Vine Street by Dominic Nolan

Author:Dominic Nolan [Nolan, Dominic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature, Mystery & Suspense
ISBN: 9781472288875
Google: O1UsEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B093Y38WDQ
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2021-11-10T23:00:00+00:00

62

Hurrying to the end of the street, Geats was running for all he was worth as soon as he was round the corner, dashing through stubby Winnett Street and across Rupert, charging down the centre of Archer Street, cars veering out of his path. He skidded onto the cobbles of the Yard and burst through the doors into his own building, blowing hard as he dragged himself up the stairs.

Clara’s door was shut and locked. He messed around with his keys and went in, finding her sitting in her armchair reading the paper.

‘Leon, what is this foolishness?’

Hands on his knees, he sucked in great gulps of air.

‘And where’s that girl of yours? She was supposed to be here hours ago to fix my breakfast. Might as well wait for lunch now, though I bet the neighbours can hear my stomach.’

‘Nell’s not here?’

‘Lazy girl never came down. There was a big tzimmes up there earlier. No doubt her causing some variety of trouble.’

‘Matka, Jesus Christ.’

‘There will be none of that talk, thank you very much, and wha—where are you going?’

He fled the flat without closing the door. His legs were jelly on the stairs and he gripped the banisters. Peering over the top step to his landing, he saw that the door to his flat was open. He fought to get his breathing under control, but someone was expanding bellows beneath his lungs. He felt exposed without a gun. Just his fists, his hard head and his boot knife, which he drew.

He threw himself into the flat, landing in the hallway in a crouch he hoped would let him launch explosively at anyone he saw, but his legs were so shot he toppled over against the wall.

The living room looked clear. Blade held like a sabre, he turned to see a hand on the floor poking out from the bathroom.

A large hand.

A man’s hand.

The knuckles were bruised and scraped.

‘Nell? Nell, it’s Leon.’

Down the other end of the hall, his bedroom door was closed.

He could hear a small noise from the bathroom, a rhythmic clicking.

Quieter. ‘Nell?’

To himself, he whispered, ‘Jesus God, please be alive. Please be fucking alive.’

The frame around the lock on the front door was splintered where it had been kicked in, the damage indicating it had taken a few good boots. There were two bullet holes he could see in the hallway wall opposite the bathroom.

On his knees he crawled as quietly as he could to the bathroom door. The hand on the floor stretched into an arm and the face of Minter came into view, pale as a sheet. His other hand clasped his gut, blood seeping between the fingers at an alarming rate. He was pulling in little bird-breaths at irregular intervals. His eyes flitted around and found Geats, but he didn’t move his head or speak.

Geats had run through scenarios with Nell in case anything happened, and he had always stressed to her the importance of remaining quiet. What would she want to hear from him?

‘Nell, it’s me, Leon.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.