Whisper For The Reaper Jack Gatland (interesting books to read txt) 📖

side. She had the same hooded jacket on, and this was enhanced by a large pair of Bose over ear headphones, most likely to drown out the cafe’s own music. Walking over, Jess ensured that Prisha saw her before she made any movements or said anything. The last thing she wanted was to spook a possible asset.

Of course, Prisha wasn’t an asset. They’d only spoken once, but at the same time you used an asset. Jess wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of manipulating anyone.

Prisha looked up from the laptop and smiled when she saw Jess. Pulling off the headphones, she indicated for Jess to sit.

‘Wasn’t expecting to see you back so fast,’ she said, closing the laptop.

‘I’m not interrupting you, am I?’ Jess asked, nervously.

‘Nope, just finishing an essay,’ Prisha grinned. ‘In a way, you’re saving me, so thank you. You still trying to get your money back?’

Jess swallowed. ‘Look, I wanted to speak to you, well all of you, really,’ she explained. ‘I lied to you when I said Nathanial had owed me money. I needed to get some kind of ‘in’, and that worked.’

‘Yeah, we guessed that,’ Prisha nodded. ‘No offence, but you’re like twelve. Nathanial only asked people for money when he didn’t think they were opening their piggy banks to get it.’

‘I’m almost sixteen!’ Jess exclaimed angrily.

Prisha laughed.

‘I knew that’d get a rise from you,’ she said. ‘But the fact still counts. He’d only ask students he knew. And you’re what, two years below us?’

‘Maybe,’ Jess admitted. She was one year into her GCSEs, while Nathanial had just started the equivalent of six form college that year. ‘Yeah, I suppose so.’

‘So why the lie?’ Prisha leaned back, observing Jess. ‘You don’t seem the type to be a thrill seeker. And I can’t see a school newspaper being into this.’

‘My dad’s running the case,’ Jess replied. ‘I suggested I speak to Nathanial’s friends because a forty-year-old man doesn’t get far, you know?’

Prisha frowned. ‘What do you mean, case?’ she asked. ‘I mean, Nate killed himself, right?’

Jess stopped. She couldn’t really say anything about this, as it still wasn’t public knowledge, but at the same time, she’d used the friendship that these people had with Wing to her own advantage. Nervously, she swallowed.

‘Look, I could get into trouble for telling you, but it’s likely to hit the news soon, anyway. We think Nathanial Wing is one of more than a dozen people who have been forced to kill themselves by a serial killer,’ she explained. ‘We were trying to link Wing to several suspects that we had. The news I gained about him owing money to a German helped us lead to a stolen hard drive which linked us to a possible German man.’

‘A man?’ Prisha was surprised at this. Jess nodded, confused.

‘Yeah,’ she replied. ‘What am I missing? Leon said that he heard the voice.’

‘Yeah, I was here, remember?’ Prisha leaned closer. ‘But Leon never mentioned a dude.’

‘Sure he did—‘ Jess started, but then, clear as day, she remembered the moment.

‘Voice on the phone had a strong accent. Couldn’t miss it.’

He’d said voice. At the time, they were looking at a male suspect. She’d simply assumed they were the same.

‘It was a woman’s voice?’ she asked softly. Prisha nodded.

‘After you left, Leon was a little bigged up,’ she said. ‘Having you believe him made him cockier, so he told us more about it. Seems that Nate met a German woman a couple of weeks back, who promised to pay him money for a job. Real James Bond stuff. But Leon never learned what it was, and half of what Nate said was always bollocks, anyway. We just took it that Nate owed her money, but he was trying to make a thing about it.’

‘And he never mentioned a man?’ Jess could feel an icy shiver running down her spine. Prisha shrugged.

‘Nope, not to us,’ she said, finishing her coffee. ‘Just that this woman had contacted him through some shady contacts he knew in Berlin or something.’

Jess looked away as she worked this through in her head. If Nathanial Wing was known as a hacker by people in Berlin, then Rolfe would know of it. And as his assistant, so might Ilse. She’d definitely have access to the reports. And, in the middle of nowhere in the English countryside with a hard drive that needed to be hacked, she’d have been overjoyed to find a hacker in the area.

But why did Rolfe meet with Nathanial Wing?

Rising from the table, Jess thanked Prisha, already returning to her essay, and ran out of the cafe, hoping to catch the next bus home before it was too late.

Billy sat in the Library, but in reality the whole of The Olde Bell was his kingdom, as he still had the log in details for the CCTV. And, as he waited for people to return from their various meetings, he couldn’t help himself. He flicked through the cameras, very much in a bored voyeur kind of way. There weren’t cameras in the bedrooms, so it was mainly the corridors and the bars, but there was a little thrill of being able to watch people as they went on with their lives, unaware that they had a witness to their every action.

He’d stopped in the main bar though; sitting at a side table by the window was Ilse Müller, reading a book. She seemed at peace, but that was likely because her brother wasn’t there. It was late morning; Rolfe was probably walking around the crypt at the Priory again. It’s all he seemed to do right now. Billy clicked through some more cameras, looking to see if Rolfe was inside or even outside the pub, and stopped as he saw a figure walk up to the main entrance of The Olde Bell, his stride quick, determined and angry.

‘Shit,’ he whispered as he grabbed his phone, dialling quickly. As he waited for it to connect, he followed the figure through