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Back Dead Horse Gap Save as PDF
Chapters (58)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Acknowledgements

‘Don’t worry about that,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed having you here. I can set that up again in about five minutes.’

‘Great. Now I know who to call when I have tech problems.’

He smiled and checked his watch. ‘It’s just gone six. We should call Ryder now.’

‘Mitch,’ she said, before he had time to bring up Ryder’s contact in his phone. ‘I’ll keep your secret for as long as you need me to. You can trust me.’

‘I know I can.’ He shouldn’t have doubted her, shouldn’t have worried about her finding out about a part of his life he hadn’t shared with anyone at work. But he had worried, knowing she was all about the force.

‘I missed you,’ she said simply. ‘That’s why I came here. I had no idea how much I was going to miss you.’

He reached out and touched her cheek. ‘I missed you too. But you already knew that.’

Thirty-three

‘I’m glad you told Sergeant Collins about Garrett,’ Ryder said to Sterling when he arrived. ‘If he’s been messing with you, a stern word from Collins might make him pull his head in.’

‘What if his behaviour escalates?’ said Flowers.

‘I’ll be on the lookout for that, don’t worry,’ said Sterling. ‘Collins is brushing for prints. Surely he’ll run a match with the prints on Garrett’s record, particularly as I’ve singled him out.’

Ryder stood up and paced back and forth in Flowers’ living room. ‘He should, and we’re going to have to leave it up to him to do it, otherwise we’ll blow your cover.’ He looked at Sterling who was sitting on the lounge beside Flowers. ‘Any problems on the way here?’

She shook her head. ‘I didn’t run because I was scared, Sarge. I ran because I decided that’s what Ida would have done.’

Ryder nodded. ‘You need to make your own decisions and trust your intuition when you’re undercover, because you don’t have anyone else to rely on. And you did that.’ Ryder hesitated. This was the bit he was unsure of. ‘Is there any particular reason why you chose to come here?’

Sterling glanced at Flowers, and Ryder’s mind began to race. Was there something going on here that he needed to know about?

‘It was impulsive, Sarge,’ Sterling said. ‘I was heading to the motel room in Jindabyne, but when I reached the turnoff into Thredbo and you were all so close, I couldn’t resist. I didn’t go to the Golden Wattle because Eva has guests there as well as you guys. I knew Flowers was on his own; we’ve been catching up each night as you know.’

Flowers nodded, his expression serious. ‘That’s been working well. I’ve been able to fill in the gaps for her that aren’t always in the case notes.’