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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

‘What did she want?’ Ryder asked, breaking the loaded silence.

‘I don’t know, but . . . I heard someone go into the study. That’s why I thought it was Dan.’

‘Did you go downstairs?’

Kristin shook her head. ‘No, everyone’s always coming and going. I got up, and when I reached the kids’ door, she was already coming out of the office. You can see over the banister and down into the hall from the doorway without going onto the landing. I went back to the kids and told them it wasn’t Dad, it was Auntie Heidi.’

‘Can you show us exactly where you were, please?’ said Ryder.

Kristin nodded and they filed back into the hallway.

‘Could you two stay in the office doorway?’ Ryder asked Dan and Ethan before following Kristin to the foot of the stairs. He began to climb, his left hand curling around the smooth banister rail. Flowers followed along behind them, the steep wooden stairs creaking beneath their combined weight.

At the top, Ryder crossed the landing and joined Kristin in the doorway of the children’s room.

‘You’re taller than I am,’ Kristin said, ‘but even I can see the study door down there.’

She was right. Dan and Ethan were clearly visible in the doorway below. Ryder moved aside for Flowers to take a look, and then they all traipsed downstairs again.

‘How long was Heidi in there?’ Ryder asked.

‘Not long. I heard the door, thought it was Dan, spoke to the kids and got up. As I said, I was at the door when she came out, so she was in there for no longer than a minute. I assumed she’d forgotten something to take to Rodney’s place.’

Ethan laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder, his eyes shocked.

‘She could have gone in there for anything,’ Dan said defensively. ‘We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’

‘That’s right,’ said Ryder. ‘At this stage, our investigation is ongoing. We’ll talk to Heidi and find out exactly why she came home that night.’

Thirty-nine

Sterling let herself into the rumpus room and sat on the edge of the bed. Garrett had told Sergeant Collins that she was a user, and in no time at all Collins had warned Elijah that he had a junkie on staff. It seemed increasingly unlikely that Collins would run Rodney Garrett’s prints against any he might have found upstairs in the house. It appeared a local’s word carried far more weight around here than that of an outsider.

Not that she could blame Elijah for what he’d done. He ran a great establishment that he’d spent years building up, and he was popular with the locals. Apart from having to call Ryder and Flowers to tell them her assignment was over, the disappointment in Elijah’s face was the thing that hurt the most.