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Prologue

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It was a cold night in late autumn when they dumped the body in the disused quarry They knew that it was an isolated spot, and that the water was very deep

What they didn’t know is that they were being watched

The two of them arrived under darkness, just after three o’clock in the e, over the eravel where the walkers parked their cars, and onto the vast cohts off, and bu a footpath, which was soon shrouded on either side by banks of trees The darkness was thick and claht ca about the journey felt stealthy The car engine seeroaned as it lurched from side to side They slowed to a stop as the trees parted, and the water filled quarry caht

What they didn’t knoas that a man lived by the quarry He squatted in an old abandoned cottage, which had alup at the sky and e and carowth and watched, warily Several times he had chased away local kids, and junkies too

The ed froe fro boat by the water The first clie into the boat, there was so about the way it bent and flopped that made him realise with horror that it was a body

The soft splashes of the oars carried across the water He put a hand to his mouth He knew he should turn away, but he couldn’t The splashing oars ceased when the boat reached the ap in the clouds, illu out from the boat

He held his breath, as he heard a low rhythures, al recited The boat lurched as they stood, one of thee When they were steady, they lifted the package and with a splash and a rattle of chains they tipped it over the edge The ht on the boat, and the spot where the package had been du violently outwards

He also saw the two people in the boat, and saw their faces, recognised who they were

Thehis breath His hands shook He didn’t want trouble, spent his whole life trying to avoid trouble A chill breeze stirred up so in his nose Before he could do anything he sneezed loudly, it echoed across the water In the boat their heads snapped up, and began to twist and search the banks He turned to run, tripped on the root of a tree and fell to the ground knocking the wind out of his chest

Beneath the water in the disused quarry it was still, cold, and very dark The body sank rapidly, pulled by the weights, down, down, down, finally co mud

She would lie still and undisturbed for many years, alht