Page 21 of Dying Breath
‘Exactly what I told JD. He told you, didn’t he?’
The driver looked across at the huge guy sitting next to him and laughed. ‘He told me okay – he said you were the man. Get out of your car and walk to the bin over there, leave the money on your seat and I’ll do you a swap. Don’t come back to the car until I’ve driven away. Am I clear? You understand that?’
‘Yes. How do I know you’re not going to take the money and run?’
‘Well then, mister, you don’t, do you? You just going to have to trust me.’
He didn’t trust him one little bit, but he didn’t have any other option. He picked up his unfinished newspaper and got out of the car, walking towards the nearest bin to dump it. As hard as it was not to turn around, he managed to resist, even though the whole time he wondered how much shit he would be in with the rental company for leaving the keys in an unattended car at a busy service station. He dropped the paper in the bin and slowly turned around. The Audi was driving away and thankfully the car was where he’d left it. He walked back towards it, opened the door and picked up the heavy brown paper bag that had been placed on his seat. Casually tossing it into the passenger-side footwell, he shut his door and turned the key in the ignition, his hands slick with sweat.
It was certainly heavy enough to be a handgun. He’d just bought his first and last illegal firearm – as soon as he’d used it he’d be throwing it into the sea at the end of the pier. Straight into the grimy waters off Brooklyn Bay, where it would hopefully either be carried out to sea or embed itself into a sand bank. Either way, it didn’t matter; if anyone found it the salty seawater would have got rid of any DNA or trace evidence, rendering it inadmissible as evidence in court. He knew they could match the bullets up to the barrel of the gun, but hopefully they wouldn’t find it until it was covered in rust and barnacles, any evidence washed away. His plan was running perfectly.
Chapter Nineteen
Lucy ran her fingers through her hair. It was too warm in the station and she was stressed. Mattie walked back into the incident room with his clipboard. Browning followed, his tie loosened and his top three shirt buttons undone.
‘Tell me he’s made a full and frank confession.’
‘No, he hasn’t. He went the “no comment” route, apart from at the beginning when he was talking about their relationship before he screwed it up. Then he swore it had nothing to do with him.’
‘Fuck.’
‘Double fuck. And now he has to go up to the hospital because whatever shit he last injected into his veins has worn off and he needs to see a doctor. So Smithy is pissed because he’s had to send two officers up with him to guard him.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘So there’s nothing more we can do tonight.’
She looked at the clock on the wall – it was almost 10 p.m. ‘Right, well let’s call it a day. He’ll be at the hospital for hours and then he’ll need to get his eight hours’ beauty sleep in before we can question him again anyway. We might as well go home and get some rest.’
Browning almost cracked a smile.
Lucy drove into her street and felt her heart skip a beat to see the landing and living-room lights on in her house. She hadn’t been home all day and they definitely weren’t on when she left this morning. Parking outside, she phoned Ellie, who answered straight away.
‘Sorry, Mum – it’s me, I’m in the house. I got us a Chinese. You’ll have to warm yours up; it’s probably cold by now.’
‘Thanks, sweetheart, I was just checking.’
Getting out of the car, her heart rate slowed down to its normal pace. Lizzy Clements had left her a nervous wreck, even though Lucy would never admit it to anyone. She hated that she felt this way. At one point she wasn’t afraid of anything but now she was afraid of almost everything and it didn’t feel right. She needed to get over it because Lizzy Clements couldn’t hurt her or Ellie any more; she was dead. As she walked towards the front door, it opened and she was pleased to see Ellie standing there in a fluffy brown pair of pyjamas, which made her look like a five-foot teddy bear.
‘You’re sleeping here?’
‘Yes, if it’s okay?’
‘Of course it’s okay. I love seeing you. Especially after crappy days like today.’
‘Good – I didn’t want you to be on your own tonight after you left that message.’
Lucy looked at her daughter, who had grown up more in the last month than she could ever have imagined. She followed her inside the house, locking the front door behind them. The smell of whatever Chinese delights Ellie had ordered filled her nostrils and her stomach groaned in appreciation.
‘I’m starving and you are an angel.’
Ellie laughed. ‘Before you start praising me, I do have a reason for being so nice.’
‘I don’t care – you put the heating on and brought food. As long as you’re not pregnant we’re good.’
‘Mum. As if. You actually need a boyfriend for that to happen.’
Lucy kicked off her shoes and shrugged off her coat. Hanging it up in the hall cupboard, she noticed a large, brown envelope on the hall table. She decided that whatever it was could wait, and ran upstairs.
