Where the Bodies Lie

WHERE THE BODIES LIEDI ROB MARSHALLBOOK TWO ED JAMES GREY DOG BOOKS CONTENTSOther Books By Ed JamesI. Out of the ShadowsChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11II. Out of the GroundChapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 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 65Chapter 66Chapter 67Chapter 68Chapter 69Chapter 70Chapter 71Chapter 72Chapter 73Chapter 74AfterwordAbout the AuthorOther Books By Ed JamesMarshall Will Return InEd James Readers Club OTHER BOOKS BY ED JAMESDI ROB MARSHALL SCOTTISH BORDERS MYSTERIESEd’s first new police procedural series in six years, focusing on DI Rob Marshall, a criminal profiler turned detective. London-based, an old case brings him back home to the Scottish Borders and the dark past he fled as a teenager. THE TURNING OF OUR BONESWHERE THE BODIES LIEA LONELY PLACE OF DYING (31st July 2023)Also available is FALSE START, a prequel novella starring DS Rakesh Siyal, is available for free to subscribers of Ed’s newsletter or on Amazon. Sign up at https://geni.us/EJLCFSPOLICE SCOTLANDPrecinct novels featuring detectives covering Edinburgh and its surrounding counties, and further across Scotland: Scott Cullen, a rookie eager to climb the career ladder; Craig Hunter, an ex-squaddie struggling with PTSD; Brian Bain, the centre of his own universe and bane of everyone else’s. Previously published as SCOTT CULLEN MYSTERIES, CRAIG HUNTER POLICE THRILLERS and CULLEN & BAIN SERIES. DEAD IN THE WATERGHOST IN THE MACHINEDEVIL IN THE DETAILFIRE IN THE BLOODSTAB IN THE DARKCOPS & ROBBERSLIARS & THIEVESCOWBOYS & INDIANSTHE MISSINGTHE HUNTEDHEROES & VILLAINSTHE BLACK ISLETHE COLD TRUTHTHE DEAD ENDDS VICKY DODDS SERIESGritty crime novels set in Dundee and Tayside, featuring a DS juggling being a cop and a single mother. BLOOD & GUTSTOOTH & CLAWFLESH & BLOODSKIN & BONEGUILT TRIPDI SIMON FENCHURCH SERIESSet in East London, will Fenchurch ever find what happened to his daughter, missing for the last ten years? THE HOPE THAT KILLSWORTH KILLING FORWHAT DOESN’T KILL YOUIN FOR THE KILLKILL WITH KINDNESSKILL THE MESSENGERDEAD MAN’S SHOESA HILL TO DIE ONTHE LAST THING TO DIEOther BooksOther crime novels, with Lost Cause set in Scotland and Senseless set in southern England, and the other three set in Seattle, Washington. LOST CAUSESENSELESSTELL ME LIESGONE IN SECONDSBEFORE SHE WAKES PART ONE OUT OF THE SHADOWS CHAPTER ONE THE SHADOW MANTen Years AgoG etting dark. Cold, too. The day’s been bitter, but mercifully still. On any other evening, the bright sun and cool air would’ve made him rejoice in being alive. The smell of the freshly cut grass on the banks of the path. The distant lapping of the lake, slower and heavier than usual.Now, though, his focus was on what he couldn’t see. What he couldn’t hear.He’d fucked this right up.Got overconfident. Arrogant.Useless prick. Useless.No.Distant footsteps. Regular and fast. Left, right, left, right. A runner.The hazy darting of a head torch, scanning the path through the woods.Was it him, though?He crouched low and grabbed the cord in his hands, twisting it around as he waited.Watching.Listening.Smelling.‘Come on, you can do it.’ Gasps, deep and strained. ‘Not long now.’Half a mile until the car park – this was the home straight of a twenty-mile run. To some that would be impossible to conceive of; to others it’d be a trivial warm-up.He waited.Waited.Waited.Nobody else around, just one car in the car park, his own two miles down the road, hidden behind some trees. Nobody would know he was here.The runner was speeding up now, using those final few calories stored away to power through the last gasp of the run.And the head torch’s glow was enough to show the face.It was him.Definitely.Now!He pulled the end of the cord and hauled the line up to neck height. Snapping tight, then shaking, then tight again.Invisible in the darkness.‘Come on, you’ve—’ The runner caught the thick cord in the throat and flipped over, landing on his back. His head cracked against the hardcore path.He let go of his end of the cord and picked up the heavy rock, then walked over. Calm, cool, analysing.The runner was lying on his back, moaning. Struggling for breath. The torch now lay over to the side, shining at him, lighting up his face. His throat looked like something out of a butcher’s window.He hefted the rock up above his head and crashed it down onto the runner’s skull.Blood smeared the side of it. He chucked it away and it rolled off into the woods.The runner just lay there. Eyes wide open. Dead.Sometimes it was like that – too easy.He reached into his pocket for his pouch and unzipped it. The compartments flapped open and he grabbed a roll of duct tape. Took a few seconds to find the end, but he soon gagged the runner. Might have snuffed it, but he didn’t want the dead man telling any tales.One cable tie secured his wrists behind his back, nice and tight. The other snapped around his ankles. A nasty looking gouge on his left. Maybe that explained why the runner was so slow, why he’d arrived here a lot later than scheduled – let doubt creep in, that the plan was a mistake.He put the bag back then grabbed the runner’s shoes and dragged him off the path and up the embankment’s thick clods of grass, then through the gap in the dying nettles towards the trees.He didn’t know how long he was dragging him, because all he could think about was what was in his pocket. What he was going to do.He almost missed it, but the tang of freshly dug earth hit his nostrils and snapped him to the present.The shallow grave was deep enough to fit a human being.He pushed the corpse in and stood back, admiring his work. Even let out a sigh.It felt good.The body moved.What the fuck?‘Mmf! Mmmmf! Mmf! Mmmmmmmmf!’Still alive.Well, that