A Room Full of KillersDCI Matilda Darke IIIMICHAEL WOOD A division of HarperCollinsPublishers www.harpercollins.co.uk Copyright This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental. Killer Reads An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017 Copyright © Michael Wood 2017 The ABC Murders Copyright © 1936 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved. Michael Wood asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017 Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780008222390 Version 2017-01-24 To Woody 26/05/04 – 09/06/16 The best writing companion I could ever ask for. A true friend, and now, a genuine Golden Star. Table of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Callum Nixon Chapter Four Lee Marriott Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Mark Parker Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Craig Hodge Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Lewis Chapman Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Jacob Brown Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Ryan Asher Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Chapter Sixty-One Chapter Sixty-Two Chapter Sixty-Three Chapter Sixty-Four Chapter Sixty-Five Chapter Sixty-Six Chapter Sixty-Seven Chapter Sixty-Eight Chapter Sixty-Nine Chapter Seventy Chapter Seventy-One Chapter Seventy-Two Chapter Seventy-Three Chapter Seventy-Four Chapter Seventy-Five Epilogue Acknowledgements Keep Reading … About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher PROLOGUE Manchester. Tuesday, 7 January 2014 I was in agony. The pain was immense. I couldn’t believe it. I looked across at the alarm clock and saw that it was just after 1:30 a.m., and I hadn’t been to sleep yet. How could I when all I wanted to do was vomit everything I’d ever eaten. I managed to roll out of bed and practically crawled to the bathroom. I made it to the toilet just in time. The sick was never-ending. I honestly thought I was going to bring up an organ. There was so much of it. It was like that scene from The Exorcist. I must have woken my sister, Ruby, because I looked up to wipe my mouth and she was standing in the doorway. She had her hands on her hips and a serious look on her face like she was going to tell me off. If I hadn’t felt like I was dying I would have laughed. How could she try and look mean and threatening when she was wearing Hello Kitty pyjamas? ‘Could you be any louder about it?’ ‘Sorry, Ruby, did I wake you?’ ‘No, I always go for a walk around this time.’ She looked at her wrist as if there was a watch there. ‘Sorry. I don’t think I should have reheated that curry I had for my tea.’ ‘Have you made yourself sick so you don’t have to go to school in the morning?’ ‘No. Why would I do that?’ ‘Because I heard you telling Dad you hadn’t done your science homework.’ ‘I’ve not made myself sick, Ruby. Go back to bed.’ I managed to pick myself up off the floor, although I felt dizzy and the sweat was pouring off me. I had to steady myself against the wall. I was shaking and hot but I felt cold at the same time. I had no idea a chicken korma could cause such agony. ‘Do you want me to wake up Mum and Dad?’ ‘No. It’s OK. I think I’ll go downstairs and see if we’ve got anything to settle my stomach.’ ‘OK.’ ‘Are you going back to bed?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, folding her arms. ‘Go on then.’ ‘I’m waiting until you’ve gone downstairs. I don’t want you to fall.’ I went to go downstairs and kept looking back at Ruby, who wasn’t moving. I knew what she was going to do. I would have made some kind of sarcastic remark but I was frightened of opening my mouth and being sick again, because Dad had just polished the floorboards. He’d kill me if I splattered regurgitated korma all over them. I was halfway down the stairs when I heard Ruby tap on Mum and Dad’s bedroom door. ‘Mum, I had that dream again. Can I come in with you and Dad?’ I smiled to myself. Ruby had promised that she’d sleep in her own bed all through the night. It was her New Year’s resolution yet she’d broken it within three days. She hated sleeping on her own, God knows why. As soon as I opened the door to the kitchen, Max jumped out of his basket, tail wagging, and thought I wanted to play with him. He started jumping on his back legs. As much as I loved the little dude, playing with a Fox Terrier at two o’clock in the morning was not my idea of fun. He ran over to the back door so I let him out. I left the door open while I looked for something to take. Dad suffered really badly with his stomach. He only had to look at a jar of beetroot and he got indigestion. He was bound to have something that could stop my stomach doing somersaults. I found
