Shot of Silence (Justice Again Book 3) by M Comley (best contemporary novels txt) 📗

the ambulance coming, what a relief. Hurry, Charlie, let’s get her dried off and changed.”

Camilla groaned softly.

“She’s coming around,” Katy said in a whisper.

“Camilla, can you hear me?” Patti asked, giving Camilla’s shoulder a slight shake.

Another groan, and her eyes flickered open. “What? Where?” were the only two words the dazed young woman could manage before she burst into tears. “Why did you have to save me? Why? I want to be with Rufus. Let me go…I’m begging you, just let me go.”

“We can’t do that, love. I’m sorry, we’ll get you the help you need. Hang in there,” Katy replied. Never had she felt such sympathy for a woman as she did right then.

Two paramedics, both men in their early thirties, thundered up the stairs. Charlie and Patti joined Katy in the hallway, giving the men room in the small bathroom to assist Camilla. Then one of the paramedics ran down the stairs again and brought in a stretcher which he assembled under Katy’s gaze.

She tapped the man on the shoulder and mouthed, “Is she going to be all right?”

He nodded. “She’s going to be fine, we’ll see to that.”

“Thank you. We’ll follow you, if that’s okay?”

“That’s up to you. My guess is that she’ll possibly be sedated at the other end once the doctor has checked her over. It might be wise to leave her alone for twenty-four hours.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. Which hospital?”

“St Thomas’.”

The two men eased Camilla onto the stretcher and carried her downstairs and into the vehicle.

Katy jumped in the back for a final word with her. “Stay strong, Camilla. We’ll get you through this.”

“No one will be able to get me through this…only Rufus could do that, and he’s no longer with us. I want to be with him. I belong with him.”

“I’ll drop by and see you tomorrow. Check how you’re doing, I promise.”

“No. I’d rather you stay away. You should be out there, searching for him. He’s done this, he needs to be fucking punished. I don’t want to see you again unless it’s to tell me that you’ve caught the bastard, you hear me?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch whoever is responsible for the crimes.”

“It’s him. James! Why can’t you see that?”

“Yes, he’s our main suspect. All the evidence we’ve gathered so far is leading us to believe it’s him, but there could be something far more sinister afoot here. It could be possible that someone is setting him up, have you thought about that?”

“I don’t believe it. Just get out there and find him. I need justice for Rufus, my darling Rufus.”

“And you’ll get it. I promise you will.”

6

He watched from behind a neighbour’s hedge. An alley ran up the side of the house, he could use that to escape if someone spotted him, but they wouldn’t. He was better than that. Well-practised at the art of deceit—he’d had to be over the years.

Fear struck his heart. He’d heard the ambulance arrive and he’d thought Rufus had survived. He should have known that wasn’t the case, not with the pathologist and SOCO at the scene. Why had they run into the house? He’d been tempted to move closer for a better look but decided it would be far wiser for him to remain where he was, peering through the hole he’d made in the hedge to create a perfect viewing slot.

When the stretcher emerged, carrying his beloved Camilla, he almost blew his cover. What was wrong with her? She looked dreadful, pale and gaunt. Had she been eating well? He’d always ensured she ate plenty when she was at home with him.

We did good, two birds with one stone!

“What are you talking about?”

We killed him and nearly got rid of her as well. You should be pleased. She left you, dimwit, or are you forgetting that?

“No, no, how could I ever forget that? You’re to blame, you did this. There was no ‘we’ about it.”

Bollocks! It was your finger on the trigger. You’re the guilty party. I just goaded you into making the move. Gave you the balls needed to retaliate, that’s all. You need to grow a pair of your own, man. The sooner the better. Our job has only just begun.

“I’m not sure I want to continue. All this is your doing, not mine. You forced me into this. I was quite happy plodding along. Yes, I’d lost my soul mate, but I would’ve survived eventually.”

Yeah, yeah, of course you would! You said that after she died. And yet you let that fuckwit treat you like shit in your formative years.

“Leave them out of it. I’m over that. Past it. I don’t want to revisit what went on back then. I can’t do anything about that. It’s the future I need to consider now, not live in the vile past. He moulded me. I regard myself as a decent person.”

Don’t be so absurd. You, decent? After the murders you’ve committed in the last few days.

Laughter rang out in his head.

“You’re guilty of that. Not me. I had nothing to do with those murders.”

Hogwash, you don’t know what you’re bloody saying half the time. That bastard beat every ounce of common sense out of you at such a young age.

“He made me stronger, more resilient. I was coping just fine until you popped up. Your nagging and vitriol are relentless. I wish you’d do one and bugger off. Leave me to live my life in peace. Now that Rufus is no longer around, I know she’ll come running back to be in my arms again.”

Ha! And you think I’m the delusional one. Get a grip, man! She ain’t coming back, and who could blame her?

“Shut up, just shut the fuck up. She will, I have every faith in our love. She’ll soon come to realise I’m the only man who ever treated her right.”

Are you for real? She’s on her way to hospital after trying to kill herself because you just killed her one true love. I can’t make