13

 

 

The flat had been turned upside down. Things were everywhere. The drawers had been emptied. The shattered pieces of a few porcelain ornaments lay scattered on the floor, perhaps fallen from the bookcase, now tilted into a table. A man’s legs stuck out right from underneath the latter.

Dawson waited for his turn, while two uniformed officers tried to lift the piece of furniture without causing more damage.

‘Easy,’ Miriam urged, waving at Eric.

‘Good morning, Detective,’ the medical examiner said. ‘We’re starting our days off like this a little too often.’

‘Hiya,’ Eric said, laconic.

‘On three.’ Perhaps the officers were about to succeed. ‘One, two, and … three.’

The bookcase came up, but a picture frame that was in precarious balance between it and the table fell on the body.

Dawson released a sound sigh. ‘Time to get to work!’

Jane came out from the other room. ‘Oh, you did it.’ Her camera was hanging from a strap around her neck. As she approached the body, she almost had to climb over the doctor, who had just squatted down to open his bag and was now putting on a pair of latex gloves. That was when she finally noticed Eric. ‘Hi there, I didn’t see you.’ She welcomed him with a smile.

‘Are you alone?’ he asked. Usually, another colleague from the team would join her in a crime scene.

‘For the moment, yes; I talked to Adele a little while ago. She was driving, but on her way. I’ve just sent her the address on her mobile phone.’

‘What do we know?’ Eric watched the confusion surrounding him. ‘It looks like there was a struggle.’

‘Two gunshots: one in the chest and another in the head,’ Dawson cut in; he’d started examining the corpse.

Eric waved at him. ‘Never mind.’

The medical examiner was taking a closer look at the victim’s hands. ‘There aren’t defensive wounds, but …’ He paused on the wrists. ‘I see ligature marks.’ He turned to the two forensic investigators. ‘I’m venturing the hypothesis that he was tied up and then killed in a later moment. Perhaps the killer was looking for something.’ He looked around to indicate the entire room.

‘Not just here.’ Jane stooped to take a picture of the corpse’s wrists. ‘It seems the same hurricane swept through the other rooms, too.’

‘The murderer must have got what he was looking for and didn’t need him anymore,’ Eric said. Perhaps it had to do with drugs. It was so more often than not.

‘So …’ Miriam had finished muttering with the other officers. ‘The flat belongs to a certain …’ She paused to read the note she’d taken on her smartphone. ‘Daniel Pennington.’

As he heard that surname, Eric froze. ‘What?’

‘You said Pennington?’ Jane asked.

Eric went over to the body, hunkered down. The face was turned to one side. A lock of hair covered the mouth. He moved it. ‘Oh, fuck.’

There was a sudden bustle coming from the stairs. Someone was running up the steps.

‘Danny!’

Eric snapped to his feet. ‘No, no.’ And he rushed to the door.

He reached it right in time to intercept Adele and keep her from coming in.

‘Danny, no!’ she cried. ‘No!’ He held on to her, but she was prey to a hysteria that gave her incredible strength. ‘Why?!’ She was shouting, waving her arms as she struggled to free herself. ‘Danny!’

‘You have to calm down.’ Eric was using an indulgent but firm tone. ‘It’s better if you don’t go in.’

But Adele didn’t even seem to hear him. ‘No! What have they done to you … Danny?!’ Her face was livid, her muscles contracted.

Jane went over to them, blocking the corpse from view. ‘Sweetheart, please calm down.’ She was talking to her in a maternal voice, while Eric could barely hold her.

He was worried he might hurt her, but didn’t know what else he could do to help her. He suffered as he saw her like this.

Eventually, she stopped struggling and burst into tears, sliding down to her knees and dragging him along with her. Her sobs were so hard that her entire body shook.

‘They have the same surname,’ Miriam murmured, as she came behind Jane. ‘Who was he? Her brother?’

‘Her ex-husband,’ Eric said.

‘I’ll handle this.’ Jane pushed Miriam back. ‘I’ll call someone else from the lab. Take her outside.’

He lifted her bodily from the floor, and she stopped crying. She looked at him with an expression of stupor. All at once, she became rigid. She rolled her eyes up into her head, clenched her fists, and her body began to shake with powerful spasms.

‘Richard!’ shouted Eric, agitated, putting her back on the floor. ‘She’s having convulsions.’

The medical examiner rushed to him. ‘We have to keep her head on one side.’ As he talked, he was already turning her head with both hands. ‘Make sure her airways are free. It looks like an epileptic fit.’

‘I didn’t know she suffered from epilepsy,’ Jane said, who meanwhile had knelt and was caressing her head. ‘She’s always so reserved. How did you know she was married?’ Then she pursed her lips, as if she realised what a silly question it was.

All she received by way of answer was a severe glare from her boss. This really wasn’t the moment for that conversation, although Eric was certain that Jane approved of any kind of relationship between him and Adele.

‘I’ve just called for an ambulance.’ Miriam had leaned out of the door again. ‘It’ll be here shortly.’

 

 

He felt someone shaking him and raised his eyelids. For a moment, he was disoriented. He couldn’t remember where he was, then he felt a touch on his shoulder and turned.

‘Sorry,’ Jane said in a subdued tone. ‘I didn’t realise you were sleeping.’

The hospital room was cloaked in the semi-darkness, and Eric had been dozing in the armchair by Adele’s bed.

‘I didn’t get enough sleep tonight.’ He massaged his neck. He’d unbuttoned the top of his shirt and loosened his tie. As he moved, his jacket lying on the armrest slipped onto the floor.

Jane picked it up and sat on the chair beside his. ‘How is she?’

‘They gave her a sedative. She’s been sleeping for hours. The doctor said she had a violent fit.’ He yawned and grimaced. ‘But what time is it?’

‘It’s around three in the afternoon. Have you had anything to eat?’

Who could be hungry? ‘How did things go at the crime scene?’

‘That’s why I’m here.’ She hung his jacket on her backrest and leaned towards him. Her gaze was worried. ‘As soon as we brought the body to the morgue, Richard could extract the bullet from the victim’s chest. It’ll take him longer to get the other one.’

Eric could tell from the tone of her voice that bad news was on the way.

‘I noticed it was a nine-millimetre, so I decided to make a comparison.’

No. Again?

Jane nodded in response to her colleague’s widened eyes. ‘It’s the same weapon.’

‘The same weapon?’ Adele’s voice made both turn to her.

‘Hey,’ Eric murmured, reaching out to her hand. ‘How are you feeling?’ His mind was a turmoil of contrasting emotions.

Her face was devoid of light. She looked exhausted. ‘Danny is dead.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘He killed him too …’ It wasn’t a question, but an observation.

Eric didn’t know what to say. He turned to look at Jane for help, but for once, not even she could offer any words of comfort. The discovery of a connection between this murder and the previous ones seemed to wipe the slate clean of all the theories he’d come up with over the past two days. Why would Garnish kill Daniel Pennington? He didn’t know much about the latter, but the way he’d died had nothing to do with the meticulous modus operandi the killer had used in the other killings. The only connection was the gun.

He wiped his free hand on his brow. His head was fit to explode with his effort to make some sense of something that seemed lacking any of it. The key had to be Garnish; he was sure of it. Perhaps he’d realised that Mills was following him and had seen them when Eric had gone to pick up the officer in Ashburton Grove. This might have driven him to change his plans.

He looked at Adele, who seemed lost in her thoughts. He would’ve liked to ask her a million questions about her ex, to understand what kind of connection there might be. But this wasn’t the right moment.

‘I’ll leave you alone,’ Jane said, standing up.

Eric had even forgotten about her presence. ‘That’s not necessary.’ He tried a timid protest.

‘I have to go back to the department.’ She placed her hand on his arm. ‘You stay here. I’ll take care of everything. We’ll see each other tomorrow.’ She turned to Adele, but then she said nothing. The other woman had closed her eyes again.

As soon as the door closed, Adele stirred and squeezed Eric’s hand.

‘You really scared us,’ he said, cracking a smile.

The corners of her mouth rose for a moment. ‘It hasn’t happened to me in a long time.’ As she mentioned her epilepsy, her gaze got lost and started staring at a point somewhere in the distance.

‘It’s been a bad day.’

‘Yeah.’ Adele seemed to focus on him again. ‘We grew up together, you know? Danny and I.’ She took a deep breath, turning her head to the window, from which a faint light came in. The rain was pattering on the windowpane. ‘He was my first best friend, the boy whom I gave my first kiss, the first boy I was with.’ She laughed at herself. ‘It was a disaster.’

Even Eric couldn’t hold back a brief chuckle.

‘I should have seen back then that I really wasn’t his type.’

It was nice to see her smile again, although only to remember someone who was gone.

‘Yet I agreed to marry him, because he loved me in his own way and I loved him. What do the Americans call a woman like me?’

Eric looked at her, perplexed. How was he supposed to know?

‘A fag hag!’ she replied to herself, and laughed. ‘God, I loved his friends. We were a great group.’

‘You were married while he spent time with other gay men?’ She never stopped surprising him, or perhaps it was he who wasn’t modern enough.

‘Oh, sure. They thought I was his sister, because of the surname. They couldn’t possibly imagine I was his wife!’

She’d married her gay best friend and taken his surname so that she could pretend to be his sister. How little he knew about this woman. But once again, all this did nothing but increase her allure.

‘You two lived together, but dated other people?’

‘Why, yes! And we shared the details.’

‘So why did you get married?’

Adele shrugged. ‘Just for something to do.’ Then, all of the sudden, she turned serious. ‘I considered him my family. Marrying him, he really would be.’ She sighed. ‘I know. It doesn’t make much sense.’

‘There’s a certain logic to it,’ Eric admitted. ‘Though it’s not something you see every day.’

‘Definitely not.’

‘And why did you two divorce?’

‘We realised it didn’t make sense anymore. Back then he’d started a serious relationship, at least that’s what he said. But I kept living with him for a few years, while we waited for the divorce to become final, just like the sister everybody thought I was, until I started to feel the need for a space all my own.’

‘But you kept his surname.’

‘I told you, he’s like a brother to me. More than a brother.’ In a moment, her face darkened. ‘Was like a brother.’

‘And what happened next?’ Eric tried to distract her from that thought and lead her to more pleasant ones.

‘Well, he and his boyfriend broke up, as I’d imagined.’ She let out a little laugh.

‘And you?’

‘Me, nothing. I had no desire for serious relationships.’ She ran a finger across her lips. ‘Of course I didn’t lock myself up in a convent, if that’s what you want to know.’

Eric felt himself blush, but immediately tried to control himself.

‘I had my adventures, but nothing important. Nobody was up to it.’

‘Because nobody was like him,’ Eric suggested.

Adele nodded, then squeezed his hand again. ‘Or like you.’ And she cast him a naughty glance.

He preferred not to try to explain her behaviour. During the past hours, he’d racked his brain with questions, wondering whether she would be glad to see him there once she woke up. The fact that she was now toying with him took second place. After what had happened to her, he felt like he could forgive her any actions, no matter how incomprehensible. Part of him, however, hoped she was being sincere.

‘When can I get out of here?’ Her voice interrupted his thoughts.

‘Right away, I think, as long as you feel up to it. They were waiting for you to wake up before discharging you.’

‘I’d like to go home.’

‘You shouldn’t be alone right now.’

Adele released his hand. ‘I’m used to it.’ She drew her arms to her chest.

‘I’m serious.’

She stole a glance at him.

‘You were really feeling bad. You have to let someone take care of you, at least for a few days.’

She let out a groan. ‘I don’t have anyone to ask.’

‘You have me.’ He’d finally summoned his courage and said it. The adrenaline had pervaded him in the same instant.

Adele appeared surprised. ‘Nice move, Detective!’ Then she laughed. ‘Thank goodness I asked you to take it slow.’

All right, he guessed she’d misinterpret his gesture. He had actually wondered to what extent his idea didn’t have ulterior motives, but it was true that she needed to be taken care of. Nonetheless, Eric laughed as well. ‘It’s not an attempt to seduce you.’ He raised both hands. ‘I swear! My only concern is for your welfare.’

She smiled; perhaps she was considering his offer.

 

 

He opened the door of the black SUV like a true gentleman, which seemed to impress her. Or at least, that was the reaction Adele showed.

The rain had stopped. A slash of blue in the clouds crossed the sky. At one end of it, a slice of sun peeked out, finally bringing a little light to that long Monday.

The doctor had discharged her in the late afternoon, and in the end she’d given in to Eric’s proposal, provided that it would not be for more than a couple of days. ‘So you do have a car!’ she teased him, as she settled on the passenger seat.

He closed the door, walked around the car, and climbed into the driver’s seat. Glancing at her, he noticed she was staring at him, as if she was waiting for an answer. ‘Well, yes, I do have a car. And as you can see, it isn’t exactly the best vehicle in the world for driving around in a busy city.’ Not to mention the fact that it took him far less time to get to Scotland Yard from home on the Tube, although there was at least a parking space reserved for him in the department car park. But whenever he needed to go anywhere else, however, he couldn’t certainly count on such a privilege.

‘I hope you use it every once in a while. It would be a shame to leave a beauty like this resting up somewhere.’

Eric started up, making the engine roar and managing to get a laugh out of her. ‘Oh, I use it all right.’

‘And when? You’re always at work.’

They slowly pulled out of the hospital car park and took a dual carriageway.

‘Whenever I can, I go to my cottage in the countryside, one of the few things my ex left me.’

‘A cottage in the countryside.’ She lingered on those words. ‘It sounds romantic.’ And she shot him a sensual glance.

‘Definitely romantic,’ he commented, struggling to keep his eyes on the road.

That morning she’d discovered her ex-husband was dead, and now she was flirting with him. Who knew to what extent Adele’s mood was to be considered reliable? He expected it to change any moment, therefore he preferred to keep on his toes.

They crossed the city in silence until they reached Dorset Street. Eric pulled over near the entrance to Adele’s building.

‘I’m going to go up and get a few things.’ She was about to open the door, but then she hesitated. ‘Wait a moment. My car is still at the crime scene, with my kit inside it.’ Then she looked around, alarmed. ‘And where’s my gun? I had it with me.’

‘No worries, your kit and weapon are in the boot.’ She motioned with her thumb towards the back. ‘I had someone bring the old wreck you’re driving here.’ He took a key ring from the right pocket of his jacket and used it to point ahead. A red Ford was parked almost at the end of the street. Just then, he remembered she’d told him that the car belonged to her sister-in-law. ‘Wait, the sister-in-law you talked about, the owner of that car. Is she Daniel’s sister?’

Adele shook her head. ‘It’s the sister of Daniel’s ex-boyfriend. Since everybody thought I was his sister …’ She didn’t finish the sentence because the meaning was clear. ‘I should call her and tell her what happened.’

‘You can take care of that later.’

She nodded, took the key ring from his hand, and then opened the door.

Eric followed her with his gaze until she entered the building, then emitted a sigh and relaxed in his seat. His eyes slipped to the rear-view mirror. A dark car was parked right behind his. The driver was on board and appeared to have no intention of getting out.

He turned around to take a better look. Although the man was wearing sunglasses, Eric had the distinct impression he was watching him.

A moment later, he heard the engine turning on, and the car moved. While it passed his, he noticed it was an old blue Volkswagen. He had the feeling he’d seen it before, but couldn’t remember where.

About twenty minutes later, Adele reappeared in the entrance. She opened the boot and put in a big black bag, then she climbed into the car. ‘I did it.’ She fastened her seat belt.

Still thoughtful, Eric pressed the ignition.

 

 

‘You can settle yourself here.’ Eric put the big bag on the double bed, while Adele, who was holding her kit and holster with her gun, watched, perplexed, from the doorway.

‘Don’t be alarmed. I’m sleeping in Brian’s room.’

She frowned and walked into the room with a suspicious air.

‘Brian is my son. Sometimes he comes here at the weekend.’

‘Ah, right, your son.’ Now she seemed to relax. She put what she was holding on the bedside table and turned her attention to the big bag, from which she immediately pulled out her notebook computer.

‘I’ll make some room for you in the wardrobe,’ he said and then translated his words into action.

Adele put her notebook on the little table by the window and moved the bag onto the floor. Then, under the eyes of Eric, who turned around every once in a while to look at her, she sat down on the bed, took off her shoes and lay down, stretching out diagonally on it.

She was so beautiful. He had to summon all his strength to keep from being distracted. He emptied two drawers and moved his clothes to one side. Now there was a little more room in the wardrobe.

As he turned around again, he found her still there, staring at him, her head cocked to one side and a knowing smile on her face. She was incredibly seductive. He repeated to himself that she must still be in shock and her behaviour was the result of her condition. But it looked like it wasn’t so at all.

‘Very well,’ he said, once he was satisfied with his work. ‘Now you can put your stuff away.’

‘You’re a really handsome man, you know?’

Adele’s comment left him speechless for a moment. ‘Thank you.’ He couldn’t think of anything better to say. ‘You’re not bad yourself.’

She laughed. ‘I know you’d like to jump on me.’

Was it so obvious? Oh God, she was doing it on purpose to make him feel uncomfortable. She had a very peculiar way of dealing with bereavement.

‘Am I wrong, or weren’t you the one who said we should stop for a moment?’

‘And you didn’t exactly agree, if I remember well.’ Adele’s expression turned to boredom. She stood up and headed to the bathroom, but instead of going in, she just took a look at it from the doorway. She seemed like someone visiting a museum.

Eric felt all his restraint fall in an instant. Prey to an unexpected resoluteness. He crossed the room and reached her. Grabbing her shoulders, he made her turn to him. ‘You have to stop playing with me, young lady.’

She looked at him, astounded. Her eyes seemed to emanate a tenuous sense of possibility.

But before she could say anything, he kissed her. He didn’t stop even when Adele seemed unwilling to kiss him back, but he didn’t have to wait too long until she did.

Before he even knew it, they were both fighting against their clothing, struggling to take it off.

 

 

He hadn’t felt so good in a long, long time. He couldn’t even remember the last time. He felt hard to believe it had really happened. But she was there, lying beside him, her face still flushed, her expression relaxed, her messed up hair splayed on the pillow. She was scrutinising him, her finger tracing an imaginary path in his hair, then down his neck and across his chest. She had a little tattoo of a lotus flower on her wrist. Who knew what story lay behind it?

‘You’re a surprising man.’

‘Handsome and surprising. You’ll all compliments today!’ he exclaimed. He took her hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss.

Adele let a breath of a laugh escape.

Eric turned towards her and, for a few seconds, they stared into one another’s eyes. ‘Should I feel guilty I’ve just slept with a young girl?’ He’d said that in a joking tone, then he tilted up his head and rolled his eyes to the right and to the left, as if he was considering the question. Finally, he shook his head. ‘No, not even a little bit,’ he answered to himself.

‘I’m not a young girl,’ she protested, but with a smile, and gave him a light punch in the shoulder.

‘Definitely not.’ Eric opened his eyes wide. ‘Young girls don’t do certain things.’

Adele laughed again.

‘But perhaps …’ he continued with the same tone as before. ‘I should feel guilty because I’m your boss?’ Then he shook his head again. ‘No, neither.’

‘Maybe I’ll sue you for sexual harassment.’

‘Woe betide you!’ He threatened her, reaching out for her body and tickling her.

‘No, no, please. No torture. I’ll confess to anything you want. It’s all my fault.’ She was struggling and laughing.

All at once, a ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and, seeping in through the windowpane, flooded the room. It was so sudden that they stopped playing around and turned to look at the window. Flowing beams of light broke on the bed sheets.

‘It’s stopped raining.’ Eric had lost all sense of time. He hadn’t taken a day off in at least a year and wasn’t used to being home on weekdays, much less in the company of a woman.

He got up to move the curtains and let the sunlight in more easily. Standing next to the window, he turned to look at Adele, who had sat up in bed. Her naked body almost shone in its own light. She was truly beautiful. For a moment, he was almost terrified of his depth of feeling for her. Everything had happened too quickly. He wasn’t sure he deserved all this, deserved her.

In order to hide his emotions, he turned back to the windowpane and looked out. There was the usual coming and going of the pedestrians. Two children were running along the pavement on the other side of the street. A woman following them shouted, and they stopped, but only because a boy with a big dog on a leash was walking towards them from the other direction. Eric smiled. He remembered when Brian was little and how hard was for Crystal and him to restrain their son’s exuberance.

Then, by chance, his gaze was drawn a little more to the right. A blue car was parked along the side of the road. He recognised it immediately; it was identical to the Volkswagen he’d seen near Adele’s flat.

‘What’s happening?’ she asked. He heard her stand up from the bed and come close to him. She started looking out in the same direction.

‘That car.’ Eric pointed at it. ‘The blue one. I saw one that looked just like it outside your building. When the driver noticed that I was looking at him, he turned the engine on and drove away.’

She stared at the car with a furrowed brow. ‘There’s somebody inside.’

The person was in shadow, and it was difficult to see clearly.

‘I don’t like it.’ Eric turned to look for his phone.

‘Wait.’ Adele reached for her handbag. She pulled out her smartphone from it. She went back to the window, and zooming on the number plate, took a picture. ‘It’s pretty clear.’

‘Send it to Stern.’ Eric grabbed the cordless from the bedside table and dialled the number of the extension that was on the young forensic investigator’s desk.

‘Hello, boss,’ Stern’s shrill voice answered the call, displaying a confidence he didn’t actually possess.

‘Stern, Adele is sending you a number plate. Let me know whose name it is registered in.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Stern said in a too high tone. ‘I’ve just got the message. I’ll check right away.’

Eric hit the hands-free button and put the phone on the bed. Adele was getting dressed, and he started doing the same, now and again checking out of the window. The car was still there, even its driver seemed motionless.

‘Boss,’ the voice at the phone exclaimed. He sounded agitated. ‘The owner is Christopher Garnish; the guy we’re looking for!’

‘Fuck me,’ Eric murmured, pulling on his shoes. ‘Send backup to my address immediately.’

‘Yes, sure … to your address?’ the forensic investigator managed to say, before the detective hung up.

‘What do you want to do?’ Adele asked.

He picked up the holster with his gun and put it on. Then he turned his gaze to her. ‘Arrest him.’

She stopped moving, her mouth half-open. ‘Aren’t you going to wait for the backup?!’

But Eric was already heading for the door.

‘Wait!’ she shouted behind him, grabbing her own weapon from the floor. ‘I’m coming with you.’

They left the flat and went down into the entrance hall.

Eric opened the building door just a crack to take a look outside. The Volkswagen was still there. The man behind the steering wheel seemed to be watching a couple who had just walked past the vehicle. When he turned to the passenger seat, Eric and Adele went out and started crossing the street, keeping their guns hidden behind their backs and approaching the car from behind, so that they wouldn’t be noticed.

The man in the blue car raised his head, his face turning to the rear-view mirror. He was still wearing dark sunglasses, so it was impossible to tell where he was focusing his gaze, but he must have noticed them. The way he’d stiffened his back gave him away.

So the detective lengthened his stride, but the man started the engine immediately. Eric ran to get in front of the car and block him from leaving. ‘Stop. Police!’ But the driver accelerated.

‘Watch out!’ Adele shouted.

Eric jumped out of the way just in time, barely avoiding being hit by the car.

‘Son of a bitch!’ he cursed the getaway car. He stretched his arm towards it, with the intention of shooting, but then he stopped himself. It was already too far away. ‘Fuck …’ he murmured to himself. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

‘Let’s take my car.’ He indicated the SUV to Adele.

They jumped in and started the chase, turning on the siren and the emergency lights installed on the dashboard.

‘You may not use this car very much, but you’ve got it pretty well kitted out,’ she commented, struggling to fasten her seat belt, while the acceleration squashed her against her seat.

The Volkswagen turned left on Gloucester Place at high speed, cutting off another car coming from the right. A cacophony of honks filled the air just as Eric did the same dangerous manoeuvre.

The traffic light ahead was green, but it turned amber just as Garnish was crossing Marylebone Road, overtaking a van, and heading towards Park Road. A moment later, it turned red, but Eric didn’t slow down. The sound of screeching brakes accompanied his car as he crossed the intersection. A motorcyclist, who pulled up at the same moment, swerved, lost control of his bike, and tumbled down on the tarmac. The detective saw him get up in the rear-view mirror and flick the V. Evidently he wasn’t hurt too badly.

‘Basically, we are on the A41. If he keeps going this way, we’ll lose him,’ Adele exclaimed.

‘I bloody know that!’ Eric accelerated, but the runabout was much more agile in the traffic than his car. The light from the sun going low on the horizon hit his eyes too, making his pursuit that much more difficult.

They reached a large roundabout and headed onto Wellington Road. Ahead of them, but not too far, was another green traffic light. Garnish had plenty of open road and accelerated again. A man was walking on the pedestrian crossing. The car turned just in time, but smashed into a low sign on the traffic island. This slowed it just enough for the light to turn amber. But then he stepped on the accelerator again.

At the intersection, however, he was blocked by a bus, while the right lane was partially obstructed by a lorry manoeuvring. The bus slowed down to stop at the traffic lights.

‘Gotcha.’ Eric smiled to himself.

But Garnish wasn’t going to give up. His car came to a lurching stop, and he jumped out. Abandoning the vehicle, he ran across the street.

Eric stopped right behind the Volkswagen and got out, gun in hand, determined to catch him.

‘Eric,’ he heard Adele cry. Then the sound of the door slamming and the footsteps behind him.

Garnish seemed to be in excellent shape. He slid across the top of a car manoeuvring to park, angering the driver, then scuttled into Circus Road. Running on the pavement, he hit two girls, knocking them both down.

‘Police, move aside!’ Eric shouted. ‘Stop right there!’

But the suspect kept running, and when he reached the second side street, he turned right.

Eric, who had just passed the first one, heard Adele’s voice behind him, yet when he turned around, she was nowhere to be seen. But he couldn’t stop now.

He followed Garnish into the side street, which was narrower than the one they’d been on, but also completely empty. The man had gained quite a few metres and Eric could feel his lungs burning. His legs refused to move at the speed he wanted them to.

He noticed that the alley was a dead end. His prey was trapped. But the quarry dashed to the right, disappearing from view. Eric accelerated his stride until he saw there was a narrow pedestrian passageway between two buildings. Garnish had almost reached the far end. If he made it, he’d be out on a much larger street. Eric would lose him. He couldn’t keep up.

All at once, a figure appeared, blocking the end of the alley and aiming a handgun.

‘Race is over,’ Adele said.

Garnish almost slid as he slowed down his pace and stopped. He made as if to raise his hands, but in the end he didn’t lift them too high.

‘Don’t move,’ Eric shouted, finally coming up behind him. Now that they were close, he noticed Garnish was somewhat shorter than him. He had to be about one metre eighty, just like the black figure in the videos.

The suspect emitted a mocking laugh. ‘Hey, hey, there’s no need to point that thing at me,’ he said, keeping his eyes on the woman.

Eric was patting him down, his sides, his legs. He was clean.

‘I almost wish you would move,’ Adele murmured, keeping her aim on him.

The man laughed as a reply. ‘I’m unarmed and I haven’t done anything. I don’t think they’ve made running illegal.’

‘It is, if the police have ordered you to stop,’ Eric said, after bringing his mobile phone to his ear.

‘Terribly sorry, I must not have heard you.’

He was mocking them, and Eric didn’t like it. After the dash he was forced to make, the detective would gladly have punched him if it weren’t for the group of curious onlookers that were gathering not far behind Adele.

‘Stern.’ The officer had finally replied.

‘We’ve got Garnish. Send that backup to the corner between Cochran Street and …’ He looked around. What the hell was the name of this alley?

‘Cochrane Mews,’ a man suggested, but they could already hear sirens echoing in the distance.