The Hangman’s Hold: A gripping serial killer thriller that will keep you hooked

Adele stood up and went to the counter, tore off a few sheets of kitchen roll and dried her eyes. She loudly blew her nose and rubbed it red with the rough paper. ‘Murdered?’ she asked. ‘I don’t …? This doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Obviously I’ll have to wait for the results from Forensics and I’ll need to draft in a new pathologist, but I’m pretty certain he was murdered.’

‘Oh no. Oh God, no.’ Adele moved over to the sofa in the corner of the kitchen and slumped into it. ‘He was a lovely man. Why would anyone do such a thing? What was it, a robbery or something?’

‘I’ve no idea yet, Adele.’ Matilda frowned. Her mind started working in overdrive. Adele and Brian go out on a date; by the next morning one has been burgled and one has been murdered. Coincidence? ‘What can you tell me about him?’ Matilda asked, moving over to sit next to her friend.

‘I’m not sure really.’ Adele composed herself and ran her fingers through her knotted hair. ‘He’s not been back in England long. He’s been living in America. He’s from somewhere down south originally. Essex, I think he said.’

‘Any family?’

‘He didn’t say. There’s an ex-wife but no kids. I can’t believe it. I really liked him.’

Matilda’s phone started ringing, and she looked at the display. It was Aaron. ‘I’m going to need to take this.’

Matilda waited until she was out in the hallway before she answered, and then she kept her voice low.

‘Ma’am, I just want to let you know that I’ve found some photo ID and shown it to the neighbour. Forensics have removed the hood covering his face and it matches his passport.’

‘So it is the man who lives there then?’ Matilda asked, not wanting to say Brian’s name in case Adele overheard.

‘Brian Appleby, yes. The thing is, I’ve run his name through the PNC – the bloke’s a nonce.’

‘Sorry?’

‘He’s on the sex offender’s register. He got out of Ashfield Prison, in Gloucestershire, last year after spending eight years in prison for a series of sexual assaults on young girls.’

‘Bloody hell!’

Matilda ended the call and turned back to the kitchen. Through the gap in the door she saw Adele sitting on the leather sofa tearing the kitchen roll with shaking fingers. She looked up at Matilda with a tear-stained face and a swollen eye. She had seen her upset and sad in the past but now she seemed vulnerable. How could Matilda go in there and tell her the first date she had been on in more than twenty years was with a convicted sex offender?

Chapter Four (#u310d9ca7-58c7-5f38-ab02-035ea38ef6c4)

‘Why weren’t we told there was a sex offender living on our patch?’

DCI Matilda Darke was in her tiny, cluttered office with the door closed. DS Aaron Connolly was in front of her desk with a thick file in his hand.

‘I’ve no idea. According to this, when he was released from prison, he went back to his home in Essex, but was more or less forced out by the neighbours. He decided on a fresh start in Sheffield and informed Essex Police of his intentions. They were fine with him moving, probably just glad to get rid of him. He was in touch with his probation officer on a regular basis and did everything right.’

‘Until he came here and didn’t even bother informing us.’

‘That’s what it looks like.’

‘How long has he been out of prison?’

‘He was released in January last year.’

‘So how did he afford such a nice house in Linden Avenue?’

‘I’ve no idea, ma’am.’

Matilda looked past Aaron out into the incident room. The lack of officers was startling. It seemed unnervingly quiet too, though that probably had something to do with the absence of DC Rory Fleming who could frequently be heard above everyone else, even when the room was at full capacity.

‘Aaron, go back to his house and give it a thorough going over. I want to know everything about this Brian Appleby. What’s he been doing since last January? Why did he choose Sheffield? Talk to the neighbours – don’t mention he was a sex offender though – and find out what they know about him. What he did for a living, the usual stuff.’

‘Will do.’

‘Is that his police file?’ Matilda asked as Aaron was about to leave.

‘Yes.’

‘Leave it with me.’

He handed it to her. ‘I was thinking, Brian was a sex offender and his murder looks like an execution. Vigilante?’

‘I was thinking that myself,’ Matilda said, running her fingers through her hair. ‘But who knew he was here when even we didn’t?’

‘Maybe someone followed him up from Essex.’

‘It’s possible. I don’t like vigilantes,’ she said, turning to the window. She rolled her eyes at the uninspiring view. ‘They’re unpredictable, they’re violent, and there’s usually more than one victim.’

It was strange looking through the one-way mirror and seeing someone she knew sitting nervously in an interview room. Standing in the observation bay, Matilda watched Adele. Less than twenty-four hours ago she was in a restaurant with a charming man having a delicious meal and a pleasant conversation. Now, that man was dead, murdered, and Adele had been the last person to see him alive.

The door opened and the diminutive Assistant Chief Constable Valerie Masterson entered and joined Matilda. Still dressed in her overcoat and wearing a woollen hat a couple of sizes too big, she had obviously come straight from the car park.

‘I’ve just heard. How is she?’ Valerie asked, nodding towards Adele through the glass.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Who gave her that black eye?’

‘She surprised a burglar last night.’

‘Are the two connected?’

‘I don’t know. I doubt it. I’ll look into it, though.’

‘I hope you’re not intending on interviewing Dr Kean yourself.’ Valerie’s concern for Adele didn’t last and quickly turned to admonishment.

‘Of course not.’ I would have done if you hadn’t turned up.

‘Do I need to bring in someone else to run this investigation?’ Valerie asked staring intently at her DCI.

‘No. I’m more than capable of detaching myself.’

Valerie rolled her eyes, though Matilda didn’t see. She was fixed on Adele. ‘Matilda, I know the two of you are close. I don’t want your friendship getting in the way of a murder investigation.’

‘It won’t.’ Matilda turned to look at her boss. ‘I guarantee it.’