The Hard Way by Duncan Brockwell (electronic book reader .txt) 📗

“To be honest, I have no idea. I guess it depends if we can get her to open up. If not, her lawyer will shut us down before we even start. She’ll have crazy-good lawyers.”

“Arseholes, more like.” And she wasn’t wrong. Miller was yet to meet a solicitor or barrister she liked. There she and Hayes were trying to put criminals behind bars, and along came these bastards, whose sole job it was to free them. No, she would never get on with a lawyer. “Here we are.”

Miller let her supervisor out first. Along the hallway, it still smelt of piss, only mixed in with stale cigarette smoke and body odour. Not a great combination, she thought, wrinkling her nose. “How could anyone live here?”

She felt guilty when a door to her right opened, and a young mother, probably in her late teens to early twenties greeted her pushing a buggy, two children under the age of five clinging on to the bars in front of her. “Afternoon, ma’am,” was all she could say to alleviate the guilt. Not everyone had a choice of where they lived.

“Here, number twenty-six.” Hayes stood to the side of the brown wooden door. She moved closer and stuck her ear against the wood. “I can hear movement inside.”

Not believing her partner, Miller followed suit, listening through the door. “Definitely someone in there. We’ve got probable cause, right?”

Hayes nodded. “It could be Fernando Linares, and he’s wanted in connection with the murders. Try the handle first.”

There was shuffling coming from inside the flat. Miller held the handle, expecting it to be locked, but it turned. “What do you know?” She turned it all the way, then pushed the door open.

A woman appeared in the hallway carrying some clothes.

Miller put her in her mid-thirties. She had long brown hair and wore jeans and a vest top. “Oh shit!”

Miller held out her hand. “Stay right where you are, ma’am.”

Before she could finish, the woman dropped the clothes and sprinted further down the hall to a door on her left, which she slammed shut and locked.

Without waiting, Miller ran after the woman, arriving at the door as it locked. She cursed and started rapping on the wood. “Open this door, ma’am. We just want to talk to you. You’re not in any trouble.” Listening through the wood, the woman was making a move.

“Stand back, Miller!” Hayes ordered, slamming her foot against the door.

The wood cracked and the door swung open. Miller rushed into the bathroom, where the woman’s leg could be seen outside. “I’m going after her.”

At the open window, Miller saw the woman running along a roof. She climbed out and jumped onto the roof below. The landing stung her ankle. Hayes stared down at her from inside the flat’s bathroom. “I’ll get her, don’t worry.”

The woman ahead of her was slow, probably wondering how she was going to get out of this. Miller used it to her advantage, running at full velocity towards her. “Stop! I just want to talk to you.”

At the end of the roof, the woman stopped and stared at the ground. Miller came to a halt a few feet from her, hands out in surrender. Catching her breath, she tried to reason with the woman. “Please, you’re not in any trouble. We just need to know where Fernando is, that’s all. We need to speak to him about Kurt.”

“He didn’t do it. My brother is innocent.”

Instead of turning round to face Miller, the woman bent her knees and jumped.

“No!” Miller ran to the edge, expecting to find the woman injured on the ground.

To her amazement, Fernando’s sister landed on a patch of grass and ran off. “Damn it! Wait!” She took the challenge and jumped herself.

Landing into a roll, Miller got to her feet and chased Fernando’s sister behind the block of flats along a path. Her quarry ahead, Miller turned right into an alley beside the block of flats. “Don’t make me chase you. It won’t end well.”

Up ahead, the alleyway’s exit growing closer, Miller had to apprehend her before she made it into the open.

The woman was too close to exiting the alley for Miller to catch her.

A white car blocked the alleyway from the right, parking across it, as Linares’ sister ran into it, sprawling over the bonnet.

With an injured knee, Fernando’s sister writhed on the pavement in agony. Miller stopped in front of the Peugeot. Hayes swung out of the driver’s seat, ran over to the woman and rolled her onto her front, cuffing her hands behind her back. “Don’t ever run from the police. We’ll always catch you in the end.”

Miller bent over, hands on her knees. “Good one.”

“Lucky break, more like.” Hayes forced the woman to her feet and put her in the back of the Peugeot. “Come on, get in. We’ve got an interview to do.”

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Miller sat in the passenger seat. When they were on their way to the station, her mobile vibrated in her pocket. Retrieving it, she smiled at Luke’s text. Using both thumbs, she keyed a reply. I’m looking forward to seeing you, too. xxxxx.

“Luke?” Hayes glanced over at her with a grin.

Miller nodded, smirking. “He’s cooking us dinner tonight. He’s over at mine prepping.” She could imagine him in only an apron slicing vegetables. Or at least that was how she liked to think he cooked.

“Very nice. What’s he cooking?”

“He won’t tell me. Says it’s a surprise, his family recipe.”

Hayes glanced at her again. “Good. I’m glad you’ve found each other.”

28

Richard Fisher closed the blinds in his office. “Shit!” The white transit van Vanu showed him was still there, seemingly with no one occupying it. His second-in-command informed him that the driver stays in the back. At first he believed Vanu was just being paranoid, but now he wasn’t so certain. The van had been sat down the road from their workshop for days.

No one could