‘Surprisingly upbeat. They are happy to be home. Very clingy and cuddly. We’re going to have to see about getting them some counselling, perhaps, down the line, but they’re more upset about Nina Hargreaves… She did so much awful stuff, killed all those people, yet she’s the reason my girls are alive.’
‘She’s also the reason that your girls were kidnapped and that you are now two hundred grand worse off…’ Erika frowned. ‘Sorry. That came out wrong.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘The Devon and Cornwall Police recovered the body of a Dean Grover. It was where Nina said he was buried, in a well near the waterfall on the moor. His face had been battered with a rock… And Mariette Hoffman is going on trial in the new year.’
Marsh winced at the details of the case, then changed the subject.
‘How are you? I heard you went to visit Nils Åkerman.’
‘Yeah. I went for selfish reasons, to get closure, but I’m not sure closure works… I could forgive him for what he did to me, but he’s jeopardised so many past cases and convictions. And the irony is that he’ll probably be out in four or five years, depending on good behaviour.’
Marsh nodded and hovered by the back of the sofa.
‘Are you sure you don’t want a quick coffee, Paul?’
He shook his head and took a deep breath. ‘Marcie wanted to know if you are around on Christmas day.’
‘Me? Why?’
‘To come for Christmas lunch.’
‘To come to your house for Christmas lunch?’
‘Yes. I know you haven’t always seen eye to eye…’
‘We’ve never seen eye to eye, and after what happened...’
‘She’s so grateful to you for your part in saving the girls. She’s very emotional about that, and so many other things right now… But she says having you there would be nice, and the girls like you. And you know what she’s been through; she can talk to you about stuff. Her mum and dad are going to be there, but they always brush things under the carpet. You could just come for a sherry and a mince pie if lunch is too much… And she wants to apologise to you for what she said in front of all those officers about me and you…’
‘Do you want me in your house on Christmas day?’
‘Of course. We go way back, Erika.’
‘We do…’
‘So is that a yes?’
‘Yes.’
They stared at each other for a long time.
‘Good lord, look!’ Marsh cried, moving to the window. ‘It’s starting to snow!’
‘And I thought it wasn’t going to this year,’ said Erika.
She joined him at the window. Outside, the snow was whirling in huge flakes and settling on the dry ground. They stared out for a few minutes, watching in silence.
‘Well, I should be going back. It’s bath time for the girls,’ said Marsh.
‘Yeah.’
She walked him to the front door, and just as he left he kissed her lightly on the cheek.
‘Thank you, for everything. You mean a lot to me,’ he said softly.
Erika went back to the window, and watched as Marsh walked across the car park, through the whirling snow, back to his wife and children.
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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
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
A Note From Rob
First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Cold Blood. As always, this story has been a labour of love. It’s always nerve-wracking when a novel I’ve been working on for months and months goes out into the world. This is book five in the Erika Foster series, and with each book I feel a greater responsibility to readers to keep these characters alive and true to their beginnings. I take this responsibility very seriously, and I hope you enjoy reading.
I will add that while I like to use real locations in London, I have taken a few minor liberties with places and road names; apart from this, Erika Foster’s London is as real as the London you live in, or hope to visit. And if you do bump into Erika Foster when you’re there, do watch out for serial killers, they seem drawn to her!
So, this is the part when I ask if you did enjoy Cold Blood, please could you write a review and tell your friends and family. Reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations are so valuable to me. They make a huge difference, and help new readers discover one of my books for the first time.
I’d also love to hear from you! Drop me a line on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website, which you’ll find at www.robertbryndza.com. There are many more books to come, so I hope you’ll stay with me for the ride!
Robert Bryndza
www.instagram.com/robertbryndza
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!
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the wonderful team at my publisher Bookouture, and special thanks to my editor, Claire Bord. Working with you is a joy, and as always, your input and suggestions always make my books so much better. Thank you for giving me the creative freedom to write this series the way I want it. Thank you to my brilliant agent, Amy Tannenbaum. Thank you, as ever, to Henry Steadman for the stunning cover, and thank you to Sergeant Lorna Dennison-Wilkins for your help and advice on the effects of human remains being exposed to water.
Thank you to my mother-in-law, Vierka, for her love and support during the writing of this book, and to my amazing husband Ján for your love, support, and for always making me laugh and fighting my corner. And for walking the dogs.
I’ve talked about word-of-mouth in my author’s note, but I just wanted to add a thank you to my mum and dad, Pat and Brian Sutton – there, Mum and Dad, you are now in print! Thanks to them for recommending my books to so many people, friends and neighbours, people on the street, strangers on the train. And thanks for lending my books out to all those people who don’t have e-readers. They run the busiest unofficial lending library. Love you both so much!
And lastly, thank you to all the wonderful readers, book bloggers and book groups. Thank you for talking up and blogging about my books. Without you I would have far fewer readers.
Published by Bookouture
An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Robert Bryndza 2017
Robert Bryndza has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-78681-148-6
Cold Blood: A gripping serial killer thriller that will take your breath away (Detective Erika Foster Book 5) Page 30