Final Beat of the Drum


 Contents
 Cover
 Also by Sally Spencer from Severn House
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Dedication
 Part One: Goodbye-Ee
 Part Two: The Drowning Woman
 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
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Part Three: A Happy Ending
 Author’s Note
 Also by Sally Spencer from Severn House
 The Jennie Redhead mysteries
 THE SHIVERING TURN
 DRY BONES
 DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS
 The Monika Paniatowski mysteries
 ECHOES OF THE DEAD
 BACKLASH
 LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER
 A WALK WITH THE DEAD
 DEATH’S DARK SHADOW
 SUPPING WITH THE DEVIL
 BEST SERVED COLD
 THICKER THAN WATER
 DEATH IN DISGUISE
 THE HIDDEN
 DEAD END
 POISON
 THE FINAL BEAT OF THE DRUM
 The Inspector Woodend mysteries
 DANGEROUS GAMES
 DEATH WATCH
 A DYING FALL
 FATAL QUEST
 The Inspector Sam Blackstone series
 BLACKSTONE AND THE NEW WORLD
 BLACKSTONE AND THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
 BLACKSTONE AND THE GREAT WAR
 BLACKSTONE AND THE ENDGAME
 Novels
 THE COMPANY
 THE FINAL BEAT OF THE DRUM
 Paniatowski’s Last Case
 
 Sally Spencer
 
 
 
 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
 
 
 First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,
 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE.
 Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 This eBook edition first published in 2022 by Severn House,
 an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 severnhouse.com
 Copyright © Alan Rustage, 2023
 All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of Alan Rustage to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
 A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
 ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-5064-5 (cased)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0707-4 (trade paper)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0706-7 (e-book)
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental.
 This eBook produced by
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 Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland
 For Kate Lyall Grant – an outstanding editor/publisher and an all-round lovely person.
 PART ONE
 Goodbye-Ee
 Goodby-ee! Goodbye-ee
 Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee
 World War One song
 Wednesday, 3 July, 1985
 In the public bar of the Drum and Monkey, Monika Paniatowski glanced around the table at the two men and one woman who were no longer her team.
 Directly opposite her sat Inspector Colin Beresford, who, even in middle age, was a formidable melding of muscle and bone. He had been at Paniatowski’s side for what, to both of them, seemed like forever, but actually only dated back to the time that she had been a detective sergeant and he a detective constable. Louisa (Paniatowski’s adopted daughter) called him Uncle Colin. At Whitebridge police headquarters, however, he had a nickname which was much less avuncular and referred to the more-than-active sex life he led after he’d lost his virginity at the comparatively late age of thirty-one. The name clung to him (like wet swimming trunks) even after he’d settled down, and would probably travel with him to his grave, so that when people who’d known him read his tombstone, they’d find their lips silently forming the missing word, ‘Shagger’.
 To Beresford’s left sat DS Kate Meadows. Neat, petite and elfin-like, she gave the impression that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but those who crossed her quickly learned that she had a gaze intent enough to strip away skin.
 And then there was Jack Crane.
 Handsome Jack!
 Dashing Jack!
 One-eyed Jack!
 Had Colin Beresford been caught in Jack’s situation, he would never have lost an eye. When he’d seen that the woman rushing at him had a screwdriver in her hand, he’d have dropped her immediately. But gentle Jack – gallant Jack – had hesitated before hitting the woman, and that hesitation had cost him not just his eye, but also his career.
 They’d all been her team, Paniatowski thought, and she would always be proud of them.
 Even the table they were resting their elbows on was part of the team. It had been at this table that she and Charlie Woodend had worked on their first murder case together, and when she had stepped into Charlie’s shoes, she had brought her own team here. Over the years, the rest of the furniture in the bar had been changed several times, but this table – scarred by cigarette burns, stained by spilled ale – had remained. There had never been a reserved sign on it, because that hadn’t been necessary. The regular patrons – who took pride in the nerve centre of the operation being in their local – would see to it that no casual drinker invaded DCI Paniatowski’s territory.
 Monika caught herself sighing. The table would not survive their departure for long, she thought, because if there were not two pints of best bitter, a still orange and a Polish vodka resting on it, it would no longer have a function.
 ‘Well, this feels more like a wake