Five Minutes Alone: A Thriller by Paul Cleave

Author:Paul Cleave [Cleave, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, World Literature, Australia & Oceania, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Murder, Serial Killers, Suspense, Private Investigators, Thrillers
ISBN: 9781476779157
Amazon: B00IWTWJE6
Barnesnoble: B00IWTWJE6
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2014-10-21T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

I sit in the car with my head spinning, and lots of different paths all lie out before me, lots of possible futures for Schroder. It doesn’t make sense. Out of all the people . . . I mean . . . what the hell?

I try to think of it all as a coincidence. Schroder went shopping for a shower curtain in the small hours of the morning because he needed one, and that he bought a second as a spare. My guess is his tore his from the rings and he really wanted to take a shower at four a.m., so he drove down to the supermarket to get a new curtain. What was the alternative? Get water all over the bathroom floor? That would just be stupid. And if you tore one, only makes sense to make sure you have a spare for the next time it happens. The other supplies weren’t to hide the scent of bleach, but were to hide normal household smells. Maybe there was some meat that had gone off and he’d thrown it in the garbage. It makes sense. Perfect sense. After all, if you’re going to buy a shower curtain, it has to be some time, doesn’t it? Isn’t the middle of the night just as good as the middle of the day? I can’t imagine Schroder really doing well in big crowds, not since the shooting. He probably likes calm, quiet places. He probably likes—

“Damn it.” I punch the steering wheel. “Goddamn it.”

My cell phone rings. It’s Hutton. I suddenly feel like I’ve been caught out, that he knows where I’ve just been, and that this is going to be a test. If I give up Schroder, then what? It becomes a simple chain of events. He gets arrested. If he denies it, there’ll be a trial. If he pleads guilty, or is found guilty, then jail. And after that? With the new law coming into effect, is it possible the first person to be tried for the death penalty will be Schroder?

Yes. In fact it’s more than possible—I think it’s probable. I think the prosecution will press for the death penalty to prove nobody is above the law, that if you do the crime you will do the time and perhaps swing for it. If they’re prepared to hang a cop, then they’re prepared to hang anybody. It will make future cases easier to plead out. Criminals are going to plead guilty and take twenty years rather than risk the noose. And will it be a noose? That’s what it used to be, back before it was outlawed in the middle of the last century. What about now? Technology may have advanced how rope is made, but it’ll still have the same effect. Will they come up with something better?

I answer my phone. “Where are you?” Hutton asks.

“On my way to talk to Kelly Summers.”

“Only now? Why so long?”

“We thought it’d be a good idea to check surveillance footage from the gas station for the bald man.

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