The Deceiver by Mark Ayre

Author:Mark Ayre [Ayre, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AFS Publishing
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

33

After only two hours of sleep, Abbie woke in her moderately comfortable hotel bed, thinking of Sammy. She wasn’t family, so the doctors had refused her access to his bedside, but he had been awake in the carpark – the devastation of losing his sister causing him more pain than any physical damage caused by the car.

Before the doctors took him away, Abbie had promised Sammy they would find Courtney. This was a mistake. ‘Never make a promise you’re not 100% sure you can keep’ was a rudimentary rule Abbie rarely violated: another sign she was more attached to Sammy than was wise.

She took a shower and used the time to work over everything she knew, as well as the holes that remained in her knowledge.

First, what had someone stolen on Bernard’s behalf? That he had murdered Zaria to keep her quiet even after she had supposedly tipped off the crime’s victim suggested he feared more than retribution. He could not stand the thought of his son learning what he had done, and it seemed he had achieved his aim. Abbie could no longer ask Zaria about the item, and Bernard was in no position to talk.

That left Xylina. Like Sammy and Bernard, she had entered the hospital on a stretcher last night. Watching a man stab her husband and take her daughter was too much, and she had collapsed into a near-catatonic state. Abbie doubted she was any better now, only a few hours later. Who could say what she knew of her husband’s crimes even if she was?

Abbie left the shower and took one of her pills. It wiped away the fatigue and filled her with the energy she needed to take on whatever trauma came her way. Back in the bedroom, she considered her other major plot hole. What on Earth were Lorna and Morgan doing following Bernard? What with police interviews and exhaustion, there had been no time to meet the previous night, but they had arranged to get together at a nearby café in half an hour.

While she dressed, she recalled the scene at Zaria’s house. That poor, innocent young woman, sprawled on the floor, covered in blood. And why? Because her boyfriend had taken her on a tour of his father’s house, and she had accidentally seen or heard something she was not supposed to.

Abbie thought of Tariq, a man desperate to protect his sister from harm and his father from the truth. Now Zaria was dead, and there was no way Tariq could keep that from his old man. What would happen when Yusuf learned of his precious daughter’s demise? Could he survive such a blow?

She tried not to think about it. As awful as it sounded, Zaria’s fate was no longer relevant to her ongoing mission. The best she could do was hope Bernard survived so the justice system could punish him for his crimes. Or someone else could, perhaps with a blow torch and thumb screws. That would be fitting.

Abbie was ready but had time to burn.

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