Trustee for Murder

By Nancy Perkin

Samantha Striker is a law-abiding accountant, a people pleaser, but when her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her for an illogical reason, she realises that she can wait no more for her life to start. Grabbing her calculator and her Barbara Streisand CD collection, she takes off to start a new life in Harper Bay, a picturesque seaside town just north of Sydney. It is not long before she is humiliating herself in front of the local sergeant and embroiled in the murder of the most unlikable man in town.
All she wanted was some excitement, you know, a neat bank reconciliation and maybe a couple of racy tax deductions. But now she needs to solve this murder before she becomes the next victim.
Sergeant William Turner is bored. He came back home to help his sister, giving up his job as a homicide detective in Sydney. Now his days are filled dealing with vandals and angry senior citizens. He wanted some action, something to keep his mind off his crappy life. Then one fateful sunny morning, a routine speeding fine leads him to more adventure than he had bargained for.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528992305

Nancy Perkin

Nancy Perkin is the daughter of wannabe gypsies. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and her family moved around Australia and the UK. She had clocked up 8 schools and 42 houses by the time she found the love of her life at twenty and settled down in Melbourne, Australia. She has two beautiful cheeky boys and a naughty puppy. Her wanderlust is now expressed through books and travel deal websites.

Book preview

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About the Author

Nancy Perkin is the daughter of wannabe gypsies. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and her family moved around Australia and the UK. She had clocked up 8 schools and 42 houses by the time she found the love of her life at twenty and settled down in Melbourne, Australia. She has two beautiful cheeky boys and a naughty puppy.

Her wanderlust is now expressed through books and travel deal websites.

Dedication

To my perfect husband

Copyright Information ©

Nancy Perkin (2021)

The right of Nancy Perkin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528992299 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528992305 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my husband for always believing in me and humouring my crazy.

To my children, who thought it was really cool I wrote a book.

Chapter 1

It’s all Barbara’s fault! Samantha attempted to explain to the shirt at her window.

I’m sorry, madam? He leant forward, his blue eyes peering into her car, his gaze reaching to the empty passenger seats around her.

It’s a miss.

What?

Miss, not madam, and Barbara, as in Streisand. Samantha was a little flustered, she didn’t get pulled over often, and for some strange reason, she developed an attitude toward authority figures.

Have you been drinking, miss?

She does an amazing crescendo; I guess I got carried away.

He looked unimpressed as he made direct eye contact, Samantha shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

It was a lovely sunny day, there was a sea breeze that blew from the East that refreshed the air, but for Samantha, sitting in her little Toyota under the stare of this police officer, she felt like she was in Hades itself.

Let me show you, she added, Samantha looked down at her car’s media centre and attempted to load the song. Normally she was quite good with technology, but now she fumbled with it, finally, the song began to play.

It’s raining; it’s pouring, my love life is boring me to tears… Barbara’s soulful melody filled the car.

It takes a little while to get going, Samantha attempted to skip to the good bit.

The officer leaned down, reaching into Samantha’s car and turned off the music.

If you could step out of the car, miss, he said.

You see, I don’t break the law, I’m a law-abiding citizen, I was just really excited, you see today is the beginning of the rest of my life.

Step out of the car now, he commanded.

Samantha obliged the officer and stepped out of the car.

Your licence please, he said.

It’s in the car, she gestured to the passenger seat.

Then get it, he said.

She leaned over her drivers’ seat and reached for her handbag; her bum was on full display for the officer, she began to get self-conscious it was not her best angle.

You know, this would be more efficient if you asked for the license before I got out of the car, she said coolly as she handed him her license.

The officer’s blue eyes sparkled a little bit, but the rest of his face remained neutral if she was not mistaken, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Miss Striker, can you tell me how fast you were going?

I have no idea, 75?

Samantha knew this was a 70 km zone, she also knew she was going so much faster than 75, at one point she was going 100, but she was fairly sure he hadn’t seen her then. His eyes sparkled again, Samantha knew she was in trouble.

75, really? he made direct eye contact; she squirmed again.

Maybe more than 75.

He remained silent and stared.

Well, it would depend on when you saw me. Samantha realised too late she should not have said that.

I mean…because…well, I was probably going faster down that hill, maybe 80. She was not good at being interrogated.

Have you had any issues with your vehicle? he asked.

What, no, why?

Are those sunglasses prescription, miss?

Yes, they are Officer, she took them off to show him, squinting from the sun and sudden loss of vision.

He didn’t take them so she put them back on.

So, no issues with the car, and you can clearly see. So, why then were you going 95 in a 70 zone?

I was excited? she offered, wishing he could just fine her so she could move on with her life.

About what?

Well, as I already mentioned, today is the beginning of the rest of my life. He rolled his eyes in response.

I am moving to Harper Bay, it’s a small town about 15 minutes from here, sorry you probably know that I mean where Harper Bay is that is, not that I was moving there.

The officer was standing in front of her with his arms crossed; he was an imposing man, 6ft 2 with a broad fit frame. He was attractive, his brown short hair, deep blue eyes and square jaw made him traditionally so. However, there was a weariness in his face, a coldness to him that kept him from being a heartthrob. Not that Samantha cared about what he looked like, or that that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, especially as he was currently looking at her like she was an idiot, she tried to focus on the situation and not the man in front of her.

I just bought a business here, an accounting firm, I’m an accountant. She was sounding more idiotic by the moment.

Can you just book me and we can both go on with our days. She sounded a little desperate.

He readjusted his stance a bit; he looked like he was considering his options, then he pulled out his book and started writing her a ticket.

Samantha sighed in relief, a little too loudly as the officer stared at her again, she smiled in response.

He walked over to her with the ticket, however just before he handed it to her, he launched into the world’s longest lecture on the dangers of speeding and driving whilst distracted.

Chapter 2

Blood seeped from the body staining the white carpet underneath it. His head hurt, and the sight of all the blood was starting to make him queasy. The body no longer resembled the man it belonged to; the face had been blown off, well, half of the face anyway. He had never seen a dead body before, his stomach lurched. He stood up tentatively, willing his legs to hold him. His head was spinning; his arm sprang forward instinctively towards the desk, it was then he noticed he was holding a gun, the man’s gun.

Shit.

What had he done, they had fought, he remembered that, but how did he get the gun, he rubbed his head, desperate for a memory that could help.

He needed to leave, yes, he needed to run away, but where would he go, he had no one, they would find him. This was not the plan; this was not supposed to happen to him.

Just as all hope was lost, an idea came to him; he looked around, no one was here, the only one who knew he was here was now dead, maybe with a little luck, he could get away with this. No one liked Peter anyway.

Chapter 3

Her name was Samantha Striker, or at least that’s what it said on her drivers’ licence. She was cute, long brown hair, big brown eyes which shone with excitement, actually her whole person embodied excitement, the over-exaggerated arm movements, her non-coherent speech at a higher than normal pitch and speed. William was intrigued, and apparently, she was moving to town, his town, Harper Bay. Mostly he was intrigued because pulling this excited girl for speeding was the most interesting thing that had happened since he moved back home two years ago. Man, his life sucked. He was once the lead detective on a serial killer case, which he solved virtually on his own and now he was pulling over tourists (sorry new residents) for speeding. He really didn’t know how much longer he could take this new life.

After Samantha made him listen to some crazy song she had been singing, for reasons that weren’t entirely clear to him she, he did his job, he breathalysed her, fined her and lectured her on speeding. OK, he probably could have skipped the lecture, but this was the most exciting thing that had happened to him for a while, and he was going to draw it out for as long as possible, only paperwork was waiting for him, he was in no rush, plus she was cute.

After William eventually let her go, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit bad about destroying her good mood, but she was speeding, this was his job and as boring as it was, he might as well do it properly. He phoned into the station, Vera answered, he sighed to himself, this was going to be a long call. After Vera stopped talking at him, she finally got to the point, another vandal case in Somerville, this time someone broke a window. He sighed again, this time a little too loudly and Vera asked if he was OK.

Fine, Vera, thanks for asking, just a long day. It was only 2:30 in the afternoon, but man, it was dragging.

Vera went on for another 5 minutes about how he needed to take better care of himself, hinting not so subtly that he needed a good woman in his life, this was also followed up with how she was still single and would make a great wife, in case he was wondering. He was not. Vera was nice enough, but like most single women over thirty in Harper Bay, she was less concerned with who he was and more interested in him being a man and having a job, the rest was just semantics. He was in no rush to get married and settle down. Yes, he was almost thirty-three, but he had been down that road before and had the scars to prove it.

Being single also allowed him a plausible excuse to go into the city once a month; they all thought he was looking for a wife, which made it OK, socially acceptable even. Mostly he went into town to catch up with his old detective buddies and live vicariously through them; he missed that life. OK, the hours sucked, the pay was terrible for what he was expected to do, and it made his already slightly jaded opinion of the human race much worse, the things he saw would make any man question God and the good in humanity. OK, so maybe he didn’t miss it that much, but there was excitement, and he was busy, and when he was busy, he didn’t need to think, and that’s what he loved about the job. The sheer pleasure of being busy and not ever having to remember every crummy thing that had happened to him. Denial was good for him; it was his go to position for survival.

With one last loud sign, William started the car and made his way to Sommerville to calm someone over a broken window, and maybe some graffiti, sigh!

Chapter 4

About three months after her arrival to Harper Bay, Samantha had been conned into going to the town hall meeting by her reception Jan, she was a formidable woman in her late fifties, Samantha had inherited her when she bought the accounting practice. Samantha had also gained Lucy as the junior accountant who was lovely; she was just finishing her degree and was always keen to learn and happy to help.

The practise was good, Barry, the previous owner, was retiring at 55 after having a minor heart attack, he decided to spend more time with his three loves, his wife, his kids and the surf. He was great at introducing Samantha to everyone in town, and she settled in well and fast because of it.

Harper Bay was a cute seaside town with about 2,000 people in it, about two hours away from Sydney. It looked just like it did on the Google Maps virtual tour Samantha had done before packing up her old life and moving here after the breakup. It had a pretty sleepy vibe, the town was centred around a garden square and backed onto a beach, it wasn’t a surf beach, this was the type of beach you could picnic on and take the kids to, small waves and clean yellow sand with the scattering of seashells. The surf beach was ten minutes away, and she had been told was one of the best in Australia.

The people were very friendly even to those who could not surf although Samantha wondered if she should learn as it seemed to be the local pastime.

Mr, please don’t drive and sing. Turned out to be the local sergeant, so that got awkward fast, he looked after the whole region so thankfully he travelled a bit, particularly as Sommerville, the town next to Harper Bay had developed a recent drug and vandal problem; apparently it was a crime epidemic. There had been several town hall meetings about it, Samantha has managed to skip them until now, as she was not able to show the right level of concern and outrage.

Samantha’s friends and family had all settled down and stopped trying to refer her to psychologist, they seemed to have learned to accept her new life and had even threatened to visit.

The town hall was an old Victorian brick building it stood to the right of the town square, and it looked very grand and out of place. The inside, however, was showing its age, the wooded floors were scratched and blackened, the plaster walls were cracked, and the cornices looked tired. The furniture in the hall looked like it had been stolen from a church; it held large numbers of wooden pews and the lectern at the front. The offices sat behind the hall, but they had not faired any better with age or refurbishment.

Jan had saved Samantha a seat up the front, Samantha assumed she was trying to be helpful, it was a shame as Samantha had hoped to sit at the back as she could be out of the way and duck out mid-meeting and going back to work. Samantha wasn’t used to this new life that let her finish work at 5 and attend midmorning town halls.

The hall was packed, all the pews had been taken, and people were now standing at the back of the hall. The town mayor began calling the meeting to order; he was banging a gavel on the lectern to gain everyone’s attention. The sight and sound of it was quite comical to Samantha, and she struggled to suppress a laugh.

Order, meeting will come to order, we are about to begin. The mayor had a booming voice, so it filled the room and the noise soon was reduced to a murmur.

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