Jim Kelly: Death Watch

‘Where’s Voyce now?’

Valentine smiled, and Shaw realized how unusual that was. He looked twenty years younger.

‘Fuck knows. But Warren’s lifted the ban — said it didn’t seem to make much difference what he said anyway. The Cosyns case is open, so’s Tessier’s. We’re on it — with one condition.’

‘Which is?’

‘We talk to each other.’

‘About what?’

‘About tracking down Voyce, and making sure we’re there when he tries to put the frighteners on Robert Mosse — because if he does do that, and that’s got to be why he’s here, then there’s a really good chance our man will kill again.’

‘Try to kill again,’ said Shaw, closing his eyes. He heard Valentine get up, open a window, and strike a match. A wave falling, exploding around him in white surf, was the first image in a dream. But he woke almost instantly, with a heart-stopping jerk, because he’d felt those hands again, locked round his throat, trying to take his life away.

The next time he opened his eyes Fran was standing there holding Cosyns’s terrier dog — the one he’d taken

His wife was behind his daughter, trying to smile. ‘George had it in the car when he came round to tell us what had happened. It’s ancient.’ Lena shook her head.

She came to the bed and laid a hand on his forehead. ‘George said Fran could have it, if it was OK with you.’

Valentine had gone. Shaw was too horrified to speak.

‘Is it, Dad?’ asked Fran. ‘Is it all right?’