No Escape (The Kent Fisher Murder Mysteries Book 8), page 27
“I know it’s not your thing, but your wife might enjoy it.”
The paperback, entitled Deadly Perfect, has a cover dominated by a muscular man with a square jaw and wild black hair in front of a lavish marina.
“The cover wasn’t my idea.” She takes the book and places it on the breakfast bar. “Blame my brother. Did I tell you he works for a publisher in Los Angeles?”
“That reminds me,” I say, wondering where I put the bag. “I still have the clothes you loaned me.”
“They’ll keep.” She slides back her sleeve to check an elegant silver watch. “Is Gemma ready?”
“She’s ... not feeling too good.”
Trudi nods. “It can’t be easy, knowing someone lost their life saving yours.”
Columbo races ahead, leading us down the stairs. Outside, Trudi reaches into her handbag and pulls out a memory stick. “I don’t know if you still want this. I can delete the contents, if you prefer. And in case you’re wondering, the photographs and videos are tame by today’s standards. No sex either.”
Though I’m happy for her to delete the files, Gemma’s words about being defined by her past prompt me to take the memory stick.
“You’ll find some photographs of your wife from the wedding.” Trudi pauses, as if she’s not sure how to continue. “Eddie Marshall must have taken them. He used them as part of an elaborate striptease routine, superimposing Gemma’s head onto another model’s body for the bulk of the sequence.”
Did the wedding striptease trigger Jackson’s desire for revenge?
DC Foster found a copy of the Gorgeous Gemma DVD at his house and hundreds of photos on his phone.
“I never thanked you properly for helping me that afternoon. You were a star, Trudi.”
“For someone who spends her time in an office, dreaming up wildly extravagant romances for impossibly perfect characters, it was rather exciting. My stories are so far removed from reality, it’s like I’m living in a fantasy world. Then you show up, like a hero from one of my stories.”
“I’m hardly a hero, Trudi.”
She links her arm through mine as we walk. “I’m sure your wife would disagree.”
I glance up at the bedroom window, hoping Gemma will be here when I return.
The End.
Thank you for reading No Escape. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. While I would love as many readers as possible to enjoy the story, I can’t reach them without your help. If you could spare a couple of minutes to post a review on Amazon, it will be greatly appreciated. A short sentence or two, explaining what you liked and why you enjoyed the story, or not, as the case may be, is all it takes. Thank you.
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If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me direct through my website, where you’ll also find details of how to connect with me on social media.
Author’s Note
One of the joys of writing this series is the continuing backstory involving Kent’s animal sanctuary, the women who come in and out of his life, and the characters around him. While the murder investigations will always remain at the heart of the novels, events in the backstory usually influence and affect Kent’s sleuthing. Recent investigations have shone a light into his past, but have barely ruffled the tight rein he keeps on his emotions. I felt it was time to explore his emotional side in more depth and reveal his vulnerabilities and doubts.
This was one of the many challenges that took me out of my comfort zone and made writing No Escape both exciting and demanding.
It was also the first time I would write a Kent Fisher story without Harvey, my beloved and much missed ‘little mate’, by my side (or usually asleep on the half landing). While he lives on as Columbo in the novels, I wasn’t sure how this would affect me and my writing. Apart from a few tearful moments, it was a chance to celebrate the joy and happy memories he gave me.
Out of all the characters in my stories, Columbo is the only one based on a real living being. The rest are products of my imagination. While they are fictitious, they’re like family to me and occupy many of my waking thoughts when I’m writing.
Downland, Tollingdon and the local authority area it serves in the South Downs in East Sussex are also products of my imagination. This allows me the freedom to use my knowledge and experience without treading on any toes, hopefully.
Acknowledgements
Thank you for investing your time and money in reading No Escape. If this is the first of my novels you’ve read, I hope you’ll want to go back to No Accident, the start of the series, and see where it all began. If you’ve been with me since the beginning, thank you for your support over the years. It’s what keeps me going, trying to give you the best murder mysteries I can.
My thanks go to Dawn Osbourne and Nick Flude, who gave me valuable and enlightening insights into the way the police take the initial enquiries at their Sussex call centre and investigate missing persons.
My editor Liz Bailey provides much more than a report on the story and the areas that need improvement. Her support, insights and advice ensure the novels are as good and polished as we can make them.
Jane Prior of String Design continues to translate my vague ideas into the covers for the books.
Kath Middleton has supported me since No Accident. She’s a fantastic beta reader with an uncanny knack of spotting all the errors, inconsistencies and vagueness that could spoil your enjoyment. Her support for me as a writer and in the promotion of my books through the UK Crime Book Club on Facebook is priceless.
My biggest thanks go to my wife and best friend, Carol, who has to put up with me living, breathing and thinking about my novels for months at a time. She’s also brilliant at spotting mistakes and inconsistencies, again helping to improve the story and make it as good as we can.
And finally, I couldn’t sign off without a smile, a tear and a nod to my adorable West Highland white terrier, Harvey, who will continue to live on in my memory and future novels in the Kent Fisher series.
Next in series
Talking of future novels, Kent Fisher will return in No Time to Waste, where he takes on his first assignment as a private investigator. However, the search for a missing Environment Agency inspector soon takes a sinister turn, plunging him into an unfamiliar world that is somehow feels all too familiar.
Books in the Kent Fisher murder mystery series
#1 – No Accident
#2 – No Bodies
#3 – No Remorse
#4 – No More Lies
#5 – No Mercy
#6 – No Love Lost
#7 – No Going Back
#8 – No Escape
Robert Crouch, No Escape (The Kent Fisher Murder Mysteries Book 8)
