Dead Of Winter (Willis/Carter #1)(105)

‘I’m bouncing a baby and trying to keep Christa from realizing she doesn’t know me and bursting into tears. Noel’s just run in to be with Jeanie.’

‘Ebb . . . left holding the baby.’

‘Don’t think it suits me, Sarge.’

‘Yeah, can’t see me having a big family either. I’ll be a Saturday dad, I suppose. See you back here when you can.’

‘Noel shouldn’t be long, Sarge.’

Christa started to wail.

‘What did you do?’

‘I made the mistake of looking at her.’

Carter laughed. He sat in the police car outside Martingale’s house, watching the fire crews finish damping it down. He switched on the engine and drove to a home improvement store on the way back from Hampstead.

He rang the doorbell and waited for Cabrina’s father to come to the door.

‘Hello, Theo. Okay?’

Theo nodded. He looked at Dan like he had come to ask his daughter out on a first date.

‘I want Cabrina to come home.’

Theo nodded. ‘And for Christ’s sake take that damn buggy blocking up my hallway.’

‘Will she come . . . do you think?’

‘Maybe . . . Cabrina?’ He turned and called down the hallway. ‘You have a visitor.’

She didn’t hurry towards him; she took her time; she wasn’t smiling. Oh God . . . it had all been for nothing. He should feel a fool but he was beyond that now. In fact Carter felt like a teenager again when he saw her. He had a terrible urge to cry. When she reached him she put her hands either side of his face and looked really hard into his eyes: he’d forgotten how hers made him melt. Any minute she’s going to say it, ‘Just go . . . Sorry,’ thought Carter.

‘What took you so long?’

‘Pink or blue?’ He held up the paint pots.

‘Purple.’





Chapter 81


Bridget heard the bike coming as she finished chopping wood. She watched Carmichael park it in the barn and go inside the house. He found the young girl Anna feeding one of the lambs with a bottle of milk in the kitchen. Rusty got out of his basket to come over and say hello. Carmichael bent down to pet him.

‘You made it then? Good boy.’

‘And you made it then?’ Bridget came into the house. ‘Are you staying?’ He nodded. ‘Then Anna can sleep with me in the spare room. No problem,’ Bridget said and smiled. He nodded again. ‘You need a rest,’ she said and left him in the lounge.

Carmichael unzipped his bag, took out the photo of Louise and Sophie and phoned Ebony.

Ebony was waiting in arrivals at the airport. Tina had phoned her and asked her to pick her up. She saw her walking towards her.

‘Where have you been, Teen? The canteen said you were sick and then asked for holiday leave? What’s happening?’

‘I went to Poland. I was supposed to be having some work done but you know, when it came to it, I thought, fuck it. Men either like me as I am or fuck them. Besides, I was frightened I wouldn’t make it back in time to buy stuff in for Christmas and I knew if I left it to you we’d be eating beans on toast.’

Ebony stepped aside to take Carmichael’s call.

‘Hello, Carmichael. You back at the farm?’

‘Yes. Did you have an officer injured?’

‘Yes, Jeanie. She’s alright; she’ll make it.’ Ebony listened to Carmichael. He sounded distant: calm, spent. She spoke: ‘I don’t know how things will go but I want to say thank you to you.’

‘Yeah?’

‘You cleared your name.’

‘The kid okay?’

‘Yes . . . being brought back to consciousness. Thank you for what you did . . . what you didn’t do.’

‘I couldn’t kill her.’

‘Yeah . . . I heard. I couldn’t have either. Her life expectancy is not good. A sample of her hair shows that she’s on a large dose of anti-rejection drugs. Martingale had a heart condition. He was a carrier for it. It doesn’t always get passed on. Nikki must have had it. He must have sought out the perfect match. As it happened, Chrissie had inherited the heart condition too. And as her other organs began to fail, they came for Adam . . .’ She heard him breathing. She knew where he would be standing. By the side of the fire, looking at the photo of Louise and Sophie. ‘They found Justin de Lange: following the trail of Mr Hart. His fingerprints matched the set on Tanya and the print left by Sophie’s bed.’

‘Hope you didn’t get there too soon. Was he still alive?’

‘He had a pulse. I don’t know how. He was covered in rats. They cut him down but he was dead before he got to hospital. You know that I need you to hand yourself in.’

‘I know. I’ll be there in the next day or so. Just have to tidy things up here.’

‘I understand.’

Carmichael put the phone down and took out Louise’s journal from his bag. It was still stained with blood. He had recovered the journal from the floor of the bedroom she had shared with Sophie at Rose Cottage. He had read most of it. He had read to the point where she said she knew he had had an affair. He had never been able to read beyond that. Today he stood at the window overlooking the yard and opened the next page.