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Back The Last Guests Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. DEADLY SAS RAID IN AFGHANISTAN UNDER SCRUTINY
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. PART TWO
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. DANIEL MOORE: ‘A SINGLE BLOKE, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, A BIT OF A DUNCE BUT WITH A GOOD HEART,’ BEST FRIEND SAYS.
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. THIRTY-FOUR
  43. THIRTY-FIVE
  44. BREAKING: POLICE CONFIRM DANIEL MOORE ACTED ALONE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. SECOND ARREST MADE IN WESTAY HIDDEN CAMERAS CASE
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Discover More
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. Also by J. P. Pomare

From camera 9, through the windows, the scene outside is simply a tall grey building beyond the steel red steps of a fire escape. The apartment is small and tidy. On camera 4 a dark-haired man stands before the mirror in the bathroom – 21 viewers. He has a tiny L-shaped scar beside his eye, and stubble coming through. He runs a face cloth over his cheeks, across his forehead before wringing it out and hanging it over the faucet. He then brushes his teeth, all the while staring at himself in the mirror just below where the camera is set. When he leaves the bathroom, camera 2 in the bedroom picks him up. Another man is lying beneath the sheets of the bed with a book open in one hand. The man from the bathroom climbs back into the bed with his lover. He reaches for his laptop on the nightstand and sets it on his lap before opening the screen. He begins typing away.

TWENTY-SIX

WHEN THE SHIFTS are erratic, day–night–day, I try to adjust as quickly as I can, sometimes relying on melatonin pills to help with the switch. I have a day shift tomorrow but don’t take anything tonight to sleep; I just try to go to bed early, playing rain sounds and blocking out the light with my sleep mask. I wonder if there was some reason Scotty changed partners. We did have a couple of shifts after I confronted him about his drug use. It was tense, sure, but not so bad that we couldn’t continue to work together again. My thoughts stall and sleep hits me.

I don’t know how much time has passed when I emerge from slumber. I know it’s late because Cain is beside me, stirring. That must have been what woke me. I lift my mask just a little, see the light. He has his phone in his hand. I could doze back off, but I don’t. He makes the smallest noise to clear his throat. His elbow nudges me as he rolls. Does he realise he’s woken me? Then he is up, peeling the covers back and slipping from bed. I know he gets up to watch sport, to bet. I know he doesn’t have any training sessions to take tomorrow, yet still I feel something is off. Now the door opens almost silently, just the subtlest moan of a hinge that sends a current down my spine. What are you doing, Cain? The door closes, just as slowly and not all of the way. Soft feet on the carpet outside. Then down the stairs.