The Friday Murderer: Frank Meyer's Mysteries

By Alain Ruiz

A man’s body is found, hanging from a tree in a park. Soon, this murder is linked to that of another victim, killed the month before. But the surprises don’t end there and soon an even earlier murder is attributed to the same killer, nicknamed “The Friday Murderer” by the press. Detective Frank Meyer and his team soon find themselves involved in a race against time to catch the murderer before he can claim another victim.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781547546138

Book preview

1

Chantal Lewandowski, a 26-year-old student of economics, quickened her pace. She kept it up for a hundred metres or so, to push her heart rate to the limit, then stopped and removed her iPod earplugs. Pausing to catch her breath, hands on thighs, she checked her fitness tracker. Satisfied, she straightened up before crying out suddenly as her gaze was caught by the sight of a man hanging by his tethered wrists from a nearby tree.

Not having brought her phone with her, the young woman looked around and, in the distance, saw a man walking his dog. She dashed towards him and asked him to call the police.

Ten minutes later, two police officers arrived to cordon off the area and make preliminary inquiries.

No sooner had the news come through than Detective Meyer and his team were on the spot, arriving at around five past eight. A pathologist, Claire Romero, joined them shortly afterwards, evidently in a good mood and, for once, receptive to her colleagues’ flippant banter.

Once the body had been photographed from every angle, it was lowered from the tree and laid out on the ground. The pathologist then searched through all the pockets and produced a wallet from inside the jacket which she immediately passed to Inspector Warincka, who drew out a driver’s licence and an ID card.

‘Let’s see... The victim’s name is Édouard Molinaro, born 4 July 1961, in Perpignan. Present address is in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque. 

‘Death occurred between four and five o’clock,’ commented Claire Romero, as she took the temperature of the liver.

‘Cause of death?’ asked Detective Meyer.

‘The petechial haemorrhaging suggests that the victim was probably strangled. From the marks around the neck, I’d say with a piece of cord, like the one used to tie him up. But we’ll need the autopsy to confirm that.’

With that, Detective Meyer left her to her job of preparing the corpse for transportation to the morgue.

2

In the early afternoon, Detective Meyer arrived at the morgue, having been notified by Dr. Romero that the autopsy had been completed. She