COFFIN COVE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 1), JACKIE ELLIOTT [most recommended books txt] 📗

it seem like you’re nothing more than an unhappy employee, just pissed off that you’re not as important to the company as you once were — you know what I mean, right?”

“Ex-employee,” Brenda said, agreeing. “It was a mistake to resign, I suppose. Played right into Hilstead’s hands.”

“Not a mistake,” Harry reassured her. “You did the right thing. You already put yourself in harm’s way. Took a risk for the company.” He looked at Adrian, hoping that his expression conveyed his disgust. “Anyway,” he carried on, noting with satisfaction that Adrian hung his head, looking much like the young boy Harry remembered. “Here’s the plan. And this is where Terry comes in.”

* * *

“You’re sure this will work?” Harry asked Terry. They were sitting in Terry’s beaten-up Chevy van, parked across from Hades Fish Co.

“Course,” said Terry, grinning. “Relax man, I’m a pro. All Adrian needs to do is get Hilstead talking. All we need is him on the record. Once we have that, we’re golden.”

Harry still doubted it. He’d cleared off discarded coffee cups, unopened mail and fast food wrappers from the passenger seat, and now sat with the window down, trying to air out the stale smell of grease and old running shoes.

He wondered how Andi had met this guy. He wore a woollen hat pulled down over his ears and big metal-rim tinted glasses, making him look like a seventies throwback.

He seemed to know what he was doing, Harry supposed.

At Brenda’s, he’d been serious and reassuring. He’d shown Adrian what he needed to wear and how it worked.

“It’s not like the movies,” he’d said. “This is a tiny camera that transmits audio and pictures to my phone. It’s probably just like the system that Hilstead says he has in your offices.”

Adrian nodded. “What do I say? What do we need him to say?”

“Much the same as he did before. If you can get him to admit that Brenda was attacked, that he’s been trafficking drugs or any connection to Nguyen, if that’s who he’s working for — the more the better. But don’t push it. Just have the conversation, take the transfer papers and tell him you’ll talk to your father. We’ll see what we get. Hopefully, it’ll be enough.”

Now, Terry and Harry waited for Hilstead to show up. Adrian was waiting in his office. They could hear him talking to his staff.

“That’s really clear,” Harry said. “I can hear every word. Where’d you get all this stuff? Some kind of spy store?”

“Amazon,” Terry answered. “So, that Brenda — you banging her?” he asked matter-of-factly.

“No, I’m not!” Harry said, disgusted at Terry’s disrespect.

“What about Andi? Because I’d like . . . hang on, is that Hilstead?”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Steve Hilstead slapped his steering wheel as he waited for the traffic light to go green. He was fuming. Mad at himself. He’d fucked up. He’d meant to leave the gun with Captain Roberts’s body on the beach. Make it look like a suicide. The man was sad enough, would’ve made sense that he’d wanted to blow his pathetic fucking brains out.

But Steve had been so hyped up, so stoked to get an opportunity to do the job at the beach, instead of in Roberts’s apartment like he’d planned, that he had totally forgotten to wipe down the gun and put it in the captain’s dead hand.

Now there was another murder for police to investigate. And he couldn’t be sure if Roberts had kept any documents or anything that connected them both. And there was that reporter. Would Roberts have been stupid enough to say anything? How had she found him?

Someone in a car behind him honked a horn. He looked up to see the light had changed.

“Fuck you,” he said out loud, and hit the accelerator.

Steve’s adrenaline was flowing. He needed to calm down, think clearly.

“Prioritize,” he said to himself.

Paul Nguyen was his main problem. Dunn had made it clear that Steve had to deliver Hades Fish Co. in a few days. If that didn’t happen, Steve knew that nothing else would matter, it would all be over. Nguyen didn’t fuck around.

Steve pulled into a parking spot outside the offices of Dunn and Grant Associates. He ignored the parking meter, and went straight in. Before he could introduce himself, and explain why he was there, the receptionist handed him an envelope.

“Your documents, Mr Hilstead,” she said, and for some reason, it unnerved him.

He tried not to think about it and drove straight to Adrian’s office.

The atmosphere at Hades Fish Co. seemed subdued. Amy and her new colleague barely looked up when Steve came in.

Adrian’s fucking sulking, he thought. After their last meeting, he must have had a tantrum and upset the girls. Steve hoped that Adrian hadn’t been blabbing. This needed to go smoothly.

Adrian was in a belligerent mood. Argumentative. He scowled at Steve when he sauntered in and shouted for coffee.

“Shut the door,” Adrian said rudely to Amy when she brought Steve his coffee. Amy practically ran out and slammed the door.

“What’s the matter with you?” Steve said, easing back into the armchair.

“I got the letter back from Brenda,” Adrian said. He was still sitting behind his desk, Steve noticed, twirling a pen nervously in his hand.

“Oh yes?” Steve said, not taking his eyes off the pen. “Did she sign it?”

“Yes, but what if she saw more than you think? Where was she when you . . . well, when it happened? What if she remembers all this?”

“If she signed the letter, you needn’t worry about any of that,” Steve said calmly. “She’s gone now. We have something more important to do.”

He threw the envelope on the table. “Here are the documents you need to get Nikos to sign.”

“How am I going to get him to do that?” Adrian asked. “What should I say? ‘Hey, don’t