Page 75 of Gone in the Night
‘Where’s Marie? Who let you bastards into my house?’
Ben stepped between Stefan and Amber. ‘We have a search warrant; this is all legal.’
‘The fuck it is. What’s your cause? Why are you here invading my privacy? Marie.’
He yelled her name so loud it echoed around the house. Marie appeared at the end of the hallway, her face red. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
‘I couldn’t stop them; they have paperwork.’
She rushed towards Stefan holding out the warrant for him, and he snatched it out of her hands so violently that she quickly stepped away from him. He read it, then tore it in two and threw the pieces onto the floor.
‘Get the fuck out.’
Ben shook his head. ‘No, we are here legally and if you cause any trouble, I’m going to have to arrest you for obstructing the course of justice, and I really don’t want to do that, Stefan. Let’s just be calm about this, the quicker we get done the faster we can leave you in peace.’
Stefan sucked in a deep breath as if trying to control his temper, but his knuckles were clenched hard. Out of nowhere he threw a punch at Ben and smacked him in the face, hitting him hard on the right eye socket. Ben stumbled back as the two task force officers who were standing halfway down the stairs rushed at Stefan, who began throwing punches at anyone and everyone.
Ben saw the red dots of the taser line up on Stefan’s chest through his left eye, which was open, his right one had swollen shut, and before he could shout no to whoever had their taser centred on Stefan’s chest, he heard the static buzz as the barbs were released. They hit the target dead centre and Stefan let out a shocked scream as he fell to the floor twitching.
‘Holy crap,’ Marc shouted, and Ben turned to see Amber standing there holding a taser that was attached to the task force officer’s belt.
She shrugged. ‘Wasn’t going to stand by and watch you all get battered.’
Ben’s eye was smarting and he didn’t know whether to clap or yell at her to get out of the house. Marc was staring at Stefanwho was still twitching, then turned to Ben who was clutching his eye and muttered, ‘What a clusterfuck.’
Ben wasn’t used to hearing his boss swear. He had to stifle the laughter that was threatening to explode because it really was a clusterfuck. Instead, he said, ‘Somebody call an ambulance for Mr Montgomery.’
And then he sat down on the bottom step and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Marie was staring down at her boss in horror; she looked at Ben. ‘Is he going to be okay? I mean he doesn’t look okay. Let me get you some ice.’
‘He’ll be fine, in bit.’
Then she rushed towards the kitchen area. When she came back with a tea towel filled with ice, he thanked her and pressed it against his aching eye. It wasn’t the first time he’d taken a punch in the line of duty and wouldn’t be the last, but it had taken him by surprise which annoyed him more than being punched. He’d let his guard down big-time. What else had he let slip because he wasn’t paying attention?
Stefan was taken away in an ambulance, and Amber went, too, keeping an eye on him. Ben declined medical treatment but did agree to let Marc drive him back to the station. They left everyone else behind to finish the search.
Back at the station, Ben went straight to the toilet to look at the damage to his eye. The ice had helped a lot. It was purple and black, still swollen shut but it wasn’t cut or bleeding. That had been a good punch. When he went into the empty office, he sat down and sighed.
Marc came in with two mugs of tea and put one on the desk in front of Ben.
‘Good for shock, stuck a couple of sugars in it for you.’
‘Thanks. I’m okay, that will teach me to let my guard down.’
Marc was bending over him staring at his eyes. ‘Yep, he got you good. What the hell do you think is going to happen now?’
‘Not a lot if we don’t find any evidence at the Montgomerys’ house then we’re back at square one, no killer in custody and three dead bodies in the mortuary. Let’s hope they don’t decide to make it four whilst we’re running around like headless chickens with no idea what’s going on.’
‘Have you heard from Morgan or Cain? Do you think we should phone the hospital?’
Ben took out his phone, he had no new messages. ‘I don’t know what to do, boss, they’re not going to discuss Amy with either of us.’
‘Surely one of those two can give us an update. I feel as if I’m walking on eggshells waiting.’
Ben lifted his phone, snapped a picture of his eye and sent it to Morgan and Cain.
You missed all the fun, how is Amy? Let me know ASAP.
