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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

‘I was this close,’ he said, holding up two fingers, the corner of his mouth twitching, ‘but we’d both had a bit to drink, and I thought you might regret it, like you did last time.’

‘I promise I won’t regret a thing,’ she said, her heart racing as he moved closer.

‘Finally,’ he breathed, drawing her into a strong embrace.

Sterling wound her arms around his neck and sighed as his lips brushed her temple, her cheek and, finally, after what seemed like forever, her lips.

section break

On the drive back to Thredbo, Ryder phoned to tell Flowers that a SWAT team had stormed the Garrett compound, but as they’d suspected, he and his dogs were long gone. As of now, Rodney Garrett was the most-hunted criminal in New South Wales.

Flowers glanced in his rear-view mirror at Sterling following along behind in the Forrester. He was grateful she hadn’t been in the car to hear what Ryder had said. Flowers had a special dinner organised for tonight, and he didn’t want Rodney Garrett occupying her thoughts. It was troubling, though. With Garrett gone, rival drug gangs were certain to move in on the mountain territory, and that meant more targeted murders as they fought for control of the turf.

There was another piece of information he’d learned, though, which was certain to put Sterling’s mind at ease. Sergeant Collins had phoned to say the prints lifted from the upstairs break-in hadn’t been a match with Garrett’s. They belonged to a juvenile Collins had often scooted away from the hotel carpark for trying to coerce members of the public to buy him spirits.

Flowers glanced in his rear-view mirror again. He’d liked Nerida Sterling from the moment she’d turned up in Homicide, a country girl from Taree with invisible braces on her teeth that made it difficult for her to pronounce her ‘s’s. They were friends, work colleagues, and now there was every possibility they could be more.

Making sure there was no one else around them, he raised a hand and waved, and after hesitating for a second or two, he saw her wave back. Flowers grinned, imagining her thinking he was behaving like an immature teenager.

So he turned on his police lights and flashed her three times, just for good measure.

Fifty-three

Two years and seven months later

Only when the orange sunset had slipped below the horizon did the trio leave the car and walk towards the cemetery. The older woman carried a powerful torch, but she didn’t turn it on until they were hidden by the tall hedges. Inside, she aimed the beam of light towards her father’s grave, illuminating the headstone of the last Buchanan buried in the family plot. If life proceeded in its proper order, she would be the next.