Moss took another photo from the folder. It was the selfie, in very high quality, of Marissa with the two young men. Marissa could be clearly seen wearing the earrings.
‘It was taken around fifteen minutes before she died,’ said Erika. ‘We tested the earrings for DNA, as you said we should. As well as small amounts of sweat and oil, they were covered in blood. They had been wiped clean to the naked eye, but we used a chemical called Luminol, which shows traces of blood on objects. You have probably seen it on police TV shows. It glows blue under the right light. We found that both earrings were saturated with blood. Far too much for it to have been from a simple cut. You killed Marissa, Elsa. You slashed her throat with your paring knife, and then as she lay dying, you removed the diamond earrings.’
The front door bell rang, and then it opened. Peterson came into the living room with McGorry and three uniformed officers. Erika looked over to them and nodded. Elsa sat back in the chair. Her face had sunken in on itself and she looked ashen. ‘No… No…’ she croaked, but all her bravado and confidence had evaporated.
‘Elsa Fryatt, I’m arresting you for the murder of Marissa Lewis. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence against you. I’m also informing you that a lawyer from the international war crimes court, and the German government, have requested to speak to you under caution regarding your time working as a guard at the Mathhausen-Gusen concentration camp, and the crimes you committed against humanity during the Second World War.’
Mrs Fryatt stared up at her. Then she grabbed a gold letter opener from the coffee table and lunged across at Erika, holding it in her fist. Peterson ran forward and caught her wrist, the tip of the blade inches from Erika’s face.
‘Black hands. Get those filthy black hands away from me,’ hissed Elsa, her eyes glittering with hatred. Peterson prised the letter opener out of her grip. He pinned her arms to her side, and McGorry handcuffed her hands behind her back. Elsa stared up at Erika. ‘You people will never understand. If I had my time again, I would do the same.’
‘Take her away,’ said Erika. Peterson led Elsa from the living room and out to the waiting police car.
Epilogue
Erika, Moss, Peterson and McGorry watched as Elsa and Charles were loaded separately into waiting police cars. As the car containing Elsa pulled away, she sat upright, with her head held high, looking straight ahead. As the second car followed, Charles was slumped with his head down, and he was weeping.
Across the street, the neighbours had come to their gates and front doors, and others were peering through net curtains.
‘I wonder what they’d think if they knew they’d been living beside a murderer and a Nazi war criminal,’ said McGorry.
‘They’ll be shocked, I’m sure. She was always dressed head to toe in Marks and Spencer,’ said Moss. ‘Covers a multitude of sins.’
Erika smiled.
‘What’s going to happen to her now?’ added McGorry.
‘Even though she’s old, we’ll push to go to trial for Marissa’s murder,’ said Erika. ‘And Charles will be charged with conspiracy to murder. I’m just concerned about the other charges. The historical war crimes. I want her to live long enough to pay for what she did during the war.’
‘Let’s hope she lives for a long time, and gets to rot in prison,’ said Peterson.
A black van pulled up at the kerb, and a team of forensic officers got out and went to work on the house. Erika took out a cigarette and lit up. Peterson gave Moss a look.
‘Come on, John,’ she said. ‘Let’s go get some coffee.’
‘I’ve already had two coffees…’ he started, but Moss gave him a look and he followed her through the gateway.
Peterson shifted on his feet and looked at Erika.
‘You okay?’ she asked.
‘What?’
‘Elsa, and what she said.’
‘You never get used to racism. It’s always there. Every day, in some shape or form…’
Erika nodded, and didn’t know what to say.
‘I wanted to talk to you, about something different. Not work,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘I should have told you straight away about Kyle and Fran… I tried to tell you the night we went to the club, but… I wimped out.’
‘After all these revelations. The fact you’re a father doesn’t seem so shocking now.’
‘If you put it like that…’ he said.
‘I can’t say I’m over the moon for you, James, but I’ll get there,’ said Erika.
‘OK.’
‘You always wanted kids, and you’ve been able to miss out on all the nappy changing…’
He shook his head.
‘Sorry, that came out wrong,’ she added.
‘It’s okay. I know what you mean.’ He smiled at her. ‘Are we cool? Can we be cool?’
‘Yeah. We can,’ she said. She was glad when his phone rang, and he indicated he had to take it. ‘Shall I meet you in the coffee shop?’
She nodded and watched him go off and answer the phone, a big smile on his face.
* * *
She stayed at the gate, smoking. The feeling of relief and elation washing over her that she had nailed a case. She wasn’t sure how long she was there, until she looked down and saw four cigarette butts on the ground.
‘Screw it,’ she said to herself. ‘It’s not every day you catch a murderer and a Nazi war criminal before lunch.’ She took out her packet of cigarettes and lit another. One of the uniformed officers came out of the house towards her.
‘Sorry to interrupt, ma’am. We think we’ve discovered the coat the murderer wore, stuffed under some floorboards. And there’s a gas mask. Both look to be encrusted with blood.’
‘I’ll be there in a second,’ she said. The officer went back in the house, and Erika took a moment to savour her success. A bird was singing, high in one of the surrounding trees, and she looked up at the bright sky, savouring the soft sound. She took a drag on the freshly lit cigarette, before stubbing it out on the bottom of her shoe and slipping it back in the packet.
Then she made her way back into the house.
* * *
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First of all, I want to say a big thank you to you for choosing to read Deadly Secrets. If you are picking up one of my books for the first time, or if you are back again for more Erika Foster, I would be very grateful if you would consider writing a short review. It needn’t be long, just a few words, but it makes such a difference and helps readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
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Robert Bryndza
* * *
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Also by Robert Bryndza
The Detective Erika Foster crime thriller series
Book 1 The Girl in the Ice
Book 2 The Night Stalker
Book 3 Dark Water
Book 4 Last Breath
Book 5 Cold Blood
Book 6 Deadly
Secrets
* * *
Standalone romantic comedy novels
Miss Wrong and Mr Right
Lost In Crazytown
The Coco Pinchard romantic comedy series
The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard
Coco Pinchard’s Big Fat Tipsy Wedding
Coco Pinchard, the Consequences of Love and Sex
A Very Coco Christmas
* * *
Coco Pinchard’s Must-Have Toy Story
The Girl in the Ice
Detective Erika Foster Book 1
Out now…
* * *
Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one.
* * *
When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.
* * *
The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.
* * *
What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?
* * *
As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.
* * *
The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?
* * *
Get it here
* * *
A page-turning thriller packed with suspense. If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter, discover Rob Bryndza’s new series today.
The Night Stalker
Detective Erika Foster Book 2
A chilling serial-killer thriller…
If the Night Stalker is watching, you’re already dead…
In the dead of a swelteringly hot summer’s night, Detective Erika Foster is called to a murder scene. The victim, a doctor, is found suffocated in bed. His wrists are bound and his eyes bulging through a clear plastic bag tied tight over his head.
A few days later, another victim is found dead, in exactly the same circumstances. As Erika and her team start digging deeper, they discover a calculated serial killer – stalking their victims before choosing the right moment to strike.
The victims are all single men, with very private lives. Why are their pasts shrouded in secrecy? And what links them to the killer?
As a heat wave descends upon London, Erika will do everything to stop the Night Stalker before the body count rises, even if it means risking her job. But the victims might not be the only ones being watched… Erika’s own life could be on the line.
The global bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice is back with a heart-racing, electrifying thriller. If you love Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter, you’ll be hooked on Robert Bryndza.
Watch out for more from DCI Erika Foster.
Buy here!
Dark Water
Detective Erika Foster Book 3
Get the third Erika Foster book here!
Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.
* * *
When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.
* * *
The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.
* * *
As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.
* * *
Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.
* * *
From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.
* * *
Buy it now
Last Breath
Detective Erika Foster Book 4
Out now!
* * *
He’s your perfect date. You’re his next victim.
* * *
When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case.
* * *
While she fights to secure her place on the investigation team, Erika can’t help but get involved and quickly finds a link to the unsolved murder of a woman four months earlier. Dumped in a similar location, both women have identical wounds – a fatal incision to their femoral artery.
* * *
Stalking his victims online, the killer is preying on young pretty women using a fake identity. How will Erika catch a murderer who doesn’t seem to exist?
* * *
Then another girl is abducted while waiting for a date. Erika and her team must get to her before she becomes another dead victim, and, come face to face with a terrifyingly sadistic individual.
* * *
Gripping, tense and impossible to put down, Last Breath will have you on the edge of your seat, racing to the final dramatic page.
* * *
Get it here!
Cold Blood
Detective Erika Foster Book 5
Out Now!
* * *
She fell in love with a killer, now she’s one too.
* * *
The suitcase was badly rusted, and took Erika several attempts, but it yielded and sagged open as she unzipped it. Nothing could prepare her for what she would find inside…
* * *
When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked. She’s worked on some terrifying cases but never seen anything like this before.
* * *
As Erika and her team set to work, she makes the link with another victim – the body of a young woman dumped in an identical suitcase two weeks ago.
* * *
Erika quickly realises she’s on the trail of a serial killer who’s already made their next move. Yet just as Erika starts to make headway with the investigation, she is the victim of a brutal attack.
* * *
But nothing will stop Erika. As the body count rises, the twin daughters of her colleague Commander Marsh are abducted, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Can Erika save the lives of two innocent children before it’s too late? She’s running out of time and about to make a disturbing discovery…there’s more than one killer.
* * *
Brilliantly gripping, Cold Blood will have you hooked from the first page and holding your breath to the heart-stopping and shocking ending.
* * *
Out Now!
Miss Wrong and Mr Right
Deadly Secrets: An absolutely gripping crime thriller Page 28