A few more steps and I was at the sliding glass door which gave access to the garden.

I looked outside and at the same time turned on the patio light. Doing that probably saved my life because the person who was out there on the lawn and pointing a gun at me was momentarily blinded.

He had to cover his eyes as he pulled the trigger, which buggered up his aim. The bullet tore into the door, shattering the glass, but it missed me.

My reaction was all instinct and panic. I threw myself back across the room to where I’d left my pistol lying on the worktop.

I grabbed it and spun round just as the patio light was extinguished.

Without a moment’s hesitation I fired three shots in quick succession into the garden.

I heard the door behind me open and then Aidan’s voice.

‘Stay back,’ I screamed. ‘There’s someone out there.’

I saw flashes of light outside from the muzzle of a gun. I heard a bullet hit the cupboard door behind me. Another crashed into the front of the dishwasher.

The assailant couldn’t see me and was just firing into the darkness. So I crouched down behind the table and fired back. More glass shattered and the noise was deafening.

But suddenly I realised I was pulling the trigger on an empty weapon and that the assailant had retreated.

I gripped my fear and stood up. Then stepped forward cautiously. My shoes crunched on shards of glass and when I reached the door I peered outside and saw that there was nobody in the garden.

I heard shouting behind me and the sound of the front door being forced open. I assumed the two officers who’d been sitting out front in the patrol car were coming through. And I wondered why Aidan hadn’t let them in.

I got my answer a second later when two uniforms burst into the kitchen and one of them switched on the light.

I saw Aidan before they did. He was lying on his back on the floor and there was a big red stain on the front of his shirt where one of the bullets had entered his body.

38

Rosa

She was cursing out loud as she ran at full sprint along the alley.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

She could not believe what had just happened. Or how close she’d come to catching a bullet.

‘Fuck.’

Her breath thundered in her ears and hot bile burned in her throat.

‘Fuck.’

It should have been so easy. She’d checked it out two hours ago when the house had been empty. She’d discovered for herself that there were no sensor lights and no barking dogs to make things difficult.