The Witness: An utterly gripping crime thriller by John Ryder

Author:John Ryder [Ryder, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800192898
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

39

Roche snaps himself back to the present. He can fight his demons at another time. Memories of, and guilt over, Pammy will still be around long after he’s finished this case.

The gate isn’t hard to find, and thanks to the nameplate on its wooden boards, it’s even easier to identify they’re at the right gate.

Roche’s first move is to run a sweep over the lock side of the gate with a scanner. The scanner detects no electrical impulses, so either there’s no alarm sensors on the gate, or they’re switched off. His next move is to try the handle. He’s learned that while a house’s owner may be uptight about security, their employees can be lax or downright lazy in their attitudes. The gate doesn’t open. The lock on it is a standard mortise model. It will have three, five or possibly even seven levers inside. To Roche’s eyes it looks old, which means he guesses at three, perhaps five levers maximum.

The picks he inserts trip the three levers and there’s a click as the lock slides back from its housing in the gate’s frame.

Savannah goes to reach for the handle, so Roche swats her hand down and pushes her to the side. “Do you know what’s on the other side of that gate? Do you realize that Kempe could be lying in wait for us with a rifle?”

Roche accepts the paling of Savannah’s face for an answer, fiddles with his scanner and runs it over the lock side of the gate once more.

“You’ve done that.”

“I was looking for an alarm the first time. Now it’s set to detect metal. Compared to the rest of Kempe’s setup, this is as secure as a prom queen’s virtue. If I had a gate like this, I’d have bolts securing it.”

“And then what? You’d get up early every morning to let the staff in? Trust me, there won’t be any bolts on the inside of the gate.”

The scanner finds no traces of metal to indicate the presence of bolts. Savannah has been proven correct, which doesn’t surprise him. As a rich kid, hanging out with rich kids, there’s a good chance she has more experience of gates such as this than he does. Which begs the question: why didn’t she suggest the gate to him?

Roche puts the scanner into a pocket, retrieves his bulletproof vest from the bag and hands Savannah hers.

“Here’s the plan. We stand either side of the gate. I’ll swing it open. Three seconds later, I’m going to swap to your side. If Kempe has a gun trained on the gate, he might take a shot at me as I appear. He’ll be aiming at center mass. Probably around four to four and half feet high. He’ll be centered on the gate. If he’s quick enough to get a shot off and hit me, the vest ought to catch it. The impact will likely knock me off my feet. If that happens, I’ll need you to grab my wrist or ankle, whichever’s closer, and drag me back to cover.

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