The Llandudno Pier Killings

The Llandudno Pier KillingsA Ruth Hunter Crime Thriller #14 Simon McCleave Contents UntitledAlso by Simon McCleaveUntitledUntitledUntitledPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27UntitledChapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 38Chapter 39Chapter 40Chapter 41Chapter 42Chapter 43Chapter 44Chapter 45Chapter 46Chapter 47Chapter 48Chapter 49Chapter 50Chapter 51Chapter 52Chapter 53Chapter 54Chapter 55Chapter 56Chapter 57Chapter 58Chapter 59Chapter 60Chapter 61Chapter 62Chapter 63Chapter 64Chapter 65UntitledUntitledUntitledUntitledAcknowledgments THE LLANDUDNO PIER KILLINGS By Simon McCleave A DI Ruth Hunter Crime Thriller Book 14 Also by Simon McCleave THE DI RUTH HUNTER SERIES #1 The Snowdonia Killings #2. The Harlech Beach Killings #3. The Dee Valley Killings #4. The Devil’s Cliff Killings #5. The Berwyn River Killings #6. The White Forest Killings #7. The Solace Farm Killings #8. The Menai Bridge Killings #9. The Conway Bridge Killings #10. The River Seine Killings #11. The Lake Vyrnwy Killings #12 The Chirk Castle Killings #13 The Portmeirion Killings THE DC RUTH HUNTER MURDER CASE SERIES #1. Diary of a War Crime #2. The Razor Gang Murder #3. An Imitation of Darkness #4. This is London, SE15 THE ANGLESEY SERIES - DI LAURA HART (Harper Collins / AVON Publishing) #1. The Dark Tide #2. In Too Deep #3. Blood on the Shore No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a purely fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. First published by Stamford Publishing Ltd in 2023 Copyright © Simon McCleave, 2023 All rights reserved Created with Vellum Your FREE book is waiting for you now! Get your FREE copy of the prequel to the DI Ruth Hunter Series NOW http://www.simonmccleave.com/vip-email-club and join my VIP Email Club For Sian, Ben, Cass and Imogen xx Prologue Llandudno beach March 2021 It was dawn. Apricot light marked the curved line of the horizon where a whitening sky met the inky sea out to the east. The wind picked up a little, making a soft, low humming noise as though it was preoccupied by something more pressing. The tide was out. Small waves slid almost noiselessly in the distance. The uneven coastal path was bordered with yellow-flowered Ribbed Melilot and Sea Mayweed which grew among the sand and shingle. The perfect tranquillity was fractured by the sudden squawking of gulls overhead who hovered and banked on the airstreams coming inland over the sea. A hundred miles to the north was the Isle of Man, and two hundred and fifty miles to the west was Dublin. The beach was nearly two miles long and lay neatly sandwiched between the looming headlands of the Little Orme and the Great Orme. To one side of the bay, pastel-coloured cable cars would be spending the day gliding silently up to the summit of the Great Orme – nearly 700 ft. Tourists could take in stunning panoramic views of Llandudno Bay and the Conwy Estuary. Stretching out in front, the seaside resort of Llandudno, located on the Creuddyn Peninsula and jutting out into the dark Irish Sea. Translated as Church of Saint Tudno, Llandudno was the largest seaside town in Wales. There was a wide curving Victorian promenade, known as the North Shore. It was flanked by huge white Victorian buildings such as the Queen Victoria Hotel. It had been built back in 1848 when a Liverpudlian architect, Owen Williams, persuaded the major landowner in Llandudno, Lord Mostyn, to develop the town into a holiday resort. Within only a few years, it had become a popular seaside destination for visitors from Liverpool, Manchester and even as far as the West Midlands. Andrew Thomas, early 70s, was taking his usual early morning stroll along Llandudno beach with his black Labrador, Jack. Andrew, a retired primary school headteacher, had been born and brought up in Wrexham. Having taken early retirement in his late 50s, Andrew and his wife Sheila had travelled the world before settling on the North Wales coast. Taking a wet stick in his hand, Andrew tossed it into the air and then watched as Jack skittered noisily away, his paws throwing up wet sand as he ran. As far as he was concerned, this was the perfect start to the day. Over on the promenade, he spotted a man in his 20s riding an old-fashioned bicycle, complete with straight handlebars and even a basket. Andrew concluded that the young man must be what a newspaper article he had read described as, a hipster. If he could remember correctly, they wore skinny jeans, had beards and loved all things organic. He was sure there were more things that identified a hipster but his memory wasn’t what it once was. The bicycle looked so out of place and old-fashioned in the 21st century. Andrew remembered studying for his degree in history at the University of Durham. In those three short years in the early 1970s, he had studied wars, rebellions, famines, the rise and fall of empires and the endless cruelty of the ruling classes. He had written his final year thesis on the outdated notion of ‘great men’ in history. The idea that visionary, forceful men could shape a whole nation’s fortunes. Everyone from Napoleon to Caesar, Charlemagne to Stalin. His professor had described his work as naïve and contentious, but he had still gained a 2.1 degree. However, what Andrew had managed to conclude from his work was that there was no correlation between great power, success and wealth, and great happiness and contentment. Those who ‘achieved’ in the narrow terms of the 20th century were mostly