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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

‘That’s us done,’ said Ryder, as Heidi Lorrimer, head down and accompanied by a court officer, turned and descended the stairs to the cells.

Ryder and Benson stood, dipped their heads at the magistrate, and then made their way to the back of the courtroom.

In his peripheral vision, Ryder saw Dan, Kristin and Ethan Lorrimer sitting together, stony-faced and staring straight ahead as though they couldn’t believe it was over so quickly.

Fifty-two

Sterling gazed at the house through the car window as Flowers pulled into the kerb. It was hard to believe her time here had ended so abruptly. They’d even said their formal goodbyes to Sergeant Collins, and while he’d good-naturedly refused to give up his secret fishing location to Flowers, he’d been happy to tell Sterling about his lunchtime meeting with Lewis Buchanan.

It was during the school holidays, and he’d asked Buchanan to lunch to ask his advice on a right-of-way issue that was causing a problem between two property owners. Over lunch, Collins thought the high school teacher might like to know that his teenage daughter, who’d been staying with a friend while competing in a gymkhana, had attended a large underage party that the sergeant had been forced to shut down.

Collins recalled them briefly discussing the Lorrimers after Heidi had come into the hotel with Rodney Garrett, and Sterling left the station convinced that Collins was a good cop who cared for his community with a light touch, using a firmer hand only when necessary.

‘Everything okay?’

She turned to find Flowers watching her, his arm resting on the wheel. ‘When are you going to tell Ryder you’re leaving?’ she asked. ‘I thought you might do it last night when you gave him the print.’

‘And spoil his evening? No way.’ Flowers shook his head slowly, his eyes solemn. ‘I’ll tell him as soon as we get back to Parramatta. I won’t leave him in the lurch, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘No . . . I was just wondering.’

‘I have time, Nerida,’ he said quietly.

‘Good,’ she said with a smile, deciding to change the subject. ‘I’m so grateful you’re here with me. I’m not looking forward to going in.’

‘C’mon, look on the bright side,’ Flowers said. ‘You’ll be handing back the old Forrester shortly.’

‘True,’ said Sterling with a laugh. ‘It’s a bit underpowered for me.’

A few minutes later, she unlocked the door of the rumpus room, flicked on the light, and blinked in surprise. ‘It’s all been tidied up,’ she said. ‘I was expecting it to look like a bomb had gone off.’

Flowers followed her into the room. ‘I think Ryder organised for Harriet Ono to come up and do the forensics. Honestly, that woman would do anything for him. It looks as though she’s tidied it up, though it would be to impress Ryder, not you.’