Garden of Bones - A True Crime Quickie (Book Three)

By Kim Cresswell

Garden of Bones - A True Crime Quickie is the third book in a compelling series of true crime short stories for readers who don't have time to read a full-length novel.

"The Story of Fred and Rosemary West" examines the horrifying account of an incestuous butcher and his wife, a bisexual nymphomaniac who kept their deadly secrets buried in their garden at 25 Cromwell Street.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kim Cresswell
• Release date: Feb 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995057807

Kim Cresswell

Kim Cresswell resides in Ontario, Canada. Trained as a legal assistant, Kim has been a story-teller all her life but took many detours including; working in legal and adult education before returning to her first love, writing. Her debut romantic thriller, REFLECTION, has won numerous awards: *RomCon's 2014 Readers' Crown Finalists (Romantic Suspense) *InD'tale Magazine's Rone Award Finalist (Suspense/Thriller) *UP Authors Fiction Challenge Winner (2013) *Silicon Valley's Romance Writers of America (RWA) "Gotcha!" Romantic Suspense Winner (2004) *Honourable Mention in Calgary's Romance Writers of America (RWA) The Writer's Voice Contest (2006) Kim's short novel thriller, LETHAL JOURNEY, was a finalist in From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) Golden Gate Contest (2003) and more recently won RomCon's 2014 Readers' Crown (thriller/suspense). Her action-packed thrillers have been highly praised by reviewers and readers. As one reviewer said, "Buckle up, Hang on tight!" Kim recently entered the true crime writing arena. Real Life Evil - A True Crime Quickie (two short stories) was published in January 2014. You can read her latest true crime stories in Serial Killer Quarterly, a new quarterly e-magazine published by Grinning Man Press.

Book preview

GARDEN OF BONES

THE STORY OF FRED AND ROSEMARY WEST

Kim Cresswell

Garden of Bones

The Story of Fred and Rosemary West © 2015 by Kim Cresswell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Cover Art © 2015 by No Sweat Graphics

Published by KC Publishing

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9950578-0-7

First eBook Edition: February 2016

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Dedication

For Justin, Carla, Porter and Peyton

In memory of Mary Beech

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

- From a headstone in Ireland

On February 24, 1994, "Things Can Only Get Better" by D: Ream was racing to the top of the UK dance-pop song charts. Little did the British public know that things were about to get much worse. At an average three-storey brick house in central Gloucester, secrets hidden for decades were about to be unearthed; abuse, incest, paedophilia, depravity, torture, rape, and murder. On that damp and bitterly cold Thursday afternoon, a van filled with four police officers arrived at 25 Cromwell Street at 1:45 PM looking for the owner, Fred West. They were greeted by his stocky wife, Rosemary. At the moment an officer handed her a warrant to dig up their garden, she yelled to her eldest son, Steve, Get Fred! They're going to dig up the garden, looking for Heather.

While Rose continued to scream hysterically for her husband, an hour passed and still there was no sign of Fred West, even though a phone message was left at his workplace at Carson Contractors. In the meantime, a small group of officers dressed in blue protective overalls began lifting the heavy patio slabs at the bottom of the garden. When Steve was finally able to get a hold of his father by cell phone, Fred was eerily calm. He told his frantic son not to worry—that he was on his way. At 4 PM, daylight faded and large lamps were brought in to illuminate the garden. As the police team used a small mechanical digger and dug a hole at the furthest point from the house, Rose and the older children kept watch from an upstairs window. After searching for about an hour and finding nothing but a chicken bone, work stopped at the site for the day. When Fred arrived