover from being smacked backwards, Jack laughed.
“I know a lot of tricks, Sarah. And gonna make it my mission to teach them all to you.”
And with that, he went to the sliding metal door and gave it a yank, letting light in; Alan’s patrol car pulling close.
A look back at the son, the other men. All guilty.
But not of murder.
And Sarah led the way out.
A lot to explain to Alan.
Then — God — back into that tiny airplane!
16. A Toast to Charlie
Jack had lit candles on the deck. It was — Sarah knew — exactly that kind of night. The air clear, a little chilly, but still warm enough to sit outside.
She, Jack, and someone she didn’t know well at all …
Ray.
Ray, meanwhile, held up his tumbler. “Must say, Jack, this Scotch you got here, not my usual.”
“The Macallan 12, Ray.” He looked at Sarah. “For special occasions.”
She saw Ray smile at that, happy at both the compliment and the whisky.
But then: “You know … I can’t pay you anything for what you did? I mean, putting old Charlie to rest proper. Finding out who did him in.”
“None required,” Jack said.
“Just glad we could help, Ray,” Sarah said.
A nod. “Well, you know me, I’m kind of a ‘pay it forward’ type of guy. You can rely on that.”
“Sure we can,” Jack said.
“Poor old Charlie,” said Ray, taking another sip of whisky. “Guess he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And got in over his head,” said Sarah.
“Typical bloody Charlie, bless him. Still. Few things I don’t quite get … You sure the son knew nothing about the murder?”
Sarah thought she’d take this one.
“Chris had just paid Charlie a lot of cash to keep him quiet. It didn’t make any sense — from his point of view — to kill him.”
“And no worries,” Jack added. “If he was involved, forensics will find evidence on the boat.”
“The father just didn’t trust Charlie, that it?”
“So it seems,” said Jack. “He’d been milking that pipeline for years apparently. Built up the whole farm on the money. Didn’t want to see it all thrown away. Guess he figured it was better if his hot-headed son knew nothing.”
“Oh — that brings up another thing. Those bastids at Waterside who want to take over the whole wharf, what’s going to happen to them?”
“My guess,” Sarah said, “there might now be a bit of a hiccough due to their strong-arm tactics.”
“But,” Jack said, “sooner or later, that place will indeed be transformed.”
“Damn. The old wharf — got a lot of character, know what I mean? History even! Another toast.”
And as Ray raised his near-empty glass — perhaps signalling the desire for a refill — he said, “Here’s to the old ways on the river, eh?”
And Sarah clinked her glass.
“And might I add,” Jack said, turning to Sarah, “to the best partnership I have ever had.”
“Cheers to that!”
She smiled as she sipped.
And only later would she think, Well, that was quite saying something, wasn’t it?
But, for now, she just enjoyed the night air, the water lapping at the sides of The Grey Goose, the terrific Scotch …
And of course, the company of her partner.
END
Cherringham — A Cosy Crime Series
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Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
The Body in the Woods
A Cherringham Mystery
It's Carnival week in Cherringham, but while most of the locals are looking forward to the regatta, the parade and the fireworks, Jack and Sarah are more interested in the mysterious body that's been uncovered at the archaeological dig just outside the village ...
No Roman soldier - but a young man, no ID. Definitely the victim of a cold blooded murder ... from just a few decades ago.
It's a baffling cold case - but one that soon heats up when a member of the carnival committee suddenly goes missing. Jack and Sarah investigate - and quickly come up against a wall of silence. Are the two cases connected? What dark secret from Cherringham's past is being kept hidden?
As the Carnival rolls to its spectacular finale, Jack and Sarah race against time to stop the murderer before they kill again ...
For fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series, Caroline Graham's Midsomer Murders, and the American TV series Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury.
Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series Cherringham. First released as eBook novellas, this is the second full-length novel. Cherringham is popular around the world and has been adapted as a series of audiobooks in both English and German.
Neil Richards, Matthew Costello
Dead in the Water
A Cherringham Mystery
On the night of the school prom, a young teacher is found dead in the Thames in a drug-related accident. It seems - at first - to be another sign that Cherringham High is spirallin
g out of control. The new head however is convinced that the teacher's death is suspicious and quietly calls in Sarah Edwards.
With her one-time detective partner, Jack Brennan, back in America, Sarah is at first reluctant to take on the case. But when she does get involved, it soon becomes clear that the tragic accident might really be a case of murder - and even Sarah herself could be in danger...
"Dead in the Water" is the first full-length novel set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, featuring the unlikely sleuthing duo Sarah, an English web designer, and Jack, American ex-cop. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby.
For fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series, Caroline Graham's Midsomer Murders, and the American TV series Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury.
Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series Cherringham. First released as eBook novellas, Cherringham is popular around the world, has been adapted as a series of audiobooks in Germany and will be realeased as audiobooks in the UK in Summer 2016.
Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
Cherringham - Secret Santa
A Cosy Crime Series
Bill Vokes has played Santa at the children's Christmas show for years. But with the show just hours away, he vanishes with no explanation. The whole village is baffled. Did something bad happen to loveable Bill: upstanding citizen, churchgoer, life and soul of the party and the holiday season?
Jack and Sarah are on the case - and soon discover there are secrets about this Santa that no one could have imagined ...
Cherringham - The Drowned Man Page 10