The Keeper of Secrets: A London Crime Thriller (Detective Chief Inspector Arla Baker Series Book 2)

The enthralling second episode of the Arla Baker Series

A teenage girl lies dead in Clapham Common, with a note attached to her body:

Ask Inspector Arla Baker what happened.

The girl was the American Ambassador's son, and the family demand answers. As the pressure grows on Arla, so does her sense of unease as she digs deeper into the investigation.

Who is trying to frame her for this murder, and why?

As dark secrets from her own past come to the fore, so does the blood thirsty killer. He strikes again, taking the life of another teenage girl. Soon, Arla knows this maniac will not stop at nothing until she gives herself up.

But has she left it too late?

If you like James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Lisa Regan, Angela Marsons, then you will love the Arla Baker Series!

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CHAPTER 1
Brixton
South London
Gary was a nice nickname for himself, and he liked it. Gary watched the two girls spill out of the brightly lit pub. They giggled and hugged each other, almost falling. The bouncer at the door steadied them with an arm, muttering something inaudible. One of the girls, the taller one, threw her head back and laughed. The light spilled off her rich, brown hair, glittering. She wore a short, pink dress, showing off her bare, long legs in high heels. The dress had a sliver of sequins in the middle, and they caught the light and winked. Gary knew her name: Madeleine. Maddy for short. Her friend was called Maya. They were both seventeen and a half, and they had fake IDs to get them into pubs. It worked, as they looked a lot older. Gary knew about this, because he had been following the girls for a long time. He knew what classes they took at their school, when they met behind the bike shed for a fag and quick snog with a boy, and who they met after school. He knew how long it took them to return home on the bus. Gary liked to know these things. He liked to plan.
The summer night was warm, the glow of the full moon suffusing the air with silver light. There was a dim hubbub of voices and cars, the eternal drone of the city’s life, incipient beneath the surface. The sound of crickets buzzed from nearby Brockwell Park. Gary watched the two girls as they lit up fags, inhaling smoke as they tottered on their heels, their backs lit up by the garish light from the pub doors. They laughed raucously, obviously drunk. Gary was lying flat behind a clump of bushes at the edge of the park opposite. He could see the girls clearly. They tossed their cigarettes away, and had a hushed conversation. Gary tensed himself.
The girls turned, and waved and blew kisses at the bouncer. The shorter girl, Maya, went back inside the pub. Maddy, the taller girl, turned and weaved her way down the street, heading for the T-junction, where a bus stand awaited her. Gary breathed faster and slowly stood up. Weeks of planning had led to this moment. He enjoyed the plotting, but the real pleasure lay in the execution. He flitted from tree to tree, brushing himself down. He had to be clean before he stepped out onto the road. The road was long and quiet, lit at regular intervals by limpid pools of light from the lamp-posts. Apart from the tall teenager making her precarious way on the tall heels, there was no one else on the road.
Gary stepped out onto the road and took a quick look around. Behind him, on the underpass, cars buzzed in the distance. The sound was muted by the trees, and the loudest sound here was the clicking of heels on the tarmacked pavement. Silent as a shadow, Gary got closer to Maddy. In the still night air, he could smell her cheap perfume. The lurid smell was intoxicating, and he breathed in deeply, his mouth opening in anticipation.
All for a good cause, he smirked to himself. Maddy was the means to an end, but he would have fun while he was doing it.
Just in time, Maddy’s heel caught on a drainpipe cover, and she stumbled. Gary was next to her in a flash. He put on his most winning smile and comforting voice.
“Hey, are you OK?” He extended an arm down to the teenager, who was kneeling on one knee.
Maddy looked up to see a young man, short, dark hair, and a good-looking face staring down at her with concern. He was dressed in a dark suit, and had a small backpack over his right shoulder.
She accepted the hand. It was warm and steady. Gary stepped back after he helped Maddy up.
“I was going home,” he explained. “Came off the train, and was going to the bus station. Saw you fall so wondered if you’re alright.”
“Th...thanks.” The words slurred on Maddy’s tongue. Gary could smell her properly now, a faint, musky, sweet body odour mingled with her perfume. With an effort he controlled himself. All his planning was coming to fruition.
Take it easy, he told himself.
“I’m Gary,” he said as a means of introduction.
Maddy’s eyes were hooded. She licked her lips and turned, mumbling her own name. Even in her drunk and drug-addled state, she knew it was not wise to talk to strangers on a dark street.
Gary hurried after her. “Are you going to the bus stop, too?”
Maddy nodded without replying. Gary looked up. The girl had speeded up, and the T-junction was a couple of hundred metres away. He could see cars zipping on the road ahead. On either side loomed the dark clumps of trees that formed the fringe of Brockwell Park. He stole a look behind. The street was empty, the lights of the pub at the end of the cul-de-sac now far behind them.
It was now or never.
He reached out and brushed an imaginary fleck of dust from Maddy’s shoulder. The girl looked up, alarm on her face. Gary smiled. “Sorry. Just saw an insect land on your shoulder.”
Maddy mumbled something incoherent and stumbled forward. Gary got closer, and put his hand over hers. At first the girl didn’t react, but when she understood what was happening, she tried to withdraw her hand. Gary’s vice-like grip closed over her hand, and he held on tight.
Maddy gasped, alarm suddenly cascading across her features like ripples in a pond. Gary grinned, and pulled her close to him, abruptly. She opened her mouth to shout, but his right hand came across the back of her head, and clamped over her mouth. Gary had large hands, and he put them to good use.
He pressed down hard on her mouth, staring at her eyes, bulging with fear. She tried to scream, but only a choked mumble was audible. Gary felt an icy calm descend upon him, a stark comparison to the terror in the teenager’s face. In truth, he didn’t like this part. He wished they wouldn’t fight. He wished they would give in to his urges, and then to his final wish.
Why did they have to fight?
He held her from behind, and lifted her up at the waist with his left arm. Maddy was a good swimmer, and she was strong. She fought but Gary was stronger.
As he stepped onto the grass, Gary’s trainer-clad ankle twisted, and he fell, cursing. Maddy wriggled out of his grasp and cried hoarsely. She got to her hands and knees, but before she could stand Gary lunged forward. Maddy was on her feet, and about to run when she felt him grip her ankle. She fell flat on her face, the breath knocked out of her.
She felt a heavy weight as he straddled her back, and then cried with pain as her hair was pulled back. The same rough, calloused hand closed over her mouth, and a sudden, vicious blow landed on her head. Pain exploded in a yellow-orange fireball in her skull, dimming her vision. Her eyes almost closed, and she felt limp, numb. Vaguely she was aware of his strong hands lifting her up.
His fetid breath was on her nostrils, making her gag. “Try another stunt like that and it will be your last one,” he growled. “Do you understand?”
Another stinging blow landed on her face, rocking her brain, and her face would have collapsed on the hard ground if he hadn’t been holding her mouth.
“Do you understand?”
Maddy was barely able to nod through the fog of terror and nerve-racking pain that convulsed every fibre of her being.
Gary picked her up, right hand clamped around her mouth, dragging her on the grass like a rag doll. The trees and bushes around them grew more dense, and the amniotic darkness claimed their forms as they receded into darkness. Crickets buzzed, and a gentle breeze fluttered with the leaves high above ground. Moonlight silence reigned over the park, but was suddenly pierced by a sharp, breathtaking scream of pain.