In Cold Blood
Adam Croft
Copyright © 2021 Adam Croft
All rights reserved, but most of them are negotiable for the right price.
ISBN 978-1-912599-52-3
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. I’m not sure why you’d want to, but there you go.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. I mean, isn’t that a ridiculous thing to have to say when the series is quite clearly set in a real place? I had to put it, though, because otherwise the lawyers would tell me off. Ridiculous. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental, except where it isn’t.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd. Elcograf S.p.A., who didn’t even give me a discount for that bit of free advertising. The cheek of it.
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Epilogue
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Acknowledgments
A special thank you to my patrons
Have you listened to the Rutland audiobooks?
Adam Croft
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More books by Adam Croft
RUTLAND CRIME SERIES
What Lies Beneath
On Borrowed Time
In Cold BloodKNIGHT & CULVERHOUSE CRIME THRILLERS
Too Close for Comfort
Guilty as Sin
Jack Be Nimble
Rough Justice
In Too Deep
In The Name of the Father
With A Vengeance
Dead & Buried
In Too Deep
Snakes & LaddersPSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
Her Last Tomorrow
Only The Truth
In Her Image
Tell Me I’m Wrong
The Perfect Lie
Closer To YouKEMPSTON HARDWICK MYSTERIES
Exit Stage Left
The Westerlea House Mystery
Death Under the Sun
The Thirteenth Room
The Wrong Man
All titles are available to order from all good book shops.
Signed and personalised editions available at adamcroft.net/shop.
Foreign language editions of some titles are available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Korean. These are available online and in book shops in their native countries.EBOOK-ONLY SHORT STORIES
Gone
The Harder They Fall
Love You To Death
The Defender
To find out more, visit adamcroft.net
Have you listened to the Rutland audiobooks?
The Rutland crime series is now available in audiobook format, narrated by Leicester-born Andy Nyman (Peaky Blinders, Unforgotten, Star Wars).
What Lies Beneath and On Borrowed Time are available from all good audiobook retailers and libraries now, published by W.F. Howes on their QUEST and Clipper imprints.
W.F. Howes are one of the world’s largest audiobook publishers and have been based in Leicestershire since their inception.
1
Sean Taylor thrust his hands into his coat pockets, willing them to warm up again. He’d only taken them out for a matter of seconds to help Millie put her scarf back on, but it was baltic. The fields and meadows, usually green, were a whiteish-grey, the morning frost still heavy, crunching underfoot.
He pulled his own scarf back over his chin and mouth, feeling his beard slowly defrosting as he did so. Still, he’d promised Ciara and the girls an early morning walk, and that’s exactly what they were getting.
He didn’t mind too much, but he doubted he’d have suggested it without Ciara’s nudging. She tried a different health kick every new year, and 2021 wasn’t going to be any different. He was just astounded she’d made it to February this time, and had to admit that frosty walks were preferable to the cabbage soup diet she’d inflicted on them last year.
She was convinced the cold weather meant her body had to work harder to keep her warm, and that more blood would be drawn to the muscles, making her heart pump harder and faster, thus helping her lose more weight. Sean wasn’t entirely convinced as to the scientific basis behind that, but it was easier to smile and nod. After all, at least it wasn’t cabbage soup.
He watched as Millie and Mia sprinted across the cold, hard ground of Seaton Meadow, wondering where they got their energy from. It took him at least three hours and twice as many cups of coffee to feel even vaguely alert. Still, he and Ciara had both been able to get the half-term week off work, so he supposed he should be thankful for small mercies.
‘I don’t know where they get their energy from,’ Ciara said, as if reading his mind.
‘I know. Certainly isn’t from me.’
The girls looked up at the sound of a train soaring across the enormous Harringworth Viaduct, which intersected the meadow. It was a relatively rare sight, with only three trains passing over the viaduct on a busy day — and sometimes none at all. But it was always worth dragging the family out of bed to catch the sight of the 9.26 from Corby to Oakham soaring over Britain’s longest masonry viaduct, splitting the meadow in half in glorious style.
Officially, the area was called Seaton Meadows — two s’s — because of it. Sean had always considered it to be one field, especially as the train line was twenty-odd metres above them and there was absolutely nothing stopping people walking easily between the two
