A Watery Grave (Karen Cady Book 1), Penny Kline [book recommendations for young adults txt] 📗

‘Did the early shift. Place was packed out with screaming kids. I’m just listening to some soothing sounds, trying to get rid of a headache.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll leave you in peace.’

He stuffed the headphones in his pocket. ‘Listen, I want to show you something.’

‘What?’

‘Wait and see.’ He set off fast, weaving his way between the passers-by.

Karen was slightly irritated that he had just assumed she would tag along, but the last thing she wanted was that he should think she was just a little afraid of going off with him. At the end of Barling Road he waited for her to catch up.

‘We’d better use the crossing. The traffic’s bad at this time of day. People coming away from the football.’

They were going in the direction of Arkwright Way and for a moment she wondered if Russell wanted to show her where Olive and Liam Pearce lived. But just before the cemetery they turned off the road and started climbing a steep path that led up to a part of the town Karen had never visited before.

The path continued for about a quarter of a mile. On the way Russell asked about her family and she told him she was an only child and her parents had split up.

‘When you were a baby?’

‘No, only a few months ago.’

‘What does your father do?’

‘Well, he used to be in the police but–’

‘Really?’ Russell laughed. ‘You’re a cop’s daughter, who’d have thought?’

‘He works privately now,’ she said, interrupting before Russell launched into the usual remarks people seemed to like making about the police. ‘He has his own detective agency.’

‘Really? So that’s why you’re so interested in the murder. Must be hereditary – wanting to poke your nose into other people’s affairs.’

‘You can talk,’ she said crossly, but he laughed and told her not to be so silly, he was only joking. ‘Take no notice, there’s no-one nosier than me.’

They had reached an open space that was strewn with litter. Old coke cans, crisp bags, fast-food containers, anything that didn’t disintegrate in the rain. At the end of the rough grass Karen noticed a wooden hut with boarded-up windows, and beyond the hut a high wire fence with the railway line on the other side.

‘Used to be a signal box or something,’ said Russell. ‘Natalie came here with her friends. There’s a padlock on the door but they put it there themselves. Managed to break off the old one, then fitted another and made copies of the key.’

‘Why would they want to come here?’

He grinned. ‘The thing about Natalie was she was just a big kid. Hated the idea of sitting at home every evening in front of the telly.’

‘But she had a baby.’

‘Oh, come on.’ He frowned. ‘Anyone can make a mistake.’

Karen shrugged. She didn’t like the way he was talking to her but she wanted to see inside the hut. ‘You’ve got a key, have you?’

‘Me? No, I’ve only been here once before. Natalie told me about the place but I had to work out for myself where it was.’

‘And this is what you wanted to show me?’

He stood on a plank of rotting wood. ‘You want to find out who killed her, don’t you? All right, it’s a long shot but what else can we do? Just being here, soaking up the atmosphere, might give us some ideas.’

Karen hesitated, wondering whether to tell him about the new File on Natalie she had drawn up to replace the notes stolen from her bag. She had been wondering who on earth would have wanted to hang onto the original file. Perhaps her first guess had been correct and whoever it was had no interest in Natalie Stevens, just wanted the file itself, but a nagging doubt remained in her mind.

‘I met Liam’s mother,’ she said. ‘The baby’s called Justin, he’s really sweet.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Russell was interested but he wasn’t going to show it. ‘Well, what d’you think? By the look of the ground no-one’s been here for months. Grass growing thick right up to the door. If we forced the lock–’

‘Shh.’ She took hold of his arm. ‘Over there by those trees.’

Someone was watching them. A tall figure in a dark coat – or had she imagined it?

‘What is it?’ said Russell. ‘You heard something?’

‘No, I saw a man.’ She had a moment’s uncertainty. ‘Well, it looked like a man. I suppose it could’ve been a tree, moving in the wind.’

‘Want me to have a look?’

She shook her head. ‘If there was someone he’ll have disappeared by now.’

‘Come on.’ He started walking towards the hut and on the way he picked up a rusty metal rod that was lying in the long grass. ‘Don’t know if it’ll be strong enough but I’ll give it a try.’

He pushed the bar through the padlock on the hut door and started twisting it round. It was useless. The metal rod bent but the padlock stayed intact.

‘This any good?’ Karen picked up a short length of wood.

Russell looked doubtful, but he took it from her hand, forced the wood through the loop and gave it a couple of hard yanks. At the third attempt the padlock fell to the ground and the door swung open on squeaky hinges.

As their eyes adjusted to the dark Russell let out a sigh of disappointment. Apart from a heap of blue plastic bags the place was empty.

‘What did you expect?’ said Karen. ‘If there were any clues they wouldn’t be staring us in the face.’

He stepped back, out into the daylight. ‘Useless without a torch.’

‘I don’t see why. We could pull the boards off the window.’

‘Right.’ His face brightened. ‘Good idea. Look, to be honest, Karen, I