The Scapegoat by David Stanley

Author:David Stanley [Stanley, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

25

When Coombes came around, he was in utter darkness. He tried to sit up but it felt like a freight train ran over his head and he let himself lie still. The tips of his fingers felt the same dirty floor he’d been on before. He reached out his right fingers and found his Glock lay where he’d dropped it.

Before he’d been able to see enough to see the figure by the door. He’d seen the woman’s face twist up with hatred. There’d been some light in the room, now it was black. The only thing that made sense was that he’d been unconscious all afternoon and that it was now night.

It had been just after 12:30 when they’d left the PAB. He didn’t know when it got full dark, but it had to be at least 8 p.m.

There was no way he’d lost seven and a half hours. For one thing, he’d be starving and he was, at best, hungry. Going by his stomach-clock, he doubted he’d been out more than a couple of minutes.

His head pounded in time with his heart.

He heard movement next to him, shoes scraping on the floor.

He wasn’t alone.

The woman who’d lured him here had to be one of the kidnappers and that the man and woman she described being with Amy in The Hard Limit, was herself and the man who’d hit him with the bat. Presumably, Marks.

It meant that they were tracking the investigation, and that they didn’t like what they saw, so they decided to take him out.

He wished he knew which part they didn’t like, because it didn’t feel like he was making much progress.

If the person next to him was one of the kidnappers, then it followed that they were leaving him alone because they thought he was dead or unconscious. Changing them of that view would be a bad move.

He heard a sigh. It was a sound he’d heard before.

“Grace.”

“John?” She never called him that, things must be bad. He felt a small hand on the center of his chest, then it held his hand. “You were out a long time, I got scared.”

“I can’t see anything, I’m blind.”

“What about now?”

He saw something, a glow.

“Wait, I see that. What is it?”

“My flashlight, straight into your face. You have blood in your eyes. Don’t worry, help’s on its way.”

“Did you see the two pricks that did this to me?”

“I saw.”

“And?”

“I’m sorry, Johnny. They got away.”

They said nothing for a moment. He felt ridiculous lying on the floor.

“Help me up, will you?”

He rolled onto his side, then part-way onto his front, the knee of his outer leg drawing up to brace himself like a sniper. He pushed down on the floor with his hands, then on his knee. He was half-way. The freight train returned, its steel wheels rolling fast over his head.

He put his arm around Sato’s shoulders and paused for a moment, waiting for the pain to subside. His heart thumped fast in his chest and the room began to spin.

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