Murder in Shades of Red: DS Charlie Rees by Ripley Hayes

Author:Ripley Hayes [Hayes, Ripley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

Charlie got himself clean at the price of too much pain. His knees were almost too stiff to climb into the tub, and the hot water on his scrapes and bruises was almost too much to bear. A shave was out of the question. He didn’t even want to look at his face let alone scrape a razor over it. Cleaning his teeth was a delicate operation, but he managed not to re-open the tear on the inside of his cheek. He patted himself dry enough to get dressed before following the smell of coffee to the living room. Murphy was pacing from end to end of the room. Their coffee, plus a plate of cold pizza slices and a bag of doughnuts sat on one of the side tables. Tom’s jacket and messenger bag lay on the sofa. Charlie put them both on his lap, taking comfort from the smell of Old Spice and pencil shavings.

“Now. I need to know what’s going on. Like who you are for a start.” Charlie helped himself to food and took a slurp of his coffee.

“It’s … complicated,” Murphy said. “But I’m on your side. That’s as much as I can say.”

“You weren’t on my side when Dwyer and his cohorts were kidnapping me,” Charlie said. “And I have to wonder how they knew where to find me. Sorry, mate, but it’s complicated doesn’t cut it.”

Murphy put his coffee down. “I didn’t tell them where to find you. I was as surprised as you.”

“Why am I having trouble believing that? No one else knew where we were going.”

“All I can do is ask you to trust me. I got you out of the police station before Special Agent Mead turned up with his warrant, and believe me, you do not want to be arrested for suspected murder. Because that’s what the warrant says.”

Charlie leapt to his feet and immediately felt as if he’d taken another blow to the stomach. His head swam and he fell back into the chair.

“Who the fuck am I supposed to have murdered?”

By contrast, Murphy was calm. “Kaylan Sully. No one thinks you actually murdered him, but better not to be arrested for it.”

“There are a dozen witnesses to say I didn’t murder anyone. Two people thanked me for saving them after Kaylan was killed right before their eyes.”

“But that’s not the evidence the FBI are relying on. They are relying on the fact that they found a gun in this apartment.” Murphy held up his hand to forestall another explosion from Charlie. “Of course, you didn’t have a gun. But a gun was found here. That doesn’t make it yours. It could equally belong to Orianna. Or Tom. And there’s nothing to connect this gun to the bookstore — yet. But it’s enough for the warrant, and if you’re arrested you won’t be getting bail because anyone can see you’re a flight risk.” Murphy shrugged. “So, better not be anywhere you can be arrested.”

“Like here,” Charlie said flatly.

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