A second snippet from the upcoming Devonshire Mystery, Accomplice to Murder.

Another little piece from Chapter 1 of the next Devonshire Mystery. If you haven’t seen the first one, it’s here.

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In this excerpt, we’ll begin to see that despite the glossy setting of Dan’s new job, all is not quite as it seems.

Well, it is a mystery, after all.

This is an advance snippet, so it’s still a work in progress and probably contains errors and typos. There will be changes and corrections over the coming days, and I hope to share more as I tackle the rewrites.

Accomplice to Murder

Sample from Chapter 1

Footsteps ringing out on the polished granite floor snapped Dan out of his reverie, and he looked up to see a besuited man heading toward him. Dan hadn’t heard the lift arrive, and he noticed that the glass door at one side of the lobby was still swinging shut. He took the stairs, Dan thought. A young man in a hurry.

“Dan,” the man called out as he strode across the lobby. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Dan pulled back his shoulders, hoping he looked more relaxed than he felt as he stepped forward to meet the new arrival. They shook hands, and the man’s grip was firm.

“I’m Joseph Clayton,” the man said. “But call me Joe. We like to keep things friendly around here.” Slim and fresh-faced, Joe exuded self-confidence and energy. His smile was genuine, and there was something about Joe’s manner that made Dan like him right away.

“Nice to meet you, Joe.” Dan returned Joe’s smile, but he held back from saying more. He couldn’t recall anyone mentioning the name Clayton, and Joe hadn’t given his job title. He could be an assistant or an intern, despatched to collect the visitor from reception. On the other hand, Joe’s suit looked tailor-made and very new. Dan had already made one gaffe with the receptionist, and he didn’t want to make any more hasty assumptions.

“You’re probably itching to get to started,” Joe said. “I know we’re all looking forward to working with you. You came highly recommended.”

“That’s very kind. I’ve worked with a lot of up-and-coming businesses in the area. I’ve been lucky.”

“Please, no false modesty. That wasn’t luck. I know a carefully thought-out strategy when I see one. You’ve been making waves in the business community, and I dare say you aren’t done yet. Am I right?”

“You could be,” Dan admitted with a smile. “If you don’t mind me asking, Joe, have you spent some time in the States?”

“Yes, I spent a couple years over there, working for Microsoft, but I guess you saw that in my online bio. Nothing wrong with that. It pays to check people out before you meet. We all do it.”

Dan hesitated. He had studied the names and backgrounds of CEG’s senior management team online, and now that he’d had a moment to think about it, he was sure he hadn’t seen any mention of Joe’s name. It would hardly be diplomatic to mention the fact, so instead, he said, “I have a keen ear for accents, that’s all, and I detected a certain Trans-Atlantic flair in your speech patterns.”

“Oh.” Joe’s smile slipped, but only for an instant. “My fiancée teases me about that all the time. But never mind. We’ve got people waiting to meet you, so let’s go.”

“Great. Are we going to meet Mr Cooper now, or do we need to run through some paperwork first?”

“You signed your contract online, didn’t you? And the NDA?”

“Yes,” Dan said. “It was all straightforward. Neil Hawthorne took me through it. Will we be meeting with Neil this morning?”

“No. That’s not going to happen.”

Joe’s expression hardened, and Dan was taken aback by the sudden change in mood. “That’s a shame,” he said. “I was looking forward to meeting Neil in person. We’ve spoken several times on the phone, and I’m keen to talk to him.”

“Dan, you’ll be working with me. I’m the new head of online operations.”

“I see. Has Neil been promoted? I spoke with him last week, and he didn’t mention anything about changing—”

“Neil Hawthorne is no longer with us,” Joe interrupted. “That is, he no longer works for CEG. He’s taken early retirement.”

“I had no idea. I hope he’s okay. It wasn’t his health or anything, was it?”

“No. Neil’s fine. As far as I know, he’s on his boat somewhere. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Dan said. But that wasn’t quite true. In his last phone conversation with Neil Hawthorne, he thought he’d detected a note of tension in the man’s voice, as though he was under stress, holding something back. But he wasn’t going to bring that up now. After all, in business, people came and went all the time, often with no advance warning. He should know.

As if sensing some disquiet in Dan’s expression, Joe leaned a little closer and said, “You know how it goes, Dan. We’re taking the company in a new direction, and that’s partly why you’re here. We’re shaking things up, and Neil wasn’t…” Joe tilted his head from side to side as if weighing up his words. “Let’s just say he was comfortable with the status quo. But that wasn’t going to work. We’re moving forward, and it’s important for us to be pulling in the same direction. Neil preferred to opt out, so we looked after him. He was well rewarded for his valuable years of service, and he’ll be fine, believe me.”

“Right.” Dan summoned a smile, but he couldn’t help thinking of Neil trudging from the building with his possessions in a cardboard box. The image brought back memories from a dreadful day in Dan’s past; a day he’d rather forget.

*

That’s the end of the snippet, but I hope to be sharing a few more over the coming weeks.

Happy reading.