‘I was wondering when you’d be back,’ Marko said from his hospital bed, eyes narrowed at Zoe. ‘This is my lawyer, Stefan Thomas.’
The lawyer nodded. From the quality of his suit, Zoe quickly guessed that Stefan would be charging close to a thousand an hour. Harry sat down on the floor, staring up at Marko.
‘This is the cop who shot me,’ Marko said. ‘We are going to sue her arse.’
Zoe felt slightly giddy with tiredness. She pushed her lips tightly together for a second. It was all she could do not to burst into laughter.
‘What are you so fucking happy about? You chased me into the mountains in your car. You didn’t identify yourself as a police officer. I was scared for my life and then you shot me without reason. Get prepared to lose everything.’
Charlie walked into the ward wearing blue latex gloves and carrying the large evidence bag.
Marko stared at the thick paper bag, confused.
Zoe looked at Charlie. ‘What have you got there, Charlie?’
‘Let’s see,’ said Charlie theatrically. He opened the bag and lifted out the laptop.
Marko’s eyes bulged. ‘That’s not mine. I’ve never seen it before,’ he stammered, looking at his lawyer, who had his hand up, gesturing for Marko not to say anything else.
‘Your fingerprints are all over it,’ said Zoe. ‘You must have unlocked it thousands of times.’
‘It’s not mine, so I don’t have a clue about how to unlock it. Sorry.’
‘Marko,’ Zoe said, ‘the password is tattooed on your arm. We’ve already opened it up. We’ve got it all.’
Marko stared at her. ‘I should’ve run you over properly last week,’ he snarled.
Stefan’s face showed alarm.
‘Probably,’ said Zoe. ‘Charlie, you can do the honours?’
‘Marko Raddich, you are being charged with three counts of murder, the attempted murder of Sarah Westbrook, as well as two counts of attempting to kill a police officer. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do or say…’
Zoe felt free. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good. Harry came over and leaned against her thigh and looked up at her. She pulled out her phone and looked at Tom’s text again. I’ll call you tomorrow, she typed. Taking Harry to the beach.