Dive

DIVE A totally gripping, breathlessly twisty crime mystery JON BARTON Joffe Books, London www.joffebooks.com First published in Great Britain in 2023 © Jon Barton This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this. The right of Jon Barton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. We love to hear from our readers! Please email any feedback you have to: [email protected] Cover art by Nick Castle ISBN: 978-1-80405-020-0 CONTENTS Love Free Bestselling Fiction? 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 Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Love Free Bestselling Fiction? The Joffe Books Story A Selection of Books You May Enjoy Glossary of English Usage for US Readers Love Free Bestselling Fiction? Join our mailing list and get a FREE Kindle book from a bestselling author every week! Click here to join our mailing list and also get a free box set of short stories! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @joffebooks Chapter One Thank you for choosing this book. Join our mailing list and get FREE Kindle books from our bestselling authors every week! CLICK HERE TO GET MORE LOVELY BOOK DEALS The dead girl’s eyes were yellowed at the whites and staring at the sky as if she knew what was coming. ‘Pull closer,’ said David. The Ribcraft boat came about to the corpse, already drawing off on the ebb tide and catching the maelstrom made by the outboard engine. David Cade extended a long pole with a large plastic loop at one end and flopped it onto the water. Naomi Harding watched the loop catch the corpse around the neck, and grimaced as David wrestled the dead weight over the trim and onto the deck. She could see that a mane of flaxen hair was constricting the lifeless head and obscuring the victim’s face. David rolled the body so the dead girl lay on her back. Naomi wasn’t sure she liked the way he was manhandling her. Nevertheless she kept quiet. She had learnt that there was no respect for due process in this unit. The dead, she had discovered, received no special treatment. Naomi stood back and let David study the cadaver. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen death before, but all the same he seemed distracted. Naomi wished she understood why, but then, how well did she really know him? ‘Twenties,’ David guessed. ‘Possibly Northern European.’ Naomi looked at him before studying the corpse again. The girl was tall and her long hair fell tendrilled on the deck. Her skin was cold to the touch. Mud and exposure to the elements had cast her skin a bronze hue, and the acid copper stench of blood had bound with the ammonia smell of the blowflies drawn to the corpse. The heatwave meant scavengers were spoiled for choice that summer, as London burned under blistering blue skies. There had been no rainfall in weeks, and this Tuesday morning was no exception. It would take more than a breeze off the river to stir the stifling air. Naomi pinched at her wetsuit, her own sweat meshing it to the small of her back. By way of distraction, she stared into the dead girl’s eyes. They were discoloured in death and devoid of hope, as if her last thought was frozen in her eyes — she knew she was going to die. The victim was wearing a black dress that left her shoulders and collarbone exposed, but there were no signs of a struggle. Naomi threw a glance at David, their thoughts simpatico. It was impossible to drown an adult without leaving bruises because of their violent struggle for breath. David looked askance. Naomi pretended not to notice his hand shaking as he paused to light a cigarette, showing nothing of the interest that had gripped him only moments ago. ‘Hazard a cause of death?’ Naomi said. David shrugged. ‘No bruising. No petechiae, the hyoids look intact,’ Naomi continued. ‘No sign of ballistics, open or closed . . .’ David was watching the river. ‘Sergeant?’ He took a long drag before turning to face her. ‘What do you think?’ Naomi asked. ‘Does it matter?’ She eyed him with the forbearance she’d perfected over the last three months they’d been working together. ‘Humour me.’ Another long drag, before David flicked the butt so it vanished over the side. ‘It’s an overdose.’ He sounded even more inattentive than Naomi was used to. She eyed him carefully and asked, ‘How could you possibly make that call?’ ‘You ever seen a beam swinger in a cocktail dress?’ Naomi found herself holding her breath as she reeled from his answer. Coppers were known for dark humour, but nothing had prepared her for the callousness of the Marine Police. To David, she understood, it was merely a statement of fact. At forty-three years old, he outranked her both in age and experience, and his twelve years as a police diver had shown him the dark heart of the river. The Thames attracted suicide by its nature. She knew how quickly a person could go under, pulled down as if snatched by invisible hands. Drowning was a way to disappear without trace.