Roz Watkins - Cut to the Bone

‘A series that gets stronger with every book. Roz Watkins is up there with the best.’ Cass Green, author of The Killer Inside

‘I love the acerbic wit of Meg Dalton, and this is a brilliant read. Compelling, beautifully crafted, with murder and twists aplenty.’ Amanda Jennings, author of The Storm

‘Intelligent, propulsive and incredibly atmospheric, Cut to the Bone is not only a riveting thriller but a thoughtful portrait of modern society.’ Kia Abdullah, author of Take It Back

‘Roz Watkins ups the ante and gives us a rollicking crime adventure laced with plenty of dead bodies, a touch of gothic mystery, dark humour and Meg’s trademark acerbic wit. I loved it. A real page-turner that also gets you thinking.’ Sophie Draper, author of Cuckoo

‘A taut, richly atmospheric and original thriller that will keep you glued to your seat. I loved it!’ Jane Isaac, author of For Better, For Worse

‘Another ripper from Roz! It’s just gone 7 a.m. and I have had a brief pause for sleep to race through her latest detective thriller. BRILLIANT!’ Suzy K Quinn, author of Not My Daughter

‘A heart-in-your-mouth read which made me gasp out loud on more than one occasion! Roz’s best yet.’ Jo Jakeman, author of Safe House

‘ True to its name, Cut to the Bone has the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Each razor-sharp chapter slices deeper. I barely came up for air!’ Jo Furniss, author of All the Little Children

‘What a protagonist! A chillingly compelling and utterly twisted plot. Loved it!’ Danielle Ramsay, author of The Last Cut

ROZ WATKINSis the author of the DI Meg Dalton crime series, which is set in the Peak District where Roz lives with her partner and a menagerie of demanding animals.

Her first book, The Devil’s Dice , was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award, and has been optioned for TV.

Roz studied engineering at Cambridge University before training in patent law. She was a partner in a firm of patent attorneys in Derby, but this has absolutely nothing to do with there being a dead one in her first novel.

In her spare time, Roz likes to walk in the Peak District, scouting out murder locations.

The Devil’s Dice

Dead Man’s Daughter

Roz Watkins

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2020

Copyright © Roz Watkins 2020

Roz Watkins 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.

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, downloaded, 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.

Ebook Edition © June 2020 ISBN: 9780008214722

Version 2020-06-06

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Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008214708

For Starsky the dog, whose foul woodland scavenging started all this.

And to the animals in intensive farms who don’t get that freedom.

Cover

Praise

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

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

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Extract

Author’s Note

Acknowledgements

About the Publisher

Meg – Present day

Monday

The road swooped into the valley, its sun-beaten tarmac melting into the hillside. The car smelled of petrol and hot plastic, and the steering wheel stuck to my hands. DS Jai Sanghera was sprawling in the passenger seat beside me, legs thrown apart, head back, and we were embroiled in a pointless argument in which I’d found myself defending his girlfriend for a reason I could no longer remember.

Jai’s manspreading was reaching such critical levels it was impeding my access to the gearstick. ‘I know you’re hot,’ I said. ‘No need to turn it into performance art.’

Jai dragged himself forward to fiddle with his air vent. ‘Let’s just agree to disagree, shall we? I think if Suki’s serious about me, she should try harder with the kids; you clearly don’t. We’ve got a missing person to focus on.’

‘Fine.’

I eased my foot off the brake and let the car accelerate through the treacly air. The wind curled round my damp face, and my shirt flapped against my stomach. I fanned myself, trying to let the tension dissipate.

In the distance I could see the dazzling surface of Ladybower Reservoir. We were heading for a valley to its east that looked like a huge meteorite crater, but had probably been caused by some dramatic event in the last ice age. The hot summer had turned the grass yellow, and the bowl of the valley was surrounded by rocks. They jutted up like teeth, as if we were driving into a gaping mouth. In the centre, where the tonsils would have been, was an ugly industrial building. Gritton Abattoir.

I forced my tone to be friendly. ‘What do we know about her?’

Jai took a long breath and when his voice came out, it was normal, not pissed off. ‘Eighteen-year-old girl. She was working at the abattoir overnight and when they got in this morning, her car was still there but no sign of her. You know who she is though?’