The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (epub e ink reader .TXT) 📕

me. ‘She’s worried about you, but I told her you’d call when you felt up to it.’

I looked at him in surprise. ‘You have my sister’s number?’

He nodded. ‘She texted me when we last worked together, don’t you remember?’

I was still surprised that he’d saved her number, but I didn’t question it.

‘Will you come up to the ward with me?’ I asked, suddenly not wanting to be left alone. I knew I was pushing it, especially after he’d pulled away from my kiss earlier, but I still wanted him there. Tentatively, I reached for his hand, needing the reassurance and comfort of having him there with me. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze and didn’t let go.

‘Of course, but then you’ll need to get some sleep.’

It was another hour until the bed was arranged, and Singh pushed me up there in a wheelchair. I insisted I could walk, but the doctor wouldn’t let me even attempt it, pointing out that if I passed out on the floor and hit my head again it would take me even longer to get discharged. Keeping my mouth shut, I let myself be wheeled into the lift and along to a ward, then into a side room.

I was surprised not to be in a communal bay, but maybe Singh’s presence had made them find me a private room. Whatever the reason, I was grateful to have the room to myself. Once I was settled, he looked at me. I felt my face flush, wondering if he was going to mention the kiss, or if he was going to ignore it.

‘Are you going to tell me what you were doing there?’ His voice was gentle, but there was a firmness to it, and I knew he wasn’t going to be happy with the answer, but I told him anyway. I thought he would be annoyed with me, but his reaction went well beyond what I was expecting.

‘Are you serious?’ He took a step back and ran a hand through his hair. ‘Paige, what the hell did you think you were doing?’

‘I wanted to see what Mariusz was up to with this gang of his.’ I was too tired to defend myself properly.

‘When I told you it was probably connected to an ongoing investigation, didn’t you consider that maybe you should have just left it well alone?’ His voice was rising, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. I’d never seen him this angry before, and what made it worse was that it was directed at me and I knew I deserved it.

‘You have absolutely no idea the sort of danger you’ve put yourself in, have you?’ he snapped at me. ‘Every time our paths cross, you do something dangerous, but this is the worst. Do you get that? You’re dealing with something you don’t understand. I’m trying to keep you safe!’

‘Well, if you told me what the hell was going on, maybe I would understand,’ I replied, but he just shook his head and made a sort of frustrated growling noise.

‘You’re not a police officer, I don’t have to tell you anything.’ He shook his head and turned away from me. ‘I wish you could understand …’ He tailed off.

‘Understand what? What are you not telling me?’

He rubbed his face and turned round, but then the door opened and a nurse came in.

‘What’s going on in here?’ She had a face like thunder, and I was glad she was glaring at Singh and not me. ‘Are you the police officer who escorted her here?’ she asked, looking him up and down.

‘I am,’ he snapped. ‘And I’m leaving.’

‘I should think so too.’ She stood back, holding the door open for him, and he stormed out without looking back at me. I pressed my head into the pillow, trying to stop myself from bursting into tears. The nurse fussed around me, checking my blood pressure and my pupils, but she soon left me in peace. When the door shut behind me, I wondered for a moment where everything had gone wrong. Within an hour I’d gone from kissing him to him shouting at me and storming out, and what was worse was that I knew it was all my own fault. I hadn’t intended to kiss him – it had just sort of happened – but it had felt right. I didn’t regret it, but now I might have ruined everything anyway. The tears came then, before the fatigue washed over me and I fell asleep.

One hour before the fire

Lukas was still feeling out of sorts by the time he arrived in the pub. He ordered himself his usual pint and a whisky, then went to sit at the end of the bar, where he could see everyone else and try to get an idea of the conversations that were happening.

His pint disappeared pretty quickly, and he ordered a second. He used to have problems with alcohol, and he knew Sasha and Nadia would both have a go at him if they knew how much he liked to have at the pub some nights, but it wasn’t a problem. He could handle it.

Over the next hour he got through a third pint, nodded to a few people and watched others come and go. The regulars he was friendly with had all picked up a bit of sign language over the last couple of years, and between that and basic gestures they managed to have a conversation with him. He was starting to think he’d go home to Nadia, continue their conversation about starting a family, when Roy walked in. Lukas’s eyes narrowed when he saw him.

Roy came in and worked the room as he usually did, shaking hands and making jokes with the other regulars, flirting with the girl who was serving, despite the fact that she was easily young enough to be his daughter. If he wanted to sit and have a serious conversation with Roy he’d do best to wait