SHADOW OVER THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of suspense Read Online Free Page A

had seemed so . . . she tried to find the right word, so normal.
    ‘Who is he, ma’am?’ asked Niall softly.
    Nikki straightened up, and took a deep breath. She might be a hardened police officer, but a shock was still a shock. It was just that she knew how to deal with her emotions quicker than others. ‘Martin Durham, of Knot Cottage, Buckledyke Lane, Cloud Fen. He lives alone on the edge of the marsh. As far as I know there is only his sister to notify. Both his parents are dead and he was un-married. The sister’s name is Elizabeth. She lives with her partner somewhere in Old Bolingbroke.’ She turned to the police constable. ‘And I want to be the one to go out to his cottage. Sergeant Easter and I will go directly after we’ve finished here.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am, I’ll radio it in straightaway.’ Niall Farrow scrambled back up the wet steps to where his crewmate waited.
    Nikki stared from the greenish waters of the River Wayland, up to where WPC Yvonne Collins was leaning over the wall, her hand outstretched to Niall. Yvonne’s keen policeman’s nose had been right. Maybe something terrible in Martin’s life had driven him to kill himself, but he would never have done it in such a manner to cause suffering to others, especially children. She might not know him intimately, but she knew him better than most.
    ‘Right, well, we’d better get a SOCO down here, then let uniform to sort out recovery.’ She looked intently at Joseph. ‘I am going to be so interested in what the post-mortem shows, especially the toxicology report.’

CHAPTER FOUR
    As Nikki drove the familiar marsh lanes towards Cloud Fen, she knew that something had changed forever. Knot Cottage had always been simply ‘Martin’s place.’ That was what the local villagers called it. Half of them would be hard-pressed to tell you its postal address.
    ‘So what was this guy like?’ asked Joseph.
    ‘Dependable. Help anyone. Loved the marshes.’ Nikki saw a picture in her mind of her peeling and weather-beaten garden gate, and wasn’t sure if she’d ever have the heart to get it painted again.
    ‘But still a bit of a loner?’
    She frowned. ‘Not really. Yes, he lived alone and he didn’t talk about himself much, but he joined in with village stuff. And he was a regular at the Wild Goose.’
    ‘Forgive me for saying, but where exactly is this ‘village’ you keep mentioning?’
    Nikki smiled and slowed down as a long-eared hare bounded out into lane ahead of her. ‘Ah, well, Cloud Fen Village is kind of scattered, and there’s not much of it anyway. It’s like so many of these outlying communities, the cottages are few and far between, the post office that doubled for the corner shop, was closed years ago, and all that’s left is the chapel, with a service every third Sunday in the month, and the Wild Goose.’ She watched as the hare dashed off into one of the great potato fields that edged the road. ‘Frankly, we are lucky to still have the pub, the way things are going.’
    ‘It is kind of yokel-ish, isn’t it?’
    ‘Careful, Town-Boy! You’re talking about the place where I was born!’
    ‘Sorry.’ Joseph hung his head in mock shame. ‘Do we go past your place?’
    ‘Cloud Cottage Farm? No, we turn off just before it. But you can see it from Martin’s. It’s only a short way back across the marsh.’
    ‘I wonder what will happen to the cottage?’
    Nikki wondered too, but before she could answer her radio call sign blared out.
    ‘A silver Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4 registered to Martin Durham has been found abandoned not far from the church, ma’am.’
    ‘Abandoned?’
    ‘Seems that way, ma’am. We’ve had reports of the same car being driven erratically a few minutes prior to Durham entering the church. One witness says it looked as though he were having some kind of seizure, contorted face and all that.’
    Nikki slowed to negotiate a corner, then said ‘Okay, just get the car to the pound and secure it. I