Cuthbert's Way (DCI Ryan Mysteries, #17)(64)

“I’m going to miss you, little one,” Ryan told her. “Don’t forget me, will you?”

He turned to Anna, and held out his free arm, which curved around her to form a tight circle, just the three of them.

“I’ll come and get you, the minute this is done,” he promised, kissing the top of both of their heads. “If you see anything unusual, anything that concerns you, don’t stop, don’t wait—you just run. Understand?”

Anna nodded, and knew that her tears would soak through his shirt.

“Be careful,” she said, and took the baby from him. “Don’t worry about us, focus your attention to bringing him in.”

Ryan looked at the pair of them, turned and made for the door, before turning and walking swiftly back to claim Anna’s mouth in a searing kiss, as if it was their last. Afterwards, he cupped the baby’s head in his hand, kissed the top of it, and turned to leave.

His mother met him at the front door.

“You don’t need to worry,” she said, with admirable control. “We’ll look after them for you, but you must promise me something in return.”

“Anything,” he said.

“Look after yourself,” she said. “You’re all I have left.”

Ryan enveloped his mother in his arms and breathed in her scent, which was worth a million memories.

“I promise,” he said. “Drive quickly, but safely.”

She nodded, and raised her hand to wave as he walked swiftly down the drive towards his car, where Charles was waiting to see him off.

“Just been checking the tyres,” he said, for something to say. “Your front ones needed a bit of air, so I…”

Ryan pulled him in for a hard hug, and held his father for longer than was strictly necessary.

“There now,” Charles said, with a catch to his voice. “We’ll be fine, and so will you.”

“It’s for the best, isn’t it?”

“You know it is.”

Ryan nodded, and pulled away, scrubbing a hand across his face.

“If you see anything, hear anything—”

“I’ll know what to do,” Charles assured him, and then took his son’s shoulders in a light grip, standing eye-to-eye. “Listen to me now, Ryan.”

It was the first time he’d used the name, and Ryan stood up a little taller because of it.

“Wondered when you’d use that name,” he said. “I won our bet, after all.”

“Yes, you did.” Charles smiled. “Six straight bullseyes, that I counted. But it’s the seventh one that counts, son. That’s the one you don’t see coming, the one that comes at you when you least expect it, and it’s not always a bullet.”

He paused, his eyes demanding attention.

“You watch your back—that’s an order.”

Ryan gave a brief nod, and looked back towards the house.

“Get as far away as you can, as quickly as you can.”

“We’ll be on the road within thirty minutes,” Charles replied, and shook his son’s hand. “Go and do what you do best.”

*

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

The car was packed and they were ready to go, but for a final nappy change. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Anna realised they’d run out of nappies. How that could have happened, she didn’t know—but it had.

“I’ll head down to the shops,” Charles offered, checking the time on his watch.

Twenty past eight.

The corner shop would be open, as it always was in the early mornings, and it would only delay them by ten minutes at the most.

He’d take the car, to speed things up.

“I’ll be back in five minutes,” he said, casting an eye around the empty landscape.

Not another person or car in sight.

Good.

“Lock the doors,” he said, for good measure.

When he heard Eve bolt the door, Charles walked swiftly to his car—now packed to the rafters with baby gear—and fired up the engine.

A moment later, and he was on the road.

*

A thought struck Anna as she was checking her office for any stray nappies that could be used to refresh what was beginning to smell like a toxic explosion inside her daughter’s Christmas onesie. Her attention diverted, she shifted Emma to her other hip and reached for one of the textbooks on her bookcase, flipping through the pages until she found the image and the reference she was looking for.

…atop the highest throne…

“That must be it,” she said to herself, and Emma made a humming noise in agreement. “We’ll ring your daddy from the road and let him know but, for now, I’ll leave the page open here.”

Downstairs, Eve walked through the various rooms to check all the lights had been switched off, giving herself something to do while they waited for Charles to return.

As she stepped out of the living room and back into the hallway, she caught a flicker of movement through one of the glazed side panels on either side of the front door.

There was no time to react.

Wood splintered as a battering ram broke through its sturdy locks, and the door flew open on its hinges to reveal four masked men, dressed entirely in black.

Eve had always wondered how she would react in a fight or flight scenario, and that day she had her answer.