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
Standing up, she put the papers on the desk and pushed them into a neat pile so they looked similar to how she’d found them, though they’d be out of date order. At the door, she listened for sounds from outside, but all was quiet. Slipping into the staff room, she closed the door and went to stand near her cubicle. With her back to the passageway, she reached into her pocket for her phone.
It was gone!
Shit! It must have fallen out of her pocket when she’d been crawling around on the floor.
Rushing back into the office, she found the phone under the desk. She scooped it up and quickly left, closing the door behind her. Back at her cubicle, she switched on her phone and tapped in Elijah’s number, taking some deep breaths as she tried to slow her breathing.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Elijah. We’re short on tomato sauce. Can you grab some while you’re out?’
‘Ida?’
Fuck! ‘Yeah, it’s me.’
‘Oh, your caller ID’s off. I nearly didn’t pick up.’
Sterling closed her eyes. ‘Really? I must have changed the settings somehow.’
‘No worries, I’ll get some now. See you soon.’
Sterling hit end call, sweet relief flooding her system. She slid the business card underneath her handbag and out of sight and switched the phone off again.
‘Get on to him?’
Sterling spun around. Heidi was standing a little too close.
‘Yep,’ she said, sliding her phone back into her pocket, and hoping Heidi wasn’t observant enough to notice it was a different make.
Heidi’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you feeling okay? You’re sweating.’
Sterling swallowed. She had one chance to turn this around. She wiped her forehead, making her fingers appear shakier than they were. ‘I’m coming down,’ she whispered. ‘Where can I score a hit in this town? Do you know anyone?’
Heidi said nothing, just looked at her long and hard.
After a while, Sterling dropped her gaze. ‘Forget it,’ she muttered, taking a step away.
Heidi’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm. ‘Not now,’ she said quietly.
Twenty-two
Flowers picked out Rodney Garrett’s ute the moment he turned into the hotel carpark. The plate matched the one Sterling had given them that morning. Across the other side of the carpark sat Sterling’s early-model Forrester.
Flowers swung into the space beside the ute, put the car in park and hopped out. Ten minutes ago, he’d left Ryder at the airport. Inspector Gray had issued the order while they were in transit to Khancoban.
‘Speak to the press about this plane crash, Ryder,’ Gray’s voice had boomed through the cabin. ‘At the very least give ’em an update.’