A Room Full of Killers - Michael Wood (motivational books to read txt) 📗

thought I could do a thousand things at once. It backfired and I lost the Meagan’s their son,’ her voice broke and she couldn’t hold on to her emotions any longer.

Frank went over to the sofa and put his arm around his daughter. He pulled her into him. Matilda allowed herself to be comforted. The tears came and refused to stop. This wasn’t just a short cry while she looked over her wedding photos, this was months of pent-up grief and anger finally flowing free.

‘Oh God, Dad. I didn’t get Carl back,’ she was barely audible through the tears. ‘He’s dead. I know he’s dead, and I let that happen.’

Frank didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say. He sat back with his daughter in his arms and allowed her to cry herself out. This is what she needed.

Matilda was shocked awake. She looked around wondering for a brief second where she was.

She had cried herself to sleep on her father’s lap. He had obviously managed to wriggle himself free and place a blanket over her, not that she had noticed. There was a note on the coffee table written in her father’s flowery handwriting:

I didn’t want to wake you. I was going to go home but the rain is biblical out there. I thought I’d sleep in one of your spare rooms. I hope you don’t mind. Dad, xx.

Matilda smiled. The relationship she had with her mother had always been fractious. It wasn’t that they didn’t like each other or get on, they did, they were just two very different people. It was the same with Harriet. They may be sisters but they weren’t close at all. With her father, Matilda felt more relaxed. She could say anything to him without feeling like she was being judged. She could announce she was giving away all her money and possessions to charity and spend the rest of her life in a kibbutz in the third world and Frank wouldn’t bat an eyelid. In fact, he’d probably ask if he could join her.

The fire was dying, just a few embers remained. It was cold. The wind was howling and the rain lashing against the windows sounded like someone was trying to break in. She felt safe knowing her father was asleep upstairs. Although how he could sleep through what seemed like the end of the world was beyond her.

She pulled the heavy curtains back and looked out. The road was a torrent of fast-flowing water. There was bound to be flooding in some parts of the city. She cast her mind back to the floods in June 2007 and tried to remember which parts of Sheffield had succumbed to the elements of a freak summer storm. Meadowhall had been closed for days. The River Don burst its banks, Heeley and parts of Milhouses Park flooded too. Hadn’t someone died at Milhouses?

Her mobile phone burst into life on the coffee table. She looked at her watch. It wasn’t quite three o’clock yet. The screen informed her Rory Fleming was calling and she’d missed five calls from him already. So it wasn’t the weather that had shocked her awake.

‘Rory, what’s wrong?’

‘Ma’am, I’m on my way over to yours,’ Rory was screaming down the phone over the sound of the weather that was obviously buffeting his car. Matilda could hear the windscreen wipers thrashing loudly in the background.

‘Why? What’s happened?’

‘Jacob Brown has escaped from Starling House.’

FORTY-TWO

While waiting for Rory to arrive, Matilda scribbled a quick note to her father and ran upstairs to make herself look more presentable. A quick wash, a comb dragged through her hair to untangle the knots, and a pair of waterproof trousers and she was ready. She ran downstairs as the doorbell chimed.

‘I think you’re going to need something better than those,’ a soaked Rory Fleming said looking down at Matilda’s walking boots. ‘Don’t you have any wellies?’ He was soaked despite only being in the elements from the top of the drive to the front door.

‘I’m not sure. Come in. I’ll have a look. What’s happened anyway?’

‘We had a call about half an hour ago. Kate Moloney was frantic. She said an alarm had gone off. At first, she thought it was the weather. She went around the building with the two night guards – Jacob Brown’s door was wide open and a window in the recreation room had been smashed from the inside.’

‘Shit.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

Matilda was in the cupboard under the stairs looking for something, anything, that would protect her in the harsh weather outside. ‘Anyone on-site yet?’

‘Apart from a couple of PCs parked outside, DI Brady is going to wake up a few DCs and meet us there. He’s organizing a full search of the house and grounds and he’s going to try and scramble SY99. Though in this weather I’m not sure it’ll be safe enough to take off.’

‘Probably not,’ Matilda said from inside the cupboard. ‘Jesus! How could the uniforms have missed this?’

‘They were parked at the front. Everything happened around the back.’

‘Matilda, what’s going on down there?’

Frank Doyle stood at the top of the stairs wearing only the white towelled dressing gown that had been on the back of the door in the spare bedroom he had gone to sleep in.

‘Oh, Jesus, sorry,’ Rory said, turning away in embarrassment. ‘I didn’t realize you had … you know … that you were—’

Matilda scoffed. ‘Oh for God’s sake, Rory, he’s my dad. Dad, this is DC Rory Fleming. Rory, my dad, Frank Doyle.’

Rory’s red face turned almost purple as he flooded with embarrassment. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to … well … it’s nice to meet you, sir.’

‘You too. What’s happening, Mat?’

‘Long story, Dad. Go back to bed. I’m not sure when I’ll be back but help yourself to anything in the fridge.’ She had found some wellington boots and was quickly pulling them on. Time was of the essence.

‘Drive carefully,’ was the last thing she heard as she slammed the door shut