BooksBarbecue
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

‘Sergeant Collins,’ he heard Ryder say, ‘Detective Sergeant Ryder here. Are you in close proximity to Khancoban right now?’ A pause. ‘Fifteen minutes. We have a situation here. We’ve had an undercover detective working in Khancoban, you know her as Ida Stevenson, the waitress at the hotel.’ Ryder paused while Collins replied. ‘I need you to go around to the house where she’s living, you know the place, she’s just been in to see you about an intruder. She’s in the studio downstairs.’ Another pause. ‘Yes, could you have her ring me immediately, and wait with her until we arrive? I’ll explain everything when we get there.’

Flowers was finally clear of the dust kicked up from the cars pulling onto the gravel shoulder. ‘Not many questions from him?’

‘I think he was too shocked to say much.’

Flowers glanced at the dashboard. ‘Seventeen minutes. We’ll be there just after Collins.’

Forty-one

Sterling looked at the suitcase lying open on the bed, filled to the brim with the clothes she’d brought with her. She only had her hair products and toiletries from the bathroom to go in now, and she needed to sort through the food. Not that she kept any more than the basics. She usually ate her main meals at work.

Work. Her daily routine had ended more abruptly than she could have imagined, but now it was time to pivot and return to her old and familiar life. Crouching in front of the heater, she wondered how officers who’d been undercover for many years coped when it was time for them to return to normality. She’d only been in Khancoban eight weeks, and yet she felt torn, as if she were standing with one foot in each life.

Was that the way Mitch felt? Torn between two worlds, one in the digital space, the other very much grounded in real life? Maybe he’d combine the two in the future and join a cybercrime unit, or become a spook with the Feds in Canberra.

Sterling took her gun from inside the heater and turned on her phone. While she waited for the screen to light up, she slipped the gun between the piles of clothing in her suitcase and clicked the fascia back into place. She looked at her phone as it buzzed with two alerts. A missed call from Ryder, and a text. Call immediately.

Ryder picked up straight away.

‘Sterling, listen closely.’

‘Yes, Sarge,’ she said, perching on the edge of the chair.

‘We have enough circumstantial evidence to charge Heidi with the murder of her brother. Flowers and I are about ten minutes away. I called the hotel when I couldn’t get on to you. Heidi’s due to start her shift there soon.’

‘That’s right.’ If Ryder had called the pub, he would know by now she’d been put off. But that could wait.