Two Birds (A Short Mystery) by Vicki Tyley - HTML preview

BITTER NOTHINGS

Melbourne-based graphic designer Dervla Johns’ life is turned upside down when her brothers, Emmet and Gabe, turn up on her doorstep with the horrific news that their stepmother, Lucinda, and their half-sister and half-brother have been murdered—shot dead in their beds. Her father, Warren, has vanished, and the police have him in their sights as prime suspect. Dervla refuses to believe it. That's until he turns up dead in his car on an isolated bush track, the weapon by his side. Mix in a dysfunctional family and a friend with an abusive husband and the lines start to blur…

PROLOGUE

She stirred, her hand seeking her husband’s reassuring touch. Cold sheets. Panic fluttered in her chest and then died. She remembered now. What had happened to them that they could no longer talk? Her splayed fingers caressed the empty space next to her, as if searching for some imprint of the man she’d married, the father of her two children. What or who had come between them?

From downstairs, she heard a thud, followed by what sounded like a muffled grunt. She gritted her teeth. He daren’t wake the kids. It had taken all her wiles and half the night to convince little Oliver there were no three-eyed, boy-eating monsters living under his bed. Kayla hadn’t been much better, getting up at least once every hour to ask for a glass of water and a cuddle. Damn Warren. Didn’t he know by now children picked up on every vibe?

Another thud. Closer this time. She held her breath, listening. Footsteps. She rolled over, feigning sleep when she sensed his presence in the doorway. Her breathing didn’t falter.

A slight movement of air brushed across her face. She inhaled. Her breath caught, the sharp smell registering in the same instant the cold metal kissed her temple…