A Killing Karma (26 page)
Surprised but
thankful that she had decided to tell them what had really happened, Casey
realized he should have got on to the truth before now. He suspected it had
been Catt's comment about the Olivers not sleeping together that had led him
astray in his thinking. Well, that and Mary Clarke's false testimony about the
Monday morning when Oliver's body had been found dumped in the alley. He had
lost his open mind about the case somewhere along the way, too, probably owing
to the many distractions the commune murders had brought. The separateness of
the Olivers' sleeping arrangements must have infected his subconscious and
steered him away from suspecting her. But their shadow investigation into the
commune murders had eventually turned his thoughts around on the case, the
evidence against Dylan Harper being the clincher. Just because one person in a
relationship goes astray and sleeps with someone else doesn't mean they're not
still sleeping with their regular partner. As he'd finally realized in the
Olivers' case.
It was later,
when Mrs Oliver had been cautioned, removed to the police station and her
formal statement taken and signed, that Casey and Catt allowed themselves a few
moments of relaxation.
‘So what put
you on to the answer?’ Catt asked as he sat down.
'I suppose it
was the commune inquiry and the fact that Dylan had contracted a disease and
tried to conceal just when he caught it,’ Casey replied. ‘And then Mrs Clarke
struck me as too adamant in her evidence. It was clear she had had no liking
for Oliver. I wondered what she was hiding. It made me think. These two cases
have been entwined in my head for days, going around and around and tying me in
knots for so long that it took me longer than I liked to get around to the
“what if?” scenario on our official case. What if, I finally thought, someone
in our official investigation had done something similar? Only instead of
muddying the waters about when they had caught a particular disease, they made
it seem as if they hadn't been in a position to catch the disease at all, hence
the separate
A KILLING
KARMA ON AMAZON.FR
A KILLING
KARMA ON AMAZON.FR
. Now that Alice Oliver has made her statement Mrs Clarke
has admitted that they had indeed shared a bedroom. They only moved Oliver's
clothes and other belongings to one of the spare rooms once Mrs Oliver had
killed him. Doubtless DNA tests on the bedding will confirm it. Anyway, once I
asked myself that question, others followed: which of the women in the case
would be most keen to conceal such a shameful thing — the promiscuous women who
were Oliver's lovers, or his reserved wife who had put up with his infidelities
for years? As Mrs Oliver said, it was a humiliation too far.’
Casey propped
himself on the corner of his desk and said, ‘By the way, ThomCatt, I've got a
little present for. you.’ He put his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a
packet of Durex. He kept his face straight as he added, ‘You can never be too
careful. Especially given
your
lifestyle.’
‘Touché,
boss.’ Catt twitched the packet from Casey's fingers. ‘Always grateful for
contributions to my love life. And, after these two cases, I might even use
them.’
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A KILLING KARMA
Enjoying a
week's well-earned holiday, DCI 'Will' Casey's peace is shattered by a call
from his mother. Two dead bodies have been found at the Fenland commune where
his hippie parents, Moon and Star, live.
On arrival,
Casey learns that neither death has been reported — not surprising, when it
emerges that the body of the first victim was found lying on top of their
crushed cannabis plants and had already been buries for two months.. And the
body of the second victim was lying on a board and trestles in an outhouse,
surrounded by candles and showing signs of violence.
The commune
members seem to expect Casey to sort out their little problem without calling
in the local constabulary — an expectation too far, in Casey's book. He is
determined that, for once in their lives, his parents are going to take
responsibility for their own actions.
As if that's
not enough, Casey is also called upon to solve a very unpleasant murder on his
own patch of King’s Langley: this time a John Doe found dead in a dark alley.
With the help of his knowing sergeant, Thomas Catt, and his assorted contacts,
Casey must try to get to the bottom of both official and unofficial cases.
Neither proves easy.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Chapter
One
Chapter
Two
Chapter
Three
Chapter
Four
Chapter
Five
Chapter
Six
Chapter
Seven
Chapter
Eight
Chapter
Nine
Chapter
Ten
Chapter
Eleven
Chapter
Twelve
Chapter
Thirteen
Chapter
Fourteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Chapter
Sixteen
Chapter
Seventeen
Chapter
Eighteen
About
the Author
TITLES BY GERALDINE EVANS
Rafferty and Llewellyn procedural
series
Dead Before
Morning
Down Among the
Dead Men
Death Line
The Hanging
Tree
Absolute
Poison
Dying For You
Bad Blood
Love Lies
Bleeding
Blood on the
Bones
A Thrust to
the Vitals
Death Dues
All the Lonely
People
Death Dance
Deadly Reunion
Kith and Kill
Casey and Catt procedural series
Up in Flames
A Killing
Karma
Standalones
Reluctant
Queen: Historical Novel About the Little Sister of Henry VIII
The Egg
Factory: International Crime and Mystery Suspense
Land of
Dreams: Romantic Novel
REVIEW FOR A KILLING KARMA
'Another solid
procedural leavened with a dash of quirky characters.’
KIRKUS REVIEWS
REVIEWS FOR GERALDINE EVANS’
OTHER NOVELS
UP IN FLAMES
#1 in the
Casey & Catt procedural series
'Well
researched. Intriguing plot. Good pace. Excellent characterisation and wry
humour make this a very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.'
MYSTERY WOMEN (NOW MYSTERY
PEOPLE)
DYING FOR YOU
‘Evans brings
wit and insight to this tale of looking for love in all the wrong places.’
STARRED REVIEW FROM KIRKUS
‘It’s bad
enough being suspected of a double murder, worse still when it’s your alter ego
being pursued and it’s the pits when you are the policeman in charge of
supposedly catching yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed Dying For You, the sixth in
the series. A lot of humour is injected in Rafferty’s narrative. He’s got
himself in an impossible situation and one wonders what can go wrong next. I
savoured this book and am keen to read the rest in the series asap.’
EUROCRIME
THE HANGING TREE
‘Great book! A
wonderfully entertaining read. All the clues are there, set out honestly and
fairly, yet the identity of the killer still comes as a surprise. I got one of
those "of course - I should have known!" moments at the denouement.
Crime writing at its best.’
JAMES GRACIE
ABSOLUTE POISON
‘Well, this
was a real find. Geraldine Evans knows how to make a character leap off the
pages at you.’
LIZZIE
HAYES, MYSTERY WOMEN
‘An
ingeniously constructed plot, deft dialogue, well-drawn characters, and a few
humorous touches, make this an enjoyably intriguing read.’
EMILY MELTON, BOOKLIST
Geraldine
Evans has had twenty novels published, eighteen of them by traditional
publishers (Macmillan and St Martin’s Press, amongst others). Her popular
Rafferty & Llewellyn police procedurals were her first series. A Killing
Karma is the second novel in her Casey & Catt procedural series.
Her other
publications include one historical novel, a contemporary medical thriller, a
romance and articles on a variety of subjects, including, Historical Biography,
Historical Places, Writing, Astrology, Palmistry and other New Age subjects.
She has also written a dramatization of
Dead Before Morning
, the first
book in her Rafferty series and a sitcom,
Jamjars,
set in a vehicle
repair workshop, which is awaiting offers. (Cockney rhyming slang: Jamjars =
cars).
Geraldine is a
Londoner of Irish extraction, but now lives in Norfolk, England, where she
moved in 2000.
You can learn
more about Geraldine Evans and her novels at:
You can read
her Blog at:
Geraldine
Evans' Blog
Geraldine Evans’ Other Novels on
Kindle
Rafferty & Llewellyn
procedural series
Dead Before Morning #1
Amazon UK
: http://amzn.to/114K3eh
Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/ToGN88
Detective
Inspector Joseph Rafferty is investigating his first murder since his
promotion. What a shame the victim is a girl with no ID, no face and no
clothes, found in a place she had no business being – a private psychiatric
hospital. With everyone denying knowing anything about the victim, Rafferty has
his work cut out, so he could do without his Ma setting him another little
problem: that of getting his cousin ‘Jailhouse Jack’ out of the cells. Although
he has no shortage of suspects, proof is not so plentiful. It is only when he
remembers his forgotten promise to get his cousin out of clink that Rafferty
gets the first glimmer that leads to the solution to the case.
Down Among the Dead Men #2
Amazon UK:
http://amzn.to/U5LmTs
Amazon US:
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When beautiful
Barbara Longman is found dead in a meadow, uprooted wild flowers strewn about
her and, in her hand, a single marigold, Inspector Joe Rafferty at first
believes the murder may be the work of the serial killer over the county border
in Suffolk. But then he meets the victim’s family – and, after liaising with
the Suffolk CID, he rapidly comes to believe that the killing is the work of a
copycat… one much closer to home, someone among the descendants of the
long-dead wealthy family patriarch, Maximillian Shore. Everyone, it seems, had
a motive: Henry the grieving widower; the victim’s brother-in-law, Charles
Shore, the ruthless tycoon; Henry’s first wife, the Bohemian Anne, who has lost
the custody of Maxie, her teenage son, to the saintly Barbara. Even the
long-dead patriarch, Maximillian Shore, seems, to Rafferty, to have some
involvement in the murder, though how, or why, Rafferty doesn’t understand
until he finally grasps the truth behind the reasons for the killing. A truth
sad and dreadful and which had been evident from the start, if only he had had
the eyes to see.
Death Line #3
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Trailer
: http://bit.ly/TXlc31
Jasper Moon,
internationally renowned ‘Seer to the Stars’, had signally failed to foresee
his own future. He is found dead on his consulting-room floor, his skull
crushed with a crystal ball and, all, around him, his office in chaos.
Meanwhile, Ma
Rafferty does some star-gazing of her own and is sure she can predict Detective
Inspector Joe Rafferty’s future.— by the simple expedient of organizing it
herself. She is still engaged on her crusade to get Rafferty married off to a
good Catholic girl with child-bearing hips. But Rafferty has a cunning plan to
sabotage her machinations. Only trouble is, he needs Sergeant Llewellyn’s
cooperation and he isn’t sure he’s going to get it.
During their
murder investigations, Inspector Rafferty and Sergeant Llewellyn discover a
highly incriminating video concealed in Moon’s flat, a video which, if made
public, could wreck more than one life. Was the famous astrologer really a
nasty sexual predator? Gradually, connections begin to emerge between Moon and
others in the small Essex town of Elmhurst. But how is Rafferty to solve the case
when all of his suspects have seemingly unbreakable alibis?
The Hanging Tree #4
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http://amzn.to/QEouO4
Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/RY0aBj
Trailer
: http://bit.ly/UHOGES
‘The original
crossroads used to run by here,’ Sam told Rafferty. ‘Legend has it that this
was the old Hanging Tree.’
When Inspector
Rafferty first hears the report that a bound and hooded body has been seen
hanging from a tree in Dedman Wood, he dismisses it as a schoolboy hoax,
especially when police at the scene find nothing out of the ordinary.
But his
anxiety rises sharply when the witness turns out to be a respectable local
magistrate, who identifies the corpse as Maurice Smith, a man once accused of
four child rapes. Thrown out on a legal technicality, Smith’s case had become a
cause-célèbre
which had generated much ill-feeling within the community.
Rafferty and
Sergeant Llewellyn visit Smith’s home — to discover he has mysteriously
disappeared. And in his flat they find a threatening letter, and fresh
bloodstains…
Then the body
turns up again in the woods. Could there be a self-appointed executioner at
work, meting out his own form of justice on the legendary Hanging Tree?
Absolute Poison #5
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Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/QEnXLY
Detective
Inspector Joseph Rafferty is having a bad week–two pensioner suicides already
and he can’t help feeling trouble comes in threes. Also niggling in his mind is
the fact that Llewellyn, his posh sergeant, has bought a ‘bargain’ suit from
Rafferty’s mother. Sure to be stolen goods, the suit is bound to drop Rafferty
in it when the holier-than-thou Llewellyn wears it on his wedding day, with the
promise of a gimlet-eyed Superintendent Bradley in attendance.
Rafferty’s
first premonition turns out to be accurate when a company manager is found dead
at his desk. The tyrannical Barstaple had known full well that he was hated by
most of the office. But did he really deserve to be poisoned? And so horribly.
Rafferty
thinks his week has been trying enough. But then someone else is poisoned and
from bad to worse becomes worse again. And when you take the ‘bargain’ suit
into the equation, the week really has gone to Hell in a handcart. And taken
Rafferty with it.