Fifty Fifty (Detective Harriet Blue #2)(49)

Chapter 71


‘I’VE GOT YOU,’ the man growled, heaving Caitlyn up from the ground, a helpless bundle in his thick arms. ‘I’ve got you now, love.’

Caitlyn was so exhausted. Her head fell back against the man’s arm and she looked up at him. Shaggy blond hair, a hard face with dark, tired eyes. He was running with her, glancing back towards the building as he made for the street. ‘I’ve got her! Get a medic!’

‘Where is he?’ she asked. ‘Is he … Is he …’

‘I don’t know,’ the man said. ‘But he’s not here, and that’s all you need to know. I’m police. You’re safe with me. We’ll get the prick, don’t you worry about that.’

‘I killed a man,’ Caitlyn whispered. Sleep was pulling at her. There were people all around them now, faces appearing at the man’s shoulders as they pushed through. Sirens wailing.

‘What?’

‘I killed someone,’ Caitlyn said.

‘Yeah?’ The blond man gave a crooked smile. ‘Welcome to the club, sweetheart.’





Chapter 72


I WAS IN a tiny cubicle lined with pale green curtains, lying stiff as a rod under hot white lights. I jolted as I felt hands around my throat, squeezing, hard fingers against my jaw. I reached up with my good arm and realised it was a plastic neck brace. The pain at the back of my head swelled and I groaned long and low, hoping someone would hear me and bring me drugs. Something was swimming in my system. Probably morphine. My eyes were running tears down my temples. Morphine always makes me cry.

I felt for the velcro strap at the side of my neck.

‘Don’t even think about it.’ Kash’s voice. He pulled my hand away. ‘You haven’t had your X-ray yet.’

The television in the corner was playing some game show. A plump, middle-aged woman was jumping up and down in excitement, apparently having chosen well from a selection of gold briefcases being exhibited by tanned models.

‘Zac.’

‘He didn’t make it,’ Kash said.

I felt a whump of grief in the pit of my stomach, hard as the blow of a fist. Immediately the blame swirled, as it always did, a cacophony of voices roaring between my ears.

You should have known he’d steal the gold.

You should have listened when he told you he was running away.

You should have known Snale’s house was a target.

You should have saved him.

You should have saved him.

You should –

‘You were pretty lucky, stepping back like that just in time,’ Kash said. From the corner of my eye I could see he was watching the television. ‘You’ve got first-degree burns. They’re like a bad sunburn. They’ll be gone in a few days.’

I lifted my left arm and examined the dark blue cast running from the crook of my elbow to my knuckles. My wrist was shattered. I knew the feeling. Had done it before, taking a swing at someone and hitting a wall instead.

‘Where are we?’

‘White Cliffs hospital. Four hours out of Last Chance. Medevac picked us up.’

‘Are you OK? Is Vicky –’

‘Everyone’s fine,’ he said. ‘Except Zac.’

I lay sweating in the neck brace, listening to the game show host introducing the rules of the next round. There was forty thousand dollars on the line. A lot of money for some people. Enough to give a life for. Enough to die for. Three more days, and I’ll be home, Sam. I could last the distance, but not like this. Not lying here, staring at the lights.

I pulled off the neck brace. Kash didn’t stop me this time. Probably tired of my bullshit. I sat up and felt the stitches in the back of my skull, the bald patch shaved there.

‘ What kind of bomb was it?’ I asked.

‘You shouldn’t worry about that right now.’

‘Just tell me.’

‘It was a circuit-breaker,’ Kash sighed. ‘Like I thought. Forensics have a few pieces of it that they’re examining. It was a more sophisticated job than the one that killed Theo Campbell, but not by much. There would have been two triggers. One was a pop-up hinge, like you see on kitchen cabinet doors, the flashy ones without handles. Instead of pulling the door open, you push it, it clicks and when you release it, the door pops open. You have to push again and hear the click for the door to close. The killer would have wired the hinge so that when Zac sat down it clicked and completed the circuit. If he’d have got off the seat, it would have popped open, breaking the circuit, setting off the bomb.

‘Looks like the secondary trigger was a plastic kitchen timer that we heard ticking. You can get them at the supermarket for about three bucks. The whole thing would have cost little and been easy to source without raising suspicions.’

‘Still. Let’s check with the store in Last Chance and the surrounding towns and see if any kitchen timers have been bought recently, and by whom.’

‘The results on the IP searches across the valley have come back. No one teaching themselves to make bombs in the last year. We’ll need another warrant to go back further.’

‘Christ.’ I rubbed my eyes. ‘Why didn’t I think about someone targeting us? The first victim was the chief of police. Of course it makes sense they’d go after Snale next.’