Simon Kernick - The Last 10 Seconds

Gore’s face darkened. He stared at her with an animal-like ferocity, and she could hear him grinding his teeth. He wanted to hurt her. She could feel his hatred as if it was a physical thing, and she willed him to lash out, to knock her down and give her a chance to turn this situation round and nick him.

Go on, you bastard, hit me. Hit me hard. Put your manicured hands round my neck, just like you did with Roisín that night. Give me the chance to twist your arm behind your back, slam you into that pricey antique desk of yours and finish your career for good .

But Anthony Gore wasn’t that foolish. Breathing hard, he stepped away from her and turned to Grier. ‘If you know what’s good for you, officer, you’ll take your colleague with you and leave right now, and don’t worry about her being your boss. In fifteen minutes’ time, she won’t be. She’s finished. I’m willing to ignore your part in this slanderous fiasco, as I’m sure you were coerced into coming here, but only if you leave this minute. Otherwise, I’ll hold you jointly responsible.’

Grier looked at Tina with a quiet desperation in his eyes. ‘Come on, ma’am,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing more we can do here.’

For a moment, Tina didn’t move, knowing she’d overplayed her hand, and lost the battle. Grier put a hand on her arm, gently nudging her towards the door. This time she didn’t resist, and as they walked out of the study, not looking at each other, Tina focused on maintaining her poise. She didn’t think she managed it, though.

But as Grier opened the door and stepped aside to let Tina into the hallway, she stopped dead. Standing there, facing her, still in her nightgown, was a small woman in her fifties, her tear-stained face a mask of rigid shock. Mrs Gore. And Tina felt a rush of hope, because one thing was absolutely clear.

She was terrified.

‘Don’t move,’ said Dougie MacLeod. ‘Or you’re dead.’

I was so shocked to hear my old mentor and the boss of one of London’s murder investigation teams threaten me with death that I disobeyed his instructions and turned round.

Dougie stood in the doorway pointing a black revolver at me. He was dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt, and his face was etched with a tension I’d never seen on him before.

Seeing that it was me, he lowered the weapon. ‘What the hell are you doing here, Sean?’ he demanded.

‘You weren’t answering your door.’

‘So you thought you’d just walk in?’

‘I need help, Dougie. Badly.’

He sighed. ‘This is a bad time, Sean. We’ve got an emergency on.’

‘What kind of emergency?’ I asked, feeling a terrible lurch of disappointment, followed by resentment. I’d expected a lot more from him.

‘The kind you’ve been watching on the news. The Night Creeper abduction. He was our suspect, remember?’ He replaced the safety on the revolver and put it in the back of his jeans, then pulled a half-crushed pack of Marlboro Reds from his pocket and lit one. ‘I’m sorry I can’t be more help,’ he continued. ‘Perhaps we can talk later.’ He walked past me, picked up the remote control from the arm of the sofa and switched off the TV. ‘Right now, I’ve got to go.’

I noticed he was sweating, and that his movements were stiff and hurried. ‘Do you always carry a gun for policework these days?’ I asked him. ‘I didn’t think DCIs needed them.’

‘I wasn’t going to take it with me. I only had it out because I thought you were an intruder.’

‘I didn’t even know you owned a gun.’

‘And I’d rather you didn’t tell anyone. It’s an illegal one. There’ve been a lot of break-ins here,’ he added, as if this explained why he was walking around with an illegal weapon I knew he’d never fire. ‘I’m sorry I pointed it at you, but if you will come trespassing round here. .’

I noticed he wasn’t looking me in the eye as he spoke, which again wasn’t like him. Something was definitely wrong.

‘I wasn’t trespassing. I came here looking for help, and I still need it. And it’s do with your case as well,’ I added, not sure how else I was going to get his attention.

‘And I’ll help later if I can, but right now, I’ve got to go. We’ve got a press conference.’ He started towards the door.

‘The press conference is at ten — they announced it just now. That’s three hours away.’

‘There are things to do before then.’

But I wasn’t moving. ‘It’s strange,’ I said. ‘I sneak into your house, battered and bruised, telling you I’ve got important information on what’s got to be the biggest case of your career, and you don’t seem to give a shit. You know what that says to me?’

He stopped in front of me, the muscles in his jaw working, his eyes wide and alert with nervous tension. ‘We’ll talk soon, OK?’

My punch caught him, and me, completely unawares. My strength and energy reserves might have been running on empty, but Dougie MacLeod went sprawling to the floor. Within a second I was on him, rolling him over on to his front and sticking my knee into his back before he could resist. I whipped the gun out from his jeans, then yanked him round and shoved the barrel against his forehead, cocking the weapon.

‘Start talking, now. Tell me everything you know about this whole case because I know you know something. Do it or I’ll kill you here and now. I swear it.’

I wouldn’t have done. I couldn’t have done. Even doing this to the man who’d once been a good friend and had saved my career when it could easily have gone down the pan, even that hurt me. I hated it. But I had to find out what was bothering him and why he was wandering round his house with an illegal firearm, and the only way I was going to learn that was if he took my threats seriously. I glared down at him, pushing the gun even harder into his head.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he whispered, staring up at me in fear, his nose bleeding where I’d hit him, his face turning an unhealthy puce colour.

‘I’ve almost died tonight, Dougie. I was involved in the Night Creeper abduction.’

‘What?’

‘It was an undercover op that went wrong. Kent’s dead. So’s everyone else who took him, and someone set us all up. And the thing is, I think it was you. Now you’ve got one chance. You talk or you die. Understand?’

And that’s when I saw the tears running down his face.

‘They’ve got Billy,’ he said desperately. ‘The bastards have got my boy.’

For a long moment, no one spoke, then Tina heard Gore let out a tiny, barely audible groan from his position behind her and Grier.

‘I’m just seeing these two out, Jane,’ he said, recovering quickly. ‘Why don’t you go back to bed? I’ll be up in a moment.’

Tina addressed Jane Gore directly. ‘You knew about this, didn’t you.’ It was a statement, not a question, and it stayed hanging in the air for a good second after she’d said it.

Mrs Gore’s face crumpled. ‘Did you kill her, Anthony?’ she whispered.

‘Of course I didn’t,’ he answered dismissively, as if such a question was frankly ridiculous.

He pushed between Tina and Grier and went over to comfort her, but she flinched away from his touch. ‘Don’t try to fob me off. Tell me the truth. Is what she says true?’

He leaned down towards her, marshalling all the persuasive skills that had served him so well in the courtroom in days gone by. ‘No it’s not. I swear it, darling. This is a big, big mistake.’ He turned to Tina and Grier. ‘What are you still doing here? This is a private matter. Get out.’

Grier looked at Tina, but she didn’t move. She could sense Mrs Gore wavering.