Hell to Pay
A Detective Kay Hunter novel
Rachel Amphlett
Also available in audiobook
Listen to a sample here
Chapter One
Detective Sergeant Kay Hunter leaned over the passenger seat of her car, plucked a pair of old leather ankle boots from the foot well, and cursed both the unfortunate motorist who’d lost control of his vehicle, and DI Devon Sharp for phoning her at one in the morning to attend the scene of the accident.
‘Meet me on site in thirty minutes,’ he’d said, before the line went dead.
She wiggled in her seat until she could slip off her flat shoes, exchanged them for the boots, and shoved the car door open before pulling her waxed jacket around her, gasping as rain lashed her face.
She squinted against the headlights from the emergency vehicles lined up along the hard shoulder of the motorway, an ambulance’s blue lights flashing through the steady downpour and strobing off the windows of the patrol cars that were being used to cordon off the accident scene. Further along, two firemen returned from their truck, their faces grim as they stepped over the remains of the steel barrier and disappeared from sight down the embankment.
Blinking the last remnants of sleep from her eyes, she shoved her hands into her pockets and began to search for her superior officer.
When Detective Inspector Devon Sharp had called her, the shrill tone of her mobile phone had roused her from her slumber and caused her other half, Adam, to curse loudly before he rolled over and tugged the duvet over his head.
His snores had reached her as she’d crept out the bedroom door.
Now, she wished she’d put on another layer of clothing as she stalked along the road.
A vicious wind whipped across the exposed raised section of the motorway, the bordering fields providing no shelter from the change in season.
As she neared the ambulance, she spotted a uniformed police officer standing next to the open back doors, his face attentive on the activities around him. Kay realised the crew were inside and peered in, curious.
The pair worked as a well-rehearsed team, an older woman and a younger man who bent over their patient, their voices clipped.
Beyond, at the front of the vehicle, a radio crackled; a man’s voice from their control centre at Ashford calm and efficient as he relayed information to the crew.
The scent of disinfectant reached Kay as she watched them work, her eyes running over the once immaculate equipment while she wondered how long it would take them to clean the vehicle when they finally returned to base at the end of a long shift.
‘He had to be cut out of the wreckage.’
Kay turned at Sharp’s voice. ‘What are his chances?’
‘Head trauma. Suffered a cardiac arrest while they were bringing him up the embankment on a stretcher. So, not good.’
Kay shielded her eyes against the rain and bright lights and peered along the motorway.
An intermittent stream of transcontinental trucks and an occasional car drove past the cordon, their speed slowed by the warning signs displayed on gantries several miles before the crash site.
Surface water sprayed out from under their wheels, pooling at the road’s edge where Kay stood. Despite knowing the cordon had been erected at a safe distance, she took a step back as a large truck swept by, the downdraught from it buffeting her slim frame.
‘Any other vehicles involved?’
‘No. Uniform are taking the statement of a truck driver over there – he was parked on the hard shoulder when the accident happened.’
They both turned at a call from the ambulance, and the younger of the paramedics stooped so he could talk to them.
‘We’ve got him stabilised. We’ll be off now.’
‘Thanks,’ said Sharp. ‘Where’s he going – Maidstone?’
‘Yeah, that’s where we’ve been told to take him.’ The paramedic lowered himself to the ground and prepared to close the rear doors. ‘I wouldn’t hold your breath about him making it though.’
Sharp turned his attention to the young uniformed officer. ‘Go with them. If he talks, I want to know about it.’
‘Guv.’
The paramedic waited until the police officer had clambered in, then made his way along to the driver’s door.
Kay and Sharp stepped out of the way as the vehicle manoeuvred away from the cordon before setting off along the motorway, its sirens blaring to clear a path between the trucks.
Kay watched it disappear into the distance, then stamped her feet and turned to Sharp.
Ex-military, he was impeccably dressed despite the time. Only his bleary eyes gave any indication of the fact he had also been woken in the middle of the night.
Kay narrowed her eyes as she realised he was even wearing a tie.
She felt scruffy by comparison.
‘Come and take a look,’ he said, failing to notice her discomfort, and led the way towards the edge of the embankment.
The other emergency services had set up two floodlights at the top of the hill to enable the fire crew to work to free the driver of the vehicle. Saving his life had taken precedence over preserving the scene for the crime scene investigation unit, and Kay could well imagine what the lead investigator would say when he saw the state of the undergrowth.
Large footprints led down from the roadside, and as Kay reached into her pocket and switched on her torch, the beam highlighted the total devastation left by the vehicle’s path, followed within an hour by a team of first responders.
‘What’s their initial thoughts about what happened?’
‘According to the truck driver parked back there, he saw the car veering to the left in his mirrors – thought it was going to hit him. Seems as though the car driver tried to correct it at the last minute, but lost control and sent himself spinning through the barrier. Traffic have already taken a look at the point of impact and traced it back – there’s oil on the road, plus the grease from the past two weeks.’
Kay nodded. After
