Confessional (The Blake Harte Mysteries Book 2) Read online

  CONFESSIONAL

  The Blake Harte Mysteries Book 2

  By Robert Innes

  About This Book

  Released: February 14th 2016

  Words: 40,000

  Standalone: Yes

  Series: A Blake Harte Mystery Book 2

  Cliffhanger: No

  St Abra’s church is harbouring a dark secret. Several elderly parishioners have been found dead in the church’s confessions booth, all appearing to have suffered fatal heart attacks.

  But when another, much younger body is discovered in exactly the same way, Detective Sergeant Blake Harte must investigate how it is possible for the confessions booth to be killing off its occupants. Dark forces are at play, forcing Blake to believe it’s more than just tragic coincidence.

  Are the deaths a punishment for the sins confessed, or are there ulterior motives in play? In a race against the clock, only Blake can discover the long-kept secrets and lies hiding in the shadows before they tear apart the sleepy village of Harmschapel.

  Copyright © Robert Innes

  Cover designed by Ashley Mcloughlin

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  For questions and comments about this book, please contact the author at [email protected].

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  Other Blake Harte Mystery Books By Robert Innes

  Untouchable (Out now)

  Confessional (Out now)

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  The village of Harmschapel was quiet as it slowly became enveloped in the orange glow of the evening’s sunset. Flocks of birds that had been tirelessly singing all throughout the day slowly became silenced, leaving nothing other than the odd starling competing from opposite sides of the surrounding fields.

  The gentle sound of two feet tapping carelessly against a stone wall did nothing to break the stillness. The panoramic view from this wall had always been Harrison’s favourite part of the village. He was sat atop it, with his legs dangling over the side. He had sat on this wall since he was a child, sometimes when his parents had brought him into the village to do their shopping, or at other times when he had been a little bit older and had been allowed to come here on his own. As he had gotten taller over the years, his feet had slowly gotten closer to the ground, but even today, on his twenty-third birthday, they weren’t quite there. Deep down he hoped they never would reach and that he would always be able to have his feet just hanging in the air.

  Harrison closed his eyes so that the sounds around him grew just that little bit louder. His muscles began to relax, and the intrusive thoughts in his mind started to slowly disintegrate. It had been a long day.

  Harrison hadn’t told anybody about his birthday as he had not wanted the reminder that he was in the village, on his own, with no real family or friends around him, on his one special day of the year. And while he didn’t feel the need for anybody to know about it, the one thing he didn’t want to feel today was sad and lonely, so he was content to just settle for general apathy.

  Unfortunately, one thing sitting on this wall had always done was clarify his feelings. The wall had helped him through quite a few of the toughest times of his life. When he was ten and had smashed his mum’s favourite plate while playing in the kitchen, he had ran out of the house and come here to help decide how to own up to it. When he was sixteen, he had stared out over the same fields in exactly the same place and come to terms with his sexuality, and then a week or so later had debated how he was going to tell his parents. What he couldn’t have known then was that a few years later, he would be sat here again with the side of his stomach throbbing angrily as a result of his then boyfriend, Daniel, hitting him for no good reason and trying to work out why.

  Sitting here helped things make sense. But right now, for the first time he could feel himself fighting that familiar feeling of clarity as he came to the somewhat miserable conclusion that he did, in fact, feel incredibly sad and lonely. The sun was setting on his twenty-third birthday, and for the first time in his life, nobody had said ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.

  This was the first birthday that Harrison had spent on his own. A year ago today, neither of his parents had been in prison because at that time, they hadn’t worked together to murder his ex-boyfriend. That had all changed six months ago. And while Harrison had finally started to adjust to his new life, living alone with his goat, Betty, who he had kept since childhood, today was tough.

  The thought of Betty suddenly reminded him that he needed to feed her so he swung his legs up and over the wall, and began his walk home. In a strange way, he almost felt annoyed at the wall for letting him down. It hadn’t helped him with anything in particular other than forcing him to embrace feelings that he had been trying to keep hidden all day. Doing an all day shift at the shop he now worked at had helped somewhat, but now that was over, he was left with little to distract him.

  It wasn’t long before Harrison found himself strolling past the police station, which meant he was only a few minutes away from his cottage. It was quiet, much like the rest of the village around him. The evening was drawing in quickly now, and the lights from the windows were orange and glowing gently. Harrison stopped and watched the building, as the wild and completely foolish thought of him strolling in and asking if DS Blake Harte was on duty went through his head. Quite what he would do if the answer to that question were yes, Harrison had no idea.

  “Don’t be stupid,” he said to himself. He continued walking past the station and as he was silently thanking sense for prevailing, he heard a voice he instantly recognised.

  “Harrison?”

  Harrison froze. It was Blake. Harrison frantically wondered how his hair was looking, felt grateful for the fact that he was wearing a coat that covered up his work uniform, took a deep breath, and turned around, with a grin.

  “Oh, hi Blake!”

  Blake was standing at the door to the police station, ecig in his hand. He wandered across to Harrison, with a genuine smile on his face, one that Harrison quickly realised was less manic than his own.

  “How have you been?” Blake asked. “I haven’t seen you about in a while. Well, not since…”

  His voice trailed off. Harrison grimaced and shrugged.

  “I’m doing OK.”

  “I’m sorry about that night at the pub,” Blake said. He sucked on his ecig, which then began flashing intermittently. “Bugger. Out of battery.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Harrison replied. “Was your friend alright the next day?”

  Blake grinned as he put the ecig back into his pocket. “No, she was ridiculously un
well. Still, the amount of cider she drank does that to a person. I didn’t have a single shred of sympathy for her.”

  Harrison laughed, then put his hands deep into his pocket, desperately thinking of something else to say. His brain had gone completely blank. There was a few seconds silence, which felt like an age.

  “Well, I best get back,” Blake said. “You take care.”

  He turned to walk back into the station. From out of nowhere, Harrison suddenly said, “It’s my birthday today.”

  Blake turned round, his eyebrows raised. “Yeah? Well, Happy Birthday! Have you got much planned?”

  The last thing Harrison wanted Blake to know was the truth about his lack of celebration for the day.

  “Oh, you know,” he shrugged. “The usual.”

  “Well.” Blake smiled. “I really hope you enjoy it. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Fat chance, Harrison thought to himself bitterly. “I won’t. Promise,” he said instead.

  Harrison turned and walked off down the street towards his house, unable to stop himself smiling happily. If only one person was going to wish him a Happy Birthday today, he couldn’t have been happier that it was Blake.

  Filled with sympathy, Blake watched as Harrison wandered off down the street. Throughout his time in the job, there had been few people he had dealt with who had had to go through such huge emotional upheaval as Harrison Baxter. He thought back to a couple of months ago and the night he had seen Harrison in The Dog’s Tail. Blake’s best friend, Sally-Ann, a sergeant from his old position before he had moved to Harmschapel, had been visiting, and as soon as she had clapped eyes on Harrison, Sally had tried to set the two of them up. Although at first Blake hadn’t considered Harrison in any other way than a segment of the case he had been working on. With all of that over he had realised that Harrison was a really lovely person – certainly a million miles away from Blake’s ex, Nathan, who he had discovered cheating on him with a woman.

  But while Harrison and Blake had been getting to know each other, and the smallest possibility for a mutual attraction had begun, Sally had quickly brought an end to the proceedings. The last cider she had downed had been one too many and she had projectile vomited all over the bar before she could get herself to somewhere more discreet. Blake had been forced to say goodnight to Harrison only to take Sally home, where she had promptly passed out on his living room floor, not rising again till the next morning.

  Ever since that night, Blake had found himself wondering what could have happened between him and Harrison but he had not had the opportunity to find out.

  Blake walked back towards the station entrance cursing himself for not bringing his ecig charger to work. The unsatisfying performance from his ecig had left the need for nicotine clawing at him. He had been trying desperately to quit smoking over the past year, with limited success, often finding himself standing in a shop asking for a pack of his usual tobacco.

  As he re-entered the meeting room, everyone was in exactly the same position as when he had left them. PC Billy Mattison was sat opposite PC Mini Patil, both tapping idly at their computers.

  “So, go on Sir,” Mattison said once Blake had settled down again. “Did you download it?”

  Blake sighed. “Yes, Matti. I downloaded it.”

  “And?”

  “And I don’t think it’s for me.

  “Oh, come on, Sir!” Patil grinned. “You don’t know unless you try.”

  Blake rolled his eyes and pulled his mobile out of his pocket, loading up the dating app that the two of them had suggested to him when he had made the, he now realised incredibly foolish move, of mentioning that he was a bit bored of being single to them.

  Mattison stood up and came behind Blake, looking at his phone as the app cheerfully sprung into life as if it was convinced it was the answer to all of Blake’s problems. “There’s got to be somebody here you fancy, Sir. What about this guy?”

  Blake stared at the profile of the man who had appeared on his phone. Admittedly, he was very good looking and a quick glance over his details revealed a few similar interests to Blake.

  “Yeah, alright. He’s nice.”

  “So, swipe right,” Patil said.

  Blake flicked his thumb to the right on the screen.

  “Okay, now what?”

  “Well, if it doesn’t say you’ve matched with him, Sir, then he either hasn’t come across your profile yet, or…”

  He glanced at Patil who rolled her eyes. “Or, Sir, it means there’s plenty more fish in the sea.”

  Blake frowned and stared at his phone as a picture of another man appeared. He looked to be in his late fifties and clearly was hoping for his incredible personality to shine through rather than relying on his profile picture. Blake grimaced at ‘Teddy Bear’ and hastily flicked left on his screen.

  As much as it made him cringe that he was getting dating advice from his two youngest officers, Blake had to admit that his love life of late had been completely non-existent. Clearly, the life of a Detective Sergeant wasn’t seen as attractive as it had been before he had moved to Harmschapel.

  He continued on his swiping mission, flicking left and right on his phone, not once coming across the words ‘It’s a match!’ that Mattison had promised him he saw on his phone all the time. But then, a face appeared that stopped Blake in his tracks. Harrison Baxter smiled up at him from his phone screen, his blonde hair styled modestly and yet probably unintentionally perfectly. His gentle features gave Blake a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. His thumb hovered over Harrison’s face. He knew which way he wanted to swipe, but he sincerely doubted that his phone would give him the response he wanted. Blake wasn’t even sure he knew what the response he wanted was.

  Instead he pressed the button on the side of his phone and put it back in his pocket, shaking his head, The whole dating app thing was ridiculous to him anyway – if you wanted to meet somebody, what was wrong with going to a pub or a bar and actually coming across somebody face to face? Blake didn’t consider himself to be much of a fantasist but it seemed more romantic when asked where he had met the love of his life, to reply that fate had brought them together over a crowded dance floor rather than they had both happened to be online at the same time.

  “See anybody you like, Sir?” Patil asked him over her computer screen.

  “No, not really,” Blake lied. “Maybe I’m just the best looking gay man in Harmschapel. Who knows?”

  Patil laughed. “Maybe you are, Sir.”

  At that moment, the doors to the meeting room flung open and Sergeant Michael Gardiner stormed in.

  Blake glanced up at him as Gardiner kicked his chair out from underneath his desk and threw himself down on it.

  “Evening, Michael.” Blake said cheerfully.

  Gardiner glared at Blake. “Someone at the front desk for you.”

  “Me? Who is it?”

  “Well,” Gardiner replied brusquely. “Not necessarily just for you, one of you two can go. I don’t care. I’ve dealt with her the past two times she’s been in,and frankly, I have better things to be getting on with.”

  A groan rippled its way through the office.

  “Oh, don’t make go and talk to her, please, Sir,” pleaded Mattison, sinking down into his chair. “She hates me. She’s hit me with her umbrella before. That’s assault!”

  “Matti, she’s eighty-one. She couldn’t assault you if she tried.” Blake grinned.

  “She’s surprisingly fast for her age,” Patil said, looking just as reluctant to go anywhere. “Remember when those lads sprayed graffiti over her back fence? She actually properly ran after them. She’s terrifying.”

  Blake rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, I’ll go. But don’t think I’m not making a note of this sudden willingness to throw your boss to the lions.”

  He stood up, waggling his pen at Mattison who looked positively relieved.

  When Blake arrived at the reception desk, he found Sergeant Mandy Darnwood look
ing furiously at the elderly woman standing in front of her. The second she saw Blake, Darnwood’s expression changed drastically.

  “Okay, there you go Mrs Atkins. DS Harte will deal with your complaint.”

  She pressed the notepad in which she had been scribbling into Blake’s chest, grabbed her cigarettes from underneath the desk, and quickly left the office.

  Blake watched her make her frantic escape out the back door with his eyebrows raised, and then turned to the angry looking woman behind the desk. She was glaring at Blake expectantly, her wrinkled mouth was screwed up tightly. She narrowed her eyes at him, which made her entire face look not dissimilar to an old walnut.

  “Well?” Imelda Atkins snapped. “What are you going to do about the noise?”

  “What noise?” Blake asked, eyeing the umbrella that she had firmly gripped in her hand.

  “The noise coming from across the road from my house!” Imelda exclaimed, looking at Blake as if she thought he was the most stupid man on earth. “It’s those bloody college students! Booming music out at all hours of the day – not that I’d call it music, just noise! I’m fed up with it!”

  Blake’s eyes glazed over as Imelda continued ranting at him.

  “And you know full well that this isn’t the first time I’ve complained about this. As a matter of fact, this is the third time I’ve either had to come in or ring. And I’ve had enough! I want these people arrested! I know my rights as a citizen.”

  Blake sighed. “Mrs Atkins, I can’t arrest a group of teenagers for playing loud music. Especially not at six o’clock in the evening.”

  “Well, what are you going to do?” snapped Imelda. “What are you for if it’s not to keep the public safe and happy?”

  “Right,” Blake said as politely as he could muster. “I am due to finish very soon. I will go across to the house on my way home and tell them that they need to not play their music at an unreasonable volume.”