by Lin Anderson
‘Of course.’
Sean was still asleep when Rhona got back. With the heavy curtains drawn the room was dark, although outside dawn was already touching the university roof-tops. She had stopped at the lab on her way home and checked the swabs for saliva. It was there all right.
She left a note on the bench for Chrissy in case she got there first, giving her a brief history of the night’s events, then she headed home for a few hours’ sleep.
Rhona pulled her dress over her head, kicked off her shoes and slid under the duvet. She wrapped her chilled body round Sean’s. He grunted and moved his arm over to take her hand.
‘Okay?’ he mumbled.
‘Okay,’ she said, but he was already back asleep.
Rhona closed her eyes and tried to relax into his warmth. She had been at many murder scenes, some more horrible than the one tonight. Death didn’t scare her, not when it was reduced to tests and samples. But tonight was different. There was something about that particular boy. Something she hadn’t been able to put her finger on. Not until the Sergeant had put it into words for her, coming back in the car.
The boy who had been abused and strangled in that hideous little room looked so like her, he could have been her brother.
Click here to discover the rest of the Rhona MacLeod series from Lin Anderson.
The Killing Tide
LIN ANDERSON is a Scottish author and screenwriter known for her bestselling crime series featuring forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod. Four of her novels have been longlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year, with Follow the Dead being a 2018 finalist. Her short film River Child won both a Scottish BAFTA for Best Fiction and the Celtic Film Festival’s Best Drama Award and has now been viewed more than one million times on YouTube. Lin is also the co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Bloody Scotland, which takes place annually in Stirling.
By Lin Anderson
Driftnet
Torch
Deadly Code
Dark Flight
Easy Kill
Final Cut
The Reborn
Picture Her Dead
Paths of the Dead
The Special Dead
None but the Dead
Follow the Dead
Sins of the Dead
Time for the Dead
The Innocent Dead
The Killing Tide
NOVELLA
Blood Red Roses
First published 2021 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2021 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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EU representative: Macmillan Publishers Ireland Limited,
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-3370-0
Copyright © Lin Anderson 2021
Cover images: Boat: Earnest Tse/Getty Images; Cliffs: Bill Coster/Alamy.
Other images: Shutterstock
The right of Lin Anderson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Map artwork by Hemesh Alles
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