Prologue
The town was so different from what she had been led to expect. This town… on the coast, with a beach running as far as the eye could see; usually bathed in sunshine. In many ways, it was a lot like home. But it wasn't home and now it never could be. The beach was predominantly made up of stones and while the skies were powder blue and the sun shone, she couldn’t feel the warmth on her skin.
The cold cut to her core and she shivered. Drawing her coat ever more tightly around her she hunkered into it, casting a glance up the street. A few people were visible milling about around the greengrocer and getting ahead with their plans for the day. They paid her no heed as she sat on the bench in silence. Her coat was thick, heavy, but still she felt the chill. Apparently, it was normal for the time of year albeit a little on the cold side. The winter seemed to last so long here, as if it would never end. She could hear a song playing from a radio inside the nearby butcher's shop. She'd heard it many times recently, performed by two brothers who sang about losing the feeling of love. It was popular and struck a chord with her.
Just a short while ago there seemed to be immense hope for the future, such promise of better days to come.
A fresh start.
But that was then. For a brief moment she contemplated how much her life had changed in such a short period. How it came to pass was clear. However, what the future would hold she didn't know and dared not think about. The low rumble announced the approaching bus rounding the corner and a quick glance at the town clock saw it was right on time, as she was told it would be. Standing up, she reached down and looped her fingers around the handle of the weathered, brown leather suitcase at her feet containing all that she owned in the world.
The bus came to a stop alongside her, the noise from the engine growling as the door flipped open. She cast one last glance to either side of her, up and down the street, before hefting the suitcase onto the bus and clambering aboard. Several of the passengers eyed her as she took her seat but no one spoke. Placing the case at her feet, she slid across to sit beside the window. The bus pulled away from the kerb, jolting her backwards in her seat.
The conductor came to her, bracing himself against the seat in front as the bus lurched forward, and she purchased her ticket. His gaze lingered on her, longer than she felt necessary, as he handed over the slip of coloured paper and she averted her eyes from his. For a moment she thought he knew. They all knew. But he walked away without a word. The bus took the next turn and the sea came into view. The white caps of the breakers stood out in the bright sunshine, the light shimmering on the water. It was magical, bringing forth memories from her childhood just a few short years ago. She ached for it now.
This place wasn't magical.
She felt her eyes beginning to water and steeled herself, fighting back against the tide of emotion. This was the way it had to be. There was no other choice, that was clear. A lady, sitting across the aisle caught her eye. She was elderly with a kindly face. She smiled and it was returned. Rummaging through her handbag, the passenger produced a handkerchief and offered it across the aisle.
"Don't worry. It's clean," she said.
Accepting the cotton square with a brief smile and a nod, she then recoiled and looked away, fearful of drawing attention to herself. Wiping her eyes, she made to return the fabric but the lady was already out of her seat and moving to the door as the bus arrived at the next stop.
Soon enough, they were on the move again and, after a few more stops, the town was rapidly disappearing from view behind them. She felt a flutter of fear in her chest and reached into her coat pocket, her fingers curling around the tight bundle of notes within.
Where she went from here would be God's will… if not His judgement.
Chapter One
Scanning the shop fronts of the town gave rise to a warm familiarity as Tom Janssen took the sharp turn to the right, avoiding the pedestrians stepping from the narrow pavement as they sought to pass slower moving people going about their day. Sheringham was quite a different proposition to the town he remembered from his adolescence. Back then, he often found himself bored with life in the seaside town. In his youth, the traditional career paths open to the locals, that of working the sea or the surrounding land, struggled to remain relevant as society sought to embrace modernity. Arguably, it became something of a generational divide with those caught between the two camps struggling to see their place in a rapidly changing world.
Today, the town was a far cry from what he remembered. Now, the local economy was very much tourism-driven, fuelling employment with cafés, restaurants and entertainments. There was still space for the traditions, evidenced by the skiff pulled up onto the slipway where he drew the car to a standstill. There were more efficient places to land a haul these days than in the heart of Sheringham but even so, here, the fishermen still worked just as they had done for centuries whilst butting up against the café culture of the twenty-first century.
The gulls cawed overhead as he got out of the car and Janssen caught his colleague eyeing the small cafeteria on the promenade overlooking the slipway. DS Cassandra Knight realised he was watching her, snapping her attention back to him and apparently stifling a yawn.
"Sorry, sir. Where do we go from here?"
He pointed past the café in the direction of the promenade, stretching east along the extensive sea defences. A mammoth wall of concrete that protected the town and the cliffs from the ravages of the North Sea. This was most likely Cassie's first visit to the town. He wondered what she would make of it. It was no doubt very different to her native north east. There would be similarities in the small coastal communities but every town in Norfolk would be a stark contrast to what she experienced back in Newcastle.
Leading the way, he set off. The sun was already above the horizon and the sky was clear. Despite the strong breeze carried in from the east, the day promised to be pleasant, suggesting the arrival of spring might not be too far away. Even so, he drew his coat about him and turned his collar to the wind. Glancing across as he walked, he noted Cassie seemed less than bothered, hands thrust into her pockets but her coat remained open, flapping in the breeze as she took in her surroundings.
Once clear of the café and other public facilities they came to the colourful beach huts. These were chained to the concrete retaining wall, securing them against the possibility of being swept into the sea if the conditions arose. There were notable spaces where others had been removed and Janssen considered how things had changed. Where once the promenade was lined with concrete shacks, shuttered and in a state of disrepair, vandalised with graffiti and abandoned, an effort had been made to rejuvenate the area. What couldn't be repaired or utilised had been replaced, cleaned or made good. The last surviving concrete shack was now a coffee hut. Cassie had her eye trained on it already. His too, if he was honest.
From here, the sea defences became less substantial as they moved beyond the edge of the town. The retaining wall ceased and became a crumbling cliff face made up of sand and earth. The sea wall was still maintained here but to a lesser degree and it was where the modern, solid defences gave way to the ageing wooden barriers that they could see the police cordon and the activity beyond.
The path came to an end at the same point as the sea wall, dropping down to the patchy, broken surface of sand and stone. They were dwarfed here by the old sea defences, a wooden palisade running as far as the eye could see. Periodically, there were breaches where the sea had broken through. At some point in the past, the cut-off point was drawn as to where the town would be defended and where nature would be allowed to take its course. The coastal erosion was evident, the cliff face slipping to the shoreline around them all along the east beach.