Silent Fear (37 page)

Adelina’s slice of lemon was still in the cup and Ella levered it out with a fork then sniffed the water. Too lemony. She tipped it down the sink, dropped the lemon back into the cup and waited for the kettle to boil again.

The arrest of Novak hadn’t been the only big break: late that afternoon Trina Fowler had come into the office. First she’d handed over Paul’s mobile which had been missing since the day of the murder and which she’d found tucked in the bottom of a laundry basket in Carl’s house that morning, then she said she believed he had more to do with Paul’s death than he’d admitted.

‘What makes you think that?’ Ella had asked in the interview room.

‘A couple of weeks after the funeral we were in bed.’ She’d coloured a little. ‘I was talking about Darcy crying herself to sleep and how the house still felt empty without Paul there even though he’d been gone for weeks before he died. Carl said something about moving in himself, how he could be the man I’d always wanted and look after me like I deserved. His tone made me cringe. I looked over at him and could see that he was smiling at the ceiling. He looked so smug. And I thought of how he’d behaved at Paul’s funeral and since, how he’d seemed almost happy under his supposedly sad face.’

It was far from concrete evidence but Ella had added it to the mental pile. At least she could arrange a nice confrontation over his lying about Paul Fowler’s phone. ‘What made you come in today?’

‘He shouted at Darcy and smacked her when she spilled her juice,’ Trina had said, steely-eyed. ‘I told him not to, and he looked me right in the face and smacked her again. Nobody does that to my child. I want him charged.’

The thought of little Darcy being hit had made Ella’s blood rise. They’d gone out to pick him up right away, but so far hadn’t been able to locate him.

‘We will,’ Ella had said to Trina. ‘We’ll make sure of it.’

The kettle sang. Ella poured the water on the lemon again, arranged the cups on a tray around a plate of shortbread biscuits, and took it into the living room. The television was off, the white sheet draped over the framed pictures on the wall, the slide projector filling the room with its smell of hot dust.

‘The lemon,’ Adelina said with alarm.

Ella put down the tray and scooped out the slice with a teaspoon. She handed cups to her parents, who were in the armchairs facing the mock screen, as Adeline tasted hers. ‘It’s very hot,’ she said.

‘Get on with the show,’ Franco said cheerily, brushing biscuit crumbs from his shirt front.

Adelina picked up the remote and pressed the first button. ‘So here we are on the lido deck getting ready to depart. See the bit of the Harbour Bridge in the corner?’

Ella sighed, then her phone buzzed with a text.

‘Work,’ Netta said. ‘Of course.’

‘You can’t go,’ Adelina said. ‘I’ve been waiting weeks for these slides to be processed.’

Franco helped himself to another biscuit. ‘We could just watch TV again.’

Ella went into the kitchen to read the text in peace.

Callum here
, it said.
Wondering if you fancy a coffee?

She emptied her cup in the sink and went back into the lounge room, a thrill running through her. ‘It’s work,’ she said. ‘I’m really sorry, but I have to go.’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my agent Selwa Anthony, publisher Cate Paterson, editors Bri Collins and Nicola O’Shea, and everyone else at Pan Macmillan, especially sales, marketing, and publicity.

For advice on various procedural and technical questions, thanks to Leigh Redhead, Karen Davis, Adam Asplin, Tony Donnelly, Mel Johnson, Alan Smith, Grant O’Brien, Peter Watt and Pam Walker.

Thanks to the winner of the Queensland Writers Centre ‘Writers on Rafts’ flood fundraiser in the Character Name category, Louise Brooks.

Thanks to all my family, especially Benette.

And, dear reader, thanks to you.

Katherine Howell is a former ambulance officer. Her award-winning and critically acclaimed Detective Ella Marconi series is published in multiple countries and languages. She lives in Queensland with her partner and is currently working on the sixth Marconi book.

www.katherinehowell.com

Also by Katherine Howell

Frantic
The Darkest Hour
Cold Justice
Violent Exposure

MORE BESTSELLING FICTION BY KATHERINE HOWELL, AVAILABLE FROM PAN MACMILLAN

Katherine Howell
Frantic

In one terrible moment, paramedic Sophie Phillips’ life is ripped apart – her police officer husband, Chris, is shot on their doorstep and her ten-month-old son, Lachlan, is abducted from his bed.

Suspicion surrounds Chris as he is tainted with police corruption, but Sophie believes the attack is much more personal, a consequence of her own actions.

While Chris is in hospital and the police, led by Detective Ella Marconi, mobilise to find their colleague’s child, Sophie’s desperation compels her to search for Lachlan herself. She enlists her husband’s partner, Angus Arendson, in the hunt for her son, but will the history they share and her raw maternal instinct lead to an even greater tragedy?

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‘Compelling drama from the author whose career as an ambulance officer gives the tale an unnerving ring of truth’
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The Darkest Hour

Paramedic Lauren yates stumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley – the killer still lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him – he’s Thomas Werner, her sister’s ex and father to Lauren’s niece . . . and not a man to mess with.

But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back.

Ella knows Lauren is the perfect witness, but when Lauren tries to change her statement, Ella realises that Lauren is hiding something. The harder she digs into the paramedic’s past, the more Lauren resists, and the worse the threat from Werner becomes.

Will Ella’s investigation put her career on the line? Can Lauren keep her family safe? or will they all – Ella included – pay the ultimate price?

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Cold Justice

The past haunts the present . . .

Nineteen years ago teenager Georgie Daniels stumbled across the body of her classmate, Tim Pieters, hidden amongst bushes. His family was devastated and the killer never found.

Now political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened and Detective Ella Marconi assigned to the case. She tracks down Georgie who is now a paramedic. She seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more? And is it mere coincidence that her ambulance partner, Freya, also went to the same high school?

Meanwhile, Tim’s mother suddenly turns her back on the investigation yet his cousin, the MP whose influence reopened the case, can’t seem to do enough to help.

The more Ella digs into the past, the more the buried secrets and lies are brought to light. Can she track down the killer before more people are hurt?

‘A murder, a secret and a detective who won’t let go – Cold Justice has pace, precision and a wonderful sense of place.’
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Violent Exposure

When Suzanne Crawford is found stabbed to death and her husband Connor is discovered to be missing, it looks like domestic violence to Detective Ella Marconi. But as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. Why is there no record of Connor Crawford beyond a few years ago? Why has a teenager who worked for the pair gone missing too? Is trainee paramedic Aidan Simpson telling the truth about his involvement? And above all, what was the secret Suzanne knew Connor was keeping at all costs – even from her?

As Ella begins to build a picture of the Crawfords’ fractured lives, things around her are deteriorating. Her relationship with a fellow officer is hanging by a thread and her parents are keeping secrets of their own. But Ella only has time for the job she loves, and she knows she has to see her way through the tangled web of deceit and lies to get at the truth – before it’s too late.

‘Roars off at a high-adrenal pace and seldom takes its foot off the pedal . . . A born storyteller, Howell is an author to watch.’
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