Bait On The Hook (Dan Mallett)

There was a crash from downstairs. There was a shot, a big boom – not a pistol, but a shotgun. There was a scream – female, maybe a child. Julie gave a little scream and clutched Dan convulsively. Dan prised her arms away, jumped out of bed, put on her dressing-gown and ran out on to the landing. He ran to the head of the stairs. The lights were blazing in the hall below. Little Anna, in flannel pyjamas, was staring open-mouthed at a body which lay face upwards in the middle of the hall. A table was upturned near the body; things kept on the table were scattered all over the stone floor of the hall. A hole was blasted in the body's chest. The face was unmarked. It stared upwards in death. It was a very handsome face, blond, arrogant. It was Piet Vandervelde, come to abduct his child. Roger Longrigg once again thrills the reader with a well- conceived and exciting story.