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Ki
He sensed movement in what looked like the kitchen and an open door. Ki
Ki
In the kitchen at Fallowfields, Da
‘You’re leaving then?’ he asked. Suitcases stood in the hall and Naomi had excused herself to finish off her packing. Napoleon had followed, disliking the upset of people moving around him with big bags. He liked a settled life. She had asked Patrick and Da
Patrick nodded. ‘Sergeant Fine can’t promise police cover, Alec’s handed over all the evidence we’ve got on Ki
‘If your mother agrees, you could come and stay for a while,’ Harry offered. ‘It is the holidays after all. No school to worry about.’
Da
‘I could use the company,’ Patrick said. ‘If your mum and dad say its OK.’
Da
He finished off his tea and stood up. ‘Better go and help Naomi,’ he said. ‘Thanks a lot for breakfast and, you know, everything else.’
Harry nodded. ‘You’re welcome,’ he said.
‘I like this place,’ Da
‘Yeah. I could live here, I think.’
‘It’s a bit out of the way for a townee.’
‘I’m not much of a townee,’ Patrick said. ‘We’re right on the edge of town anyway. Where I live you can get down on to the canal and walk right out into the country and the sea’s only five minutes the other way. That’s the only thing living here. I’d miss the sea. My mum lives near the sea too. In Florida. When I visit my room looks right out on to the ocean.’
‘You get on OK with your mum?’
Patrick nodded. ‘When mum and dad got divorced I went to live with her. She met my stepdad when she was out there on business. He’s OK, got two sons of his own, but I didn’t fit in there and I missed my dad and, I don’t know, I came home for a trial, just to see how it worked out and I decided to stay. Florida’s nice and my mum’s family are nice, but it never felt like home.’
Da
Patrick nodded. ‘Maybe you need to tell them that,’ he said.
Ki
Pausing only to check his weapon, Ki
Harry and Marcus were clearing away the breakfast things. Marcus was still nervous, still jumpy. He pla
‘Depends what you’re ru
Marcus froze. Harry, turning from the sink found himself facing Sam Ki
Dimly, Harry recognized it as an automatic and some odd bit of his mind suggested that Patrick would know the make and model. It was the sort of oddity that Patrick always knew when they watched films together. But this was not a film.
Marcus had begun to panic. Gibbering wordlessly. Harry shushed him impatiently. ‘What do you want?’ he asked Ki
‘What do you think I want?’
‘I wouldn’t know.’
‘Don’t try to be smart,’ Ki
‘I don’t have them,’ Harry said, oddly relieved that he could tell the truth. Harry was never very good with lies. ‘The police have everything we found.’
Ki
‘Harry, give him what he wants.’
Harry glanced sideways at Marcus. ‘You know I can’t do that. Sergeant Fine took the books away last night. You were here, you saw it.’
‘But your notes, you must have kept notes. I know you kept notes.’ Marcus started to run, he leapt for the kitchen door. Ki
Harry grabbed a towel and made to move towards the fallen man. He could hear footsteps, ru
‘And you bloody well stay there.’ Ki
Alec appeared in the doorway and Ki
The boys and Naomi were still upstairs, Harry thought. He prayed they had heard the shot but would have the sense to stay put.
‘You. Who else is here. I know about Da
‘No,’ Harry said firmly.
Alec shot him a look, nodded almost imperceptibly.
He hoped fervently that Marcus would not contradict but the man was lying on the floor clutching at his injured leg and seemed not to have even heard.
‘You.’ Ki
‘Marcus is hurt, at least let me help him first.’
‘Just do as you’re told.’
Having nothing else to hand, Harry tore the tea towels into strips and used them to bind Alec and Marcus’s hands and feet to the kitchen chairs. He dare not tie them too loosely, knowing Ki
Harry took a deep breath. He was oddly calm in the face of the gun; less so having witnessed the sheer unpredictability of Ki
He was wary, certainly, but as he set about the practical task of binding Marcus’s wound and tying his friend’s hands and feet he found that his mind was oddly calm. Out of sight of Ki