Chapters (58)
- COVER PAGE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- DEDICATION
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Acknowledgements
In the interview room, Ryder had stopped the recording and was turning back to face Heidi.
‘Would you agree that what you’ve just heard was the physical altercation of you attacking Detective Sterling in her residence?’
‘Yes.’
Ryder glanced at Benson, who opened the file in front of him and took out some papers.
‘Heidi Lorrimer,’ Ryder said, ‘you’ll be charged with assaulting a police officer, the attempted murder of a police officer, as well as the murder of your brother, Arthur Lorrimer Junior at Khancoban. Do you understand that?’
‘Yes.’
‘Come on, let’s go and wait for Sarge to come out,’ Flowers said to Sterling. ‘Benson’s getting out the charge sheets.’
Sterling nodded. ‘I’ve seen enough.’
They didn’t have long to wait before Ryder appeared in the corridor downstairs.
‘She’s been charged, and she’s just called Dan,’ he said, walking over to them. ‘Fortunately, they were in Cooma seeing their lawyer again.’
‘What do you want us to do, Sarge?’ Flowers asked.
Ryder checked his watch. ‘It’s going to take them an hour fifteen to get here, and then they’ll want to see Heidi.’ He raised a hand as Benson came out into the corridor looking for him. ‘I’ve got things to do. Why don’t you go and have rest at the motel, or go and grab a cup of coffee? Just make sure you’re back here in two hours’ time.’
Forty-eight
Ryder and Flowers sat opposite Dan and Ethan Lorrimer in the interview room where a few hours earlier Ryder had charged their younger sister with multiple serious offences.
Dan’s eyes were red-rimmed. He looked to have aged ten years in the past two days. By contrast, Ethan wore his stoicism like an armour.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Dan said, his voice breaking. ‘I can’t believe she killed Art, and then tried to murder your colleague. It’s like something out of a horror movie.’
Ethan laid a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. ‘We have to do everything we can to support her,’ he said. ‘We have no idea what she’s been dealing with all these years.’
‘If only she’d come to us,’ Dan said, pulling a white handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his eyes. ‘We could have tried to do something about it.’
Ethan glanced at Ryder. ‘She got in too deep, mate,’ he said to his brother. ‘They couldn’t let her leave because she knew too much.’
Ryder nodded. ‘That’s the way these groups usually work.’
‘She was so desperate she took Art’s life to save her own,’ Ethan said.