The Honest Assassin by CJ Carver

Author:CJ Carver [Carver, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785760242
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2015-11-11T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-TWO

Jay asked Sofie to google Colin Hutton and Leo Roberts. Both men were dead. It was at that point she suggested they take a break, but while Tom and Sofie headed back to the kitchen, Jay googled the remaining names to find that – aside from Emilie – each person was dead.

James Draper had died within three days of contracting a virulent and unidentified virus. Madeleine Gal had died of a heart attack. Colin Hutton and Leo Roberts had also suffered fatal heart attacks. Anne Matus had been overtaken by a strange virus, along with Richard Huller. Gregory Ergin and Thomas Campion had both also died of heart attacks. And poor Emilie was in a coma, fighting for her life against an unknown virus.

Aside from Blake’s sister, nobody had lived more than a week after the date the code had been sent.

‘My God.’ Jay leaned back, her skin tingling. ‘My God.’

She was still feeling unsteady when she returned to the kitchen. Tom was boiling spaghetti while Sofie stirred onions in a pan. When Jay murmured her findings to Tom, he said, ‘Christ. I’ve heard there are drugs around that can cause a cardiac arrest . . . You don’t think they’ve been bumped off, do you?’

‘I don’t know what to think.’

‘Christ,’ he said again.

‘I need to know how those prison inmates died.’

‘They’re linked?’ He looked appalled.

‘They might be.’

He gave a groan. Closed his eyes briefly. ‘Don’t you think you should leave well alone?’

She nibbled the inside of her lip. She could no more let Blake rot in jail than she could take a chainsaw to her leg. ‘I can’t,’ she said.

‘Thought so.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll email you.’

‘Thanks.’ Normally she’d touch him, maybe squeeze his arm as a way of thanking him, but she refrained. She took a step back, made a vague gesture. ‘I’ve got to go.’

He gave a nod. No farewell hug, no kiss.

Jay walked to stand in front of Sofie. Looked into her eyes. ‘You are a truly brilliant, amazing, and wonderful person,’ she said. ‘I would never have unlocked that code without you.’

To her surprise, Sofie blushed. ‘I only got it because Mummy took me to the museum at Easter. I saw the white bear there. It was the bear that gave me the clue.’

‘Well, however you managed it, I will be forever grateful, OK?’

Sofie bit her lip. Her gaze was glued to the floor. ‘You’re not cross with me?’

‘If you hadn’t cracked the code –’ Jay was honest – ‘I would have been furious. But as it is . . . You have no idea how much time you’ve saved us. But please, Sofie. Promise you won’t look at my mobile again? It’s private.’

‘I swear I won’t, OK?’

The girl looked so anxious, so willing to please, that Jay held out her hand. ‘Truce?’

‘Truce.’ Sofie shook her hand firmly, expression intense.

Jay glanced at Tom before she continued, making sure he was listening. ‘Before I go, Sofie, will you promise me something?’

Sofie nodded furiously. ‘Anything.’

‘Don’t tell anyone what you’ve found.

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