Page 4 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

C had had drilled into Romeo the importance of wearing gloves when driving their ghost car.

The door handle, both externally and internally, the steering wheel, seatbelt clip and the gear stick would be dusted if it ever came under suspicion, and Romeo’s prints were on the police data base.

He had to be careful in a way he hadn’t needed to be when he was ‘The Countdown Killer’.

Chad had also grown frustrated over Romeo’s lack of disguise on the rare occasions he left the house. He kept a black full-length parka, a blue cap, and a pair of prescription free glasses on the seat and was ordered to wear them whenever he ventured out.

Although witnesses had seen Romeo around their missing victims’ houses, they’d been unable to give a useful description.

He was a large man wearing gloves, dressed in mainly black with a cap pulled low over his forehead and his hair tied up so the length was indistinguishable.

The glasses were an added addition. Sunglasses would’ve been noticeable, even some thick frames drew the eye, Romeo’s were thin wire frames that were unflattering on his face.

He pulled into the multistory parking ramp at St John’s hospital and used the first space available. There was nobody lingering nearby, and he flew from the car, slamming the door shut before breaking out in a run to get to the front doors of the hospital.

Don’t take any unnecessary risks.

Chad’s voice was sharp, clipped in Romeo’s head and it yanked him to a stop.

He eyed the closest camera, pointing at the double doors to the hospital.

There would be more cameras inside ... people, Ally and Josh.

But Chad...

Romeo scrunched his face, taking a step closer. He dug his nails into his palms, eyeing the door.

“Damn it.”

He changed direction, strolling away from the entrance to accident and emergency.

Chad was inside.

And Romeo had to walk away.

He circled the hospital complex at a distance, always staring at the building until another thought crept into his head.

A trap.

We’d be more likely to lure the suspect into a trap rather than attempt to apprehend them in their own home.

What if the police had Chad, if Josh had worked it all out and had laid a trap for Romeo, one he’d driven straight into without any thought.

He turned sharply on his heels, heading back the way he’d come.

A second later, Romeo’s phone began to ring with Josh’s number flashing on the screen.

He covered his mouth when he answered, trying to be discreet.

“Where are you?” Josh asked. “Are you almost here?”

“I’m close.”

Josh exhaled. “Good.”

“What’s the latest? How is Chad?”

“The paramedic who treated him on scene managed to get him breathing again. They’re doing scans on him now to determine the damage, but he’s breathing on his own.”

“What damage?”

“They don’t know how long he went without oxygen to the brain. He was rescued by bystanders, but it wasn’t easy getting him out.”

“Rescued? From where?”

Josh took a shaky breath. “The water.”

Romeo blinked. “What the fuck was he doing in water ?”

“I’ll ... I’ll explain when you get here. How long are you going to be?”

Romeo grimaced. “I’ll be there as quickly as I can. Thank you, Josh.”

He froze at the woman on the bench fifty meters from him.

Ally Coulson.

He knew it was her from the few pictures he’d seen on Chad’s phone. Dark hair with the purplish tint lit up by the lamp she was under, thick purple glasses, and an oversized leather jacket. She cradled a coffee in her hands, and her eyes were unseeing as she stared at the ground.

She was sad, with sunken shoulders and a defeated hunch to her spine.

But it didn’t help.

She’d be sad if Chad was hurt or if he’d been found out to be harboring a killer.

Romeo kept walking, keeping his stride natural as he passed her.

He glanced from person to person outside the hospital, wondering if they were undercover officers ready to pounce.

Was the nurse on her phone outside the door really a nurse?

Or was she cleverly placed there to tempt Romeo close enough to ask her if she knew anything about Chad’s condition?

“Are you in there or are they just trying to draw me out?”

If he went over to her, he could ask, or he could call the hospital, but if it was a trap ... they would’ve thought of that already.

“Fuck,” Romeo hissed through his teeth. “Where the hell are you, Chad?”

He’d let emotion get the better of him and it had led him to St Johns.

But if they had Chad, it was more likely they were holding him at Bardhum Station. That’s where Romeo needed to be, unless he really was hurt.

Unless he really was inside the hospital, in pain, wondering where Romeo was.

Romeo’s head throbbed.

“Water,” Romeo muttered. “Pulled you from the water. What water?”

He shook his head, and checked his phone, praying for a message from Chad.

There was nothing.

He’d never been overly emotional, knew he lacked a few emotions altogether, but Chad had unlocked some in him he’d never thought he had, but this situation, this moment, they were twisting, and warping, and pulling so tight Romeo thought they might break him apart.

He didn’t know where Chad was.

And he didn’t know how to find him.

Romeo slowed his stride the closer he got to the parking ramp. The blue lights of a police car flashed. They reflected off the ceiling and the ground. Already, a few onlookers watched as a uniformed officer peered in through the driver’s window of Romeo’s car using the torch on her phone.

Josh stood by the trunk of the car, phone to his ear. He ran a hand over his blond hair, eyes wide as he spoke to whoever was on the other end.

Romeo turned around and managed to stop himself before he ran.

Never run, Chad’s voice said, even if someone sees you, even if you think they’re suspicious of you, don’t run. So, Romeo didn’t. He stepped out of the car park just as another police car arrived on scene, mounting the curb in the officer’s haste. A woman jumped out from the passenger side, calling Josh’s name into the darkness.

Romeo cursed himself as he walked far enough away from the hospital for him to arrange a taxi. He’d been overwhelmed with fear when Josh first called him, and he’d made a mistake by driving to the hospital, then parking in the parking ramp. He hadn’t been thinking, and not for the first time he saw the weakness of emotion. He’d only realized how much danger he was putting both Chad and himself in when he got to the front doors of accident and emergency.

They had his car, and it wouldn’t be long until they had the CCTV from the car park.

“Idiot,” Romeo hissed. He pulled off the jacket and the cap before balling them up, and burying them in a trashcan he strode by.

The taxi driver beamed a smile at him, and Romeo mirrored him as best as he could but knew the expression didn’t meet his eyes. He climbed into the back, and exhaled a long breath, hoping his fuck-up wouldn’t cost them, if it wasn’t already too late.

****

R omeo checked his phone again.

Nothing.

A trap or the truth.

He didn’t know, but he did know where Chad’s car had been last.

The white dot with Chad’s initials may have vanished from the map on his phone but he could still remember the address, and as soon as they turned onto the street, Romeo spotted Chad’s car, a silver Honda Civic, parked on the side of the road.

“Can you pull over here?” Romeo asked.

The driver flashed him another smile, and Romeo managed to match it for appearances sake. He didn’t get out immediately, though. He scanned the area, scrutinizing every parked car in case there were undercover officers inside.

Everything was still.

There was no one lingering in a suspicious manner.

“Problem?” the driver asked.

“Lots of them,” Romeo mumbled back. “Can you wait here?”

“Sure.”

There was a row of houses, all with their curtains drawn, but lights shone around them. Nothing alarmed Romeo about the state of Chad’s car. It was well parked, there were no dents, or smashes, nothing that indicated anything was wrong. He tried the handle, and found it locked, and when he peered through the window, he spotted Chad’s phone, face down on the passenger seat.

Did they arrest him here?

Push him up against the car and cuff his hands behind his back?

Romeo closed his eyes. “Give me a sign, Chad, a fucking sign.”

“It can’t stay there.”

He froze at the woman’s voice before turning to slowly face her. She stood on the doorstep to the house, in silhouette, and it was only when she took a step closer did Romeo see her clearly.

She wore a bright pink dressing gown and had rollers in her black hair.

“Did you see the man it belongs to?” he asked.

She frowned, folding her arms across her chest. “I assumed you owned it.”

Romeo shook his head.

“It’s been there since I got home at 6:00,” she said. “I don’t know who it belongs to, but if I’d had seen them, I would’ve told them they can’t park there. They need a permit to park along here,” she pointed to the nearby sign illuminated by a streetlight. “Residents only, and this car ... well, I don’t recognize it. It needs to be moved.”

Romeo turned his back on the woman before glancing up and down the road. “Water...”

“What was that?” she shouted.

He almost walked away without asking, but glanced at her over his shoulder.

“Where’s the closest body of water?”

He didn’t expect a reply, the trap seemed the more likely option, but he frowned when he got one.

“That’ll be the fishing lake, four hundred yards in that direction,”

Romeo twisted around to see where she was pointing.

“A fishing lake?”

“Yes. “

“Why the hell would he be at a fishing lake?”

He rubbed his brow, remembering what Chad had told him earlier. Josh had invited him over to his flat for pizza. He wanted to tell Chad about a disaster date with his new girlfriend, Angel. There was no mention of fishing, unless they’d changed the plan.

“Are you moving this car or not?”

“Not,” Romeo replied before jogging back to the taxi. He jumped in the back, ignoring the middle finger from the woman, but the taxi driver honked his horn and gestured out of the window at her on Romeo’s behalf.

“Where to now?” the driver asked.

“The fishing lake.”

“It’s a bit late for fishing.”

“I just want to drive by it.”

“The Harley.”

“What?”

“The Harley. It’s the name of the lake. They’ve got some good size carp in it, caught a pike once.”

“Is it dangerous?” Romeo asked, leaning between the seats.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be bitten by one, put it that way.”

Romeo curled his hand into his seat. “I meant the lake.”

“Oh. It’s deep, if that’s what you mean. But the place is well maintained.” He shrugged. “It’s one of the better ones.”

Romeo slumped back in his seat, frowning.

It didn’t make any sense.

He dropped his head into his hands, resisting the urge to claw at his scalp.

“Are you going to be sick?”

“No,” Romeo mumbled through his fingers, “I’m not going to be sick. Just drive.”

****

T he lake offered Romeo no clue.

If Josh was telling him the truth, then why had Chad been at the lake?

It was too dark to investigate, and the gate for the car park had been locked. The fishing lodge, the signposts, even the website looked expensive, not the kind of place a gang would drag Chad to and drown him.

Romeo tried to push the thought from his head, but it persisted. Chad in trouble. Chad surrounded. Chad unable to call him. He had been plagued by those thoughts before, dreams where the magpie was Chad and Chad was the magpie.

Or ... Chad pulled over by the police. Chad interrogated. Chad in a holding cell somewhere while they tried to draw Romeo out.

Romeo’s headache beat like a drum.

Mercutio was hiding beneath the table when Romeo stepped into the kitchen.

A urine puddle shone on the floor.

“Shit,” Romeo exhaled. “I’m sorry.”

Romeo had left him far too long, and after cleaning up the mess he managed to coax a cowering Mercutio out from the table.

“I’m not mad,” he told him, patting his head. “It was my fault.”

He opened the back door wide for Mercutio to go outside.

He never went far.

Then Romeo pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table. He texted Josh for an update of Chad’s condition.

He placed his phone on the table and waited like he’d been waiting three hours before.

Romeo snatched it off the table when it buzzed.

“Where the hell are you?” Josh snapped.

“I’ve been ... delayed.”

“Delayed?”

“My flight,” Romeo scrunched up his face, hoping it sounded plausible. “It was cancelled.”

He braced himself for Josh to ask where he was flying from, but instead Josh just exhaled a long drawn out, “shit.”

“How is he?”

“The neurosurgeon’s been in. He said from the damage he suspects Chad was without oxygen for five to eight minutes before bystanders managed to get him out and begin CPR.”

Romeo didn’t know Josh at all, didn’t know whether he sounded genuine. He pressed his lips together, waiting for Josh to break the silence.

“He’s in a coma. He has ... there’s damage, particularly in his hippocampus. But he’s breathing on his own, and the doctor thinks the water being cold would’ve helped.”

It was specific. Maybe too specific. Romeo’s head pounded.

“When is he going to wake?”

Josh hesitated, he hesitated so long, Romeo growled out his name.

“They don’t know,” he said softly

“His doctor must’ve given some kind of indication.”

“It all depends on how Chad responds to treatment over the next few days, but there is a chance ... the doctor told us with cases like this, there’s always a chance he might not wake up.”

“He will,” Romeo said firmly with no room for argument. “He will wake up.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Hope isn’t necessary. He will. Tell me what happened.”

“Hap ... happened?”

Romeo closed his eyes. “He told me he was going to see you.”

“He didn’t turn up—”

“Did you rearrange a place ... did he cancel?”

“No. He didn’t show. I called him, I sent him messages, but he didn’t reply, then Ally phoned me.”

“Ally...”

“Oh, she’s his sergeant, was his sergeant, but they’re good friends.”

Romeo reopened his eyes and calmed himself of any irritation. “I know who she is. Why did she call you?”

“She’s Chad’s next of kin. The hospital called her, said he was in a bad way. She picked me up on the way to the hospital and we tried to work out what had happened. A bystander saw Chad ... he saw him fall into the water. He managed to get Chad out and began CPR while someone else called an ambulance. There was an off-duty paramedic close by who managed to get him breathing again.”

“I don’t understand why was he there? Why did he park his car up on that street and walk there?”

Josh was quiet for a long time. “On that street,” he echoed. “How do you know where he parked? We haven’t found his car yet...”

Romeo straightened at the change in Josh’s tone.

“Do you know where his car is?” Josh asked. “Do you know where he parked?”

When Romeo didn’t immediately answer, Josh kept up his questioning.

“Where are you? Where are you flying from?”

Romeo said nothing.

“You’d only just got back from your getaway, and you’ve managed to fly out of the country, only for your returning flight to be cancelled, all in the space of eight hours.”

“What are you implying?” Romeo replied coldly.

“If I find out you had anything to do with what happened to Chad, if you... I’ll...” Josh exhaled a breath that sounded like it passed through gritted teeth.

Romeo narrowed his eyes. “You’ll what, Detective Constable ?”

“He’s been through enough.”

“I know what he’s been through. I’d never do anything to hurt Chad.”

When Josh said nothing, Romeo checked the phone to make sure they were still connected.

But Josh had ended the call.