Hunted on the Fens Read online

  HUNTED ON THE FENS

  A gripping crime thriller full of twists

  (DI NIKKI GALENA BOOK 3)

  JOY ELLIS

  First published 2016

  Joffe Books, London

  www.joffebooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events 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. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this.

  ©Joy Ellis

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  http://www.joffebooks.com/contact/

  THERE IS A GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH SLANG IN THE BACK OF THIS BOOK FOR US READERS.

  AVAILABLE NOW

  DI Nikki Galena Book 1

  CRIME ON THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  https://www.amazon.com/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/

  A NEW CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER

  DI Nikki Galena Book 2

  SHADOW OVER THE FENS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  https://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/

  TWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST?

  Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . .

  And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . . .

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  THREE MONTHS LATER

  DI Nikki Galena Book 1 and 2

  Character List

  Glossary of English Slang for US readers

  CHAPTER ONE

  DS Joseph Easter’s eyes snapped open. Instantly he was wide awake and experiencing a rush of automatic reactions left over from his years as a special ops soldier.

  His ears strained for sounds that shouldn’t be there. He sniffed the air for unexpected smells and his eyes systematically checked the moonlit bedroom. When he was certain that he was still alone, he noted the time on his backlit radio alarm and forced himself to relax. It would appear that old habits died hard.

  Joseph sat up and pushed the duvet off. Okay, so it wasn’t an enemy insurgent, but something had woken him, and a feeling of unease was clinging to his skin like a film of oil.

  Without putting the light on, Joseph padded across the wooden floor to the window, and keeping back a little, carefully surveyed the area around his home.

  Knot Cottage sat close the edge of the estuary of the River Wayland, in a remote part of the Cloud Fen Marsh. He had been told that way back, it had been an eel-catcher’s cottage, and from the odd paraphernalia of traps and baskets that he had found in a decrepit stone shed, he thought this was probably true. One day he would trace the old place’s history, but right now crime was on the up in the Fenland Constabulary’s area and spare time was hard to come by.

  He looked across the small, tidy garden and along the river bank, but nothing other than the deep flowing water moved. Joseph’s narrowed eyes followed the lane across the marsh to where Cloud Cottage Farm could be seen clearly under the quick-silver light of the moon. It was some quarter of a mile up the lane and was the only other property for miles. He stared at the outline of the old farmhouse, and saw a thread of pale, wispy smoke drifting up into the night sky.

  Immediately he stiffened. Earlier that evening he had called in to see Nikki Galena at Cloud Cottage Farm, and the fireplace in the sitting room had been cleaned out. No new fire had been laid. It was late spring and as she was not reliant on the open fire for hot water, there would be no more logs brought in until autumn.

  Joseph scrambled across to an old oak dressing chest on the other side of the room, pulled open a drawer and grabbed a pair of binoculars. They were good quality, expensive, and gave him bright, clear night vision. He hurried back to the window, trained them on Nikki’s home and adjusted the sights.

  ‘Shit!’ A flickering glow rose, faded, then rose again, this time a little brighter than before, and it was in the outbuilding nearest to the house itself.

  Swearing again, Joseph threw himself across the bed and grabbed his phone. The first call was an emergency call to the fire service, and the second, directly to Nikki Galena.

  As he waited for her to answer, he dragged on a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt and jammed his bare feet into his shoes. ‘Come on! Come on!’ He cursed, then as he heard a sleepy voice answer, yelled, ‘Get out of the house, Nikki! There’s a fire in one of the outbuildings. I think it’s the garage. Fire service is on the way.’ He raced down his narrow staircase. ‘And so am I. Just get yourself outside.’

  As soon as he was satisfied that she was awake enough to understand the danger she was in, he rushed outside and sprinted full pelt up the track. He could have taken the car but he was in good shape and could be there by the time he’d found his keys and manoeuvred his vehicle out of the yard. He knew that Nikki would have sprung into work mode the moment his urgent voice had dragged her from her slumbers. Nikki was not only his neighbour, she was his boss and best friend. Detective Inspector Nikki Galena was the head of his CID team at Greenborough Police Station. She was an outspoken, tough woman who didn’t tolerate slackers, but she always led by example, and although her reputation didn’t make her the most popular officer on the force, she was fair, and a damned good copper to boot. Most of all, she had earned the respect of her team, and every one of them would have walked barefoot over hot coals for her.

  As he sprinted round the side of the old farmhouse he saw Nikki, clad in oversized pyjamas and a towelling dressing gown, spraying water from a garden hose against the garage door.

  ‘Thank God I left the car outside last night!’ she yelled across to him. ‘That would have gone up like a rocket! She’s got a full tank too.’ She pointed to the side of the stone outbuilding. ‘There are a couple of rain barrels down there. Grab a bucket and help me to damp down the woodwork. If we can just soak everything around it, it’ll contain it until the firemen gets here.’

  Joseph started dowsing the wooden window frames with water. ‘It’s got a pretty good hold!’

  ‘Damn right it has.’ Nikki’s face screwed up in anger and concern. ‘What the hell happened here? What could have caught fire?’

  ‘It’s usually electrics,’ called
back Joseph. He listened as the crackling inside the old building intensified. ‘Nikki! I think we need to get back! Have you got anything in there that could act as an accelerant?’

  ‘Paint cans, white spirit, aerosol sprays, all the usual rubbish that you stuff into your garage.’ She jammed the hose through a piece of trellis and left it playing onto the door. ‘You’re right, Joseph. The words discretion and valour spring to mind right now.’

  Together they moved back to a safe distance, dragging anything vaguely combustible with them.

  ‘It can’t be electrics,’ muttered Nikki, as they heaved a decorative carved garden seat to safety. ‘I had all the outbuildings rewired just before winter set in.’ She looked at him worriedly. ‘Remember? I was planning on turning the red-brick store into a home gym?’

  Joseph nodded. ‘You could still get a glitch. A short or a power surge through a defective connection of some kind?’

  ‘If that’s the case, I’ll sue the pants off the bloody electrician,’ growled Nikki. She looked at him and bit her lip. ‘Hell, Joseph, just pray that this doesn’t reach the house.’ The bite on the lip intensified. ‘I don’t have much left to hold onto anymore. If my home goes as well, I . . .’ She shook her head and her words faded into silence.

  Joseph felt a rush of compassion. One so strong that it seemed as if someone had sucker-punched him, and if he had let it, it would have filled his smoke-filled eyes with real tears.

  Only two weeks before, Nikki had buried her only daughter, Hannah. Her own mother had died years ago, and her father was in a nursing home suffering from dementia. Joseph glanced up at the beautiful old farmhouse that was her family home, and realised just how much it meant to her. He put his arm around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze. ‘Your home will be fine, I promise.’

  ‘And how can you possibly say that?’ Her voice was like a small child’s, with no trace of the confident grittiness that Joseph was so used to hearing.

  He smiled at her. ‘Because, my revered and worshipful Boss, I see blue lights! Trumpton are here to save the day!’

  * * *

  An hour later, Joseph, Nikki and Aidan Barber, the fire chief, stood outside the charred mess that had been her garage.

  ‘How the hell do you guys fathom out how a fire starts?’ asked Nikki. ‘Look at the state of this place!’

  They all looked at the steaming, waterlogged and carbonised junk that puddled and littered the stone floor.

  ‘Oh, this isn’t too bad at all.’ Aidan laughed dryly. ‘It’s hardly a conflagration!’ His smile disappeared. ‘But it could have been. It was damned lucky that you saw the smoke, DS Easter. It wouldn’t have taken many more minutes to have spread to the other outbuildings and the house itself. Spark showers have already ruined the exterior paintwork.’ He looked at Nikki seriously. ‘You had a close shave, DCI Galena. And in answer to your question, a good fire investigator could tell you what had happened even if there were only ashes left.’ He stepped closer to the gap that had once held two sturdy wooden doors. ‘Look. You can see the path that the fire has taken.’ He pointed up to the blackened shards of ceiling beams. ‘It’s called burn-pattern analysis. See, the heaviest area of burning is over there, which is where I believe the fire started, and its direction of travel was towards the door.’

  Joseph looked at the burned material on the far side of the garage. ‘That’s where the fuse box is located, isn’t it?’

  Aidan nodded. ‘Yes, but I’m making no assumptions just yet. I learned a long while ago never to make snap decisions. Only evidence will provide the right answer, and that’s why I’ve called in one of our investigators.’

  Joseph nodded. ‘Good.’ He tried to sound positive for Nikki’s sake, but privately wondered if the chief was calling in the investigator because he suspected foul play.

  ‘Is it safe now?’ asked Nikki cautiously.

  ‘Don’t worry. We’ll not leave until we’re sure there are no hot-spots.’ He threw her an apologetic look, ‘But I’m afraid your night is pretty well ruined. I’d prefer it you didn’t go back into the house until we’ve done a thorough safety check. Not that you’d get too much sleep anyway with my boys and girls crashing around.’

  ‘Come back to my place. I think you need a cuppa, or maybe something stronger.’ Joseph looked at Nikki’s drawn face. Today was to have been her first day back at work after losing Hannah. Now it looked like she would be ordering a skip and trying to clean up the yard.

  ‘Sorry, but what I need is a bloody shower. I look like I’ve done a double shift at the coal face!’

  ‘I know Knot Cottage is small and full of quaint original features, but strangely enough it does have hot running water.’ He tried to lighten the situation. ‘And if the chief won’t allow you to go in and grab a change of clothes, you can always borrow one of my sweaters and some joggers.’

  ‘I’ll take you up on the shower, but as you are well over six foot, I’ll pass on the offer of raiding your wardrobe.’ Nikki gave him a tired grin. ‘But thanks all the same.’

  ‘I’ll escort you inside to get some things,’ said the fireman. ‘Just to be sure you are in no danger.’

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Nikki and Joseph were walking slowly down the lane towards the river and his home.

  ‘Thank God for insomnia.’ Nikki slipped her arm through his. ‘Or have you suddenly developed a talent for clairvoyance?’

  Joseph carried a large bulging sports bag that Nikki had hurriedly filled with assorted clothes and toiletries. ‘Neither. Something woke me, and the old squaddie reflexes still kick in. I automatically checked the perimeters for incoming rebels.’

  ‘And this time it wasn’t a fox making a sortie on your rubbish bins?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know what it was. But I saw the smoke purely by chance.’

  The grip on his arm tightened, and he had the feeling that she had just had the same thought as him. What if . . . ? He decided to change the subject.

  ‘There’s an awful lot of stuff in this bag. The chief said you’d be back in by morning.’

  ‘I’ve brought everything I’ll need for work, just in case the fire crew are still thundering about in my flower beds.’

  Joseph looked at her with surprise. ‘You’re still going to work? But what about . . . ?’ He indicated over his shoulder to the farmhouse.

  ‘You don’t think I’m going to clear that mess up, do you?’ She gave a short laugh. ‘Tomorrow, after I’ve contacted the insurance company, I’ll phone Phil Maynard and tell him to put his son and his mini-digger on red alert. He’s always on the lookout for building jobs, and as soon as I get the go-ahead, he can see if it’s worth renovating, or whether it will have to come down.’ She slowed her pace, then looked up at him. ‘I need to be back at work, Joseph. I can’t stay at home brooding. Hannah’s gone, and I have to find a way to move on.’ She ran a grubby hand across her smoke-stained forehead. ‘My career is all I have left now. The best that I can do is to give it one hundred per cent.’

  ‘You’ve always given your all,’ said Joseph gently. ‘Even when things were close to intolerable for you, you never let the job suffer.’ Just for a moment he felt sad, not for Nikki’s grief, but for the fact that she had said she had nothing left other than the force. As they walked he realised, somewhat to his surprise, that he felt hurt. Because she had more than her job. She had him. They might not be an item, but they had gone through hell and high water together in the last four years, and they were close. Closer than many of the married couples that he knew. Closer than some families, and certainly closer than work colleagues.

  ‘I just can’t believe that I’ll never see my girl again.’ Nikki was staring out along the shadowy and seemingly never-ending salt marsh. ‘I keep thinking that she’s still in the hospital, that I should go visit her, that I should ring and check on her. Yesterday I found myself downloading a track from one of her favourite boy bands onto her MP3 player.’ She shook her head in
despair. ‘After all she’s been through, after years of fighting for life, I cannot believe that it was something as simple as a cold virus that killed her.’

  They’d been over this so many times in the last few weeks that Joseph was scared his replies were beginning to sound like empty platitudes. There was nothing he could say to bring her comfort, so he just squeezed her arm.

  ‘Do you know what someone said to me at the funeral?’ Nikki’s voice was full of disbelief. ‘This woman, some distant cousin, said it must be so much easier for me because Hannah had been in a coma! Easier! Can you believe that? She reckoned I’d lost her years ago, that I’d done most of my grieving when she first collapsed.’ She shook her head from side to side. ‘I wanted to hit her. And keep on hitting her.’ There was raw emotion in her voice now, as anger and pain collided. ‘There was not one day, Joseph, in all that time, when I didn’t believe that there might be a miracle for Hannah. Not one single day.’

  ‘I know.’ There was a lump in his throat, and he hoped that she hadn’t noticed. He had a daughter too. One that he believed he had unintentionally let down. Now he was desperately trying to build bridges and discovering just how deep old wounds could go and that healing them wasn’t easy. He loved his daughter and would move heaven and earth to make things right again, but he wasn’t sure that he could have done all that Nikki had done for Hannah.

  ‘And if I hear the words, blessed relief, just one more time, I’ll scream. It isn’t a relief, its pure agony! Maybe we couldn’t go shopping together, or even have a damned good argument like we used to, but at least I could talk to her, hold her hand, run my fingers through her hair.’ She kicked angrily at a stone and watched as it skittered down the track ahead of her.

  Joseph allowed her to rant. They had an agreement. It had been formed years back when things got uglier than they had any right to be. No secrets, no professional faces, no facades and no lies. He was the only one that Nikki could be Nikki with, warts and all. And the same went for him.