‘Who called them?’ Pettersen asked.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Ryker said. ‘We need to go.’
He moved out of the room, toward the front. Through the open door, he could already see flashes of blue, the sound of the sirens closing in.
Pettersen went to go past him. He grabbed her shoulder.
‘We can’t go out that way,’ he said.
‘It’s the police. They’re here to help.’
‘The best thing we can do now, to help Henrik, is to get on the move. Find who took him and get him back.’
‘And the police can’t help with that?’
‘They can. Will they do so in the next five minutes? Or will it be hours of questioning and them trying to figure out if we’re the bad guys or not?’
‘Them? I’m one of them.’ She spoke defensively, as though Ryker had offended her.
‘Except you’re not one of them here, are you? And what about me?’
She paused for a moment, but then shrugged him off.
‘I’m not going out there with you,’ Ryker said.
She stopped and turned. ‘We don’t have time for this.’
Ryker at least agreed with that.
‘You have your phone?’ he said, pulling his cheap prepaid handset from his pocket. Time for a first use.
‘Yeah.’
‘Give me your number.’
She rattled it off. Ryker typed it in and hit call. Her phone buzzed. He ended the call just as screeching tires echoed from the outside.
‘I’m going out the back,’ Ryker said. ‘I’ll move around. Do what you need to do, but you need to get back to your car. I’ll wait for you. But not for long. If you’re not done—’
‘Just go,’ she said.
Ryker didn’t hesitate. He turned and raced into the small kitchen. Looked out of the window by the overflowing dining table. Dark garden below. The window was locked. He grabbed a knife from the side, stuck it into the gap between window and frame, and jimmied the fixture open.
Voices outside now. Pettersen included. She talked calmly. Assuredly.
Ryker didn’t look back. He slunk through the window, twisted around, grasped the edge with both hands as his body hung down, then he dropped. He landed in a prickly bush and rolled out onto frozen grass, grimacing in pain. Just a few scratches and scrapes. He pulled himself up. Looked around. Darted across to a fence. Clambered over. Another two fences as he headed along, in parallel to the homes. A few dogs barked, but nothing else to worry him. More fences, then eventually he emerged onto a side street.
A police car blasted past, its lights flashing but no siren. Ryker reeled back and watched as the vehicle rounded the corner in front and disappeared. He let out a sigh of relief, then, hood up, he carefully walked back toward the front of the houses.
He stopped twenty yards away from Pettersen’s car. Four other police cars were there, too, right outside the bloodbath house. One ambulance. More would arrive soon enough. A few bystanders milled, gawking – always the same.
Where was Pettersen? A uniformed officer rushed about rolling out police tape to stop any of the bystanders getting too close. Two of the police cars were within the cordon, but Pettersen’s was well outside of it. All she needed to do was find a way to leave.
Ryker hunched down by a hedge and watched as his brain fired with disparate thoughts. Most dominant were thoughts of what he’d do when he caught up with whoever had slaughtered those youngsters. Police and courts and lawyers and prisons were one thing… But Ryker didn’t believe they fit every situation. That kind of ‘justice’ wasn’t what was required here. And he really didn’t want to leave Henrik’s fate in the hands of the police. He’d get to Henrik first. He knew he would. He’d solve this before the police even got a plan together.
Ryker spun on his heel when he heard movement behind him. A man approaching. Ten yards away. Hood up, head down, hands in pockets. Oblivious. Until he looked up. Now he saw the police. His face remained cloaked in darkness, but doubts burned in Ryker’s mind. Was the man looking at the police or at him?
The guy stopped walking. Ryker’s brain continued to rumble. He thought back over the murder scene. Four bodies. No Henrik. But no Skinhead, either. Was that who Ryker was staring at? Would Skinhead think Ryker was the culprit?
The next moment, the man turned and walked off in the opposite direction. Ryker thought about following.
He didn’t. Because Pettersen’s voice drifted over. A little more wary than before, Ryker looked back to the action. Spotted her. Right by the edge of the police tape. Just her and a uniformed policeman who towered over her, his arms folded. His face stern as he looked down at her, though Pettersen appeared relaxed and chatty. Would she try to get away from there? Or was she relaying everything? About him. About Henrik.
He’d give her a couple of minutes. But nothing more. He willed her on.
‘Don’t let me down,’ he whispered.
Pettersen talked away, pointed to the house, pointed to her car. Ryker shuffled back a little more, further out of view, until he could only just make her out.
After a few moments she reached out and the policeman shook her hand. The next second he was speaking into his radio as he turned back to the house. Pettersen looked around her, then ducked under the tape and marched toward her car. She didn’t let up, didn’t look back. She was a couple of yards from the car when Ryker burst out from his hiding spot and raced over, keeping low.
‘Get in,’ Pettersen whispered when she saw him.
Ryker flung himself into the passenger seat. Pettersen stepped in much more gracefully. She started the engine up, swung the car around, and they were on their way. Ryker righted himself in the seat. Put his seat belt on. He leaned over and looked out the back window. No one was watching. No one cared at all.
When he went to turn back around he stopped to look at Pettersen. A half smile crept up her face.
‘You’re so tense, James,’ she said.
‘What did you say to them?’
She shrugged.
‘You really do have the power of persuasion, don’t you?’
‘We all have our strengths.’
Ryker sat back and sighed. He could tell by her tone that her intention was to try to lighten the mood. Just like she had done on the drive down from Blodstein. Ryker wasn’t sure he wanted the mood lightened this time though. Not after what they’d just witnessed.
‘It’s a long ride ahead,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ Pettersen said with a sigh.
‘But I’m glad you chose to come with me.’
She didn’t say anything to that.