Kick Back. Val McDermid

      

      KICK BACK

      Val McDermid

       Copyright

      HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      This ebook edition published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz 1993 and Orion Books Ltd 1999

      Copyright © Val McDermid 1993

      Cover design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      Cover photographs © Stephen Mulcahey / Arcangel Images

      Val McDermid asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      This is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      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

      Source ISBN: 9780008344900

      Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2019 ISBN: 9780007327638

      Version: 2019-11-05

       Praise for Val McDermid

      ‘The queen of crime is still at the top of her game’

       INDEPENDENT

      ‘No one can tell a story like she can’

       DAILY EXPRESS

      ‘One of today’s most accomplished crime writers’

       LITERARY REVIEW

      ‘McDermid remains unrivalled’

       OBSERVER

      ‘Incredibly suspenseful’

       SUNDAY MIRROR

      ‘This is crime writing of the very highest order’

       THE TIMES

      ‘A gripping page-turner’

       METRO

      ‘A terrific read’

       DAILY TELEGRAPH

       Dedication

       To Lavender Linoleum Lovers Everywhere

       Epigraph

      ‘Property is theft’

      Pierre Joseph Proudhon

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Praise for Val McDermid

      Dedication

      Epigraph

      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

       Acknowledgements

       Keep Reading …

       About the Author

       By Val McDermid

       About the Publisher

       1

      The Case of the Missing Conservatories. Sounds like the Sherlock Holmes story Conan Doyle didn’t get round to writing because it was too boring. Let me tell you, I was with Conan Doyle on this one. If it hadn’t been for the fact that our secretary’s love life was in desperate need of ECT, there’s no way I’d have got involved. Which, as it turned out, might have been no bad thing.

      I was crouched behind the heavy bulk of the elevator machinery, holding my breath, desperately praying I’d pick the right moment to make my move. I knew I wouldn’t get a second chance with a nasty bag of works like Vohaul’s hit man. I caught sight of him as he emerged from the stairwell. I leaped to my feet and threw myself at one of the pair of heavy pulley attachments suspended from the ceiling. It shot across the room towards my relentless opponent. At the last minute he turned, spotted it and ducked, letting it whistle over his head. My mouth dried with fear as he caught sight of me and headed menacingly in my direction. I dodged round the elevator machinery, trying to keep it between us so I could make a dash for the stairs. As he rushed after me, I desperately swung the other pulley towards him. It caught him on the side of the head, the momentum plunging him over the lip of the lift shaft into the blackness below. I’d done it! I’d managed to stay alive!

      I let my breath out in a slow sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair, hitting the key that offered me the ‘Save Game’ option. A glance at my watch told me it was time to leave Space Quest III for the day. I’d had the half-hour lunch break that was all I could spare in my partner Bill’s absence. Besides, I knew that our secretary Shelley would be returning from her own lunch break any minute now, and