Retribution by Christina O'Reilly
Notes: This extract is from the very beginning of Retribution – Chapter 1
A soft grey dawn was breaking on Ripton Beach, the rising sun casting a pinkish glow onto the sombre clouds above. Archie followed DC Ben Travers down the concrete boat ramp. His legs felt oddly numb, as if they didn’t belong to him, but all the same they carried him inevitably towards the horror on the beach.
The body of a young woman had been found by a walker and his dog just an hour earlier. It had been twelve days now since Archie’s spat with his eldest daughter; twelve days during which she had either ignored, or – a much more worrying possibility − been unable to answer his calls. Where was she? Why wasn’t she answering her phone? Dread sat like a stone in his stomach.
At the bottom of the ramp, Travers led him to the right where, in the distance on the hard grey sand, a crude wigwam-like construction made of driftwood was now surrounded by markers and police tape. Closer, they could see escaping between the silvery wooden struts a ragged lock of pale blonde hair wafting in the breeze.
Archie’s heart plummeted. He forced himself to keep walking, and as they drew nearer he let Travers look in at the body first. Travers knew Alicia. He would know if it was her.
Bracing his hands against his thighs, Travers bent his tall frame forwards to peer inside the flimsy wooden structure. A moment later he straightened up, an inscrutable expression on his face.
Archie could stand it no longer. Elbowing his DC aside, he sank to his knees in front of the body, saw the mud-streaked bony face, the unfamiliar clothes, the tiny, exposed bare feet.
He pushed himself upright with his hands and staggered away towards the sea, dragging great gulps of air into his lungs. His head buzzed dizzily as if he’d drunk a large glass of champagne very fast.
‘You alright, boss?’ Travers came up behind him and laid a steadying hand on his shoulder.
DSS ‘Archie’ Baldrick and DC Ben Travers eventually identify the body as that of Lucy Martin, who has been renting a bach in the area. Her husband, Oliver, seems to know very little about his wife or her background.
What was Lucy hiding? Why has she no family or friends?
As the number of suspects mounts up, Archie begins to conclude that the real answer lies in Lucy’s dark and mysterious past, and that the murderer may be just a little too close for comfort …
As well as being a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards, Christina’s first crime novel Into the Void was longlisted for the 2019 Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize for an unpublished novel.
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