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

pointed out. I don’t think they’ll be too happy to see him back. And of course now there’s been another fire, she said. I don’t want him to be blamed for that too. There’s obviously some connection between the gang hanging around outside these houses and the fires. But if they’re setting the fires, why are they doing it? And what does it have to do with Nadia?

Maybe you should ask Lukas, I pointed out. He obviously knows more than he’s telling us.

Why do you say that? she snapped.

Because he kept avoiding our questions about who had been hanging around outside his house. I wasn’t going to let Sasha keep protecting Lukas when I knew there was more he could tell us. If he told us everything he knew, maybe we could make sense of this. If he’d actually spoken to the police to defend himself, they might be a lot further on.

Sasha bristled at this. I thought you understood, Paige? I thought you knew what it was like for someone like Lukas to find himself in that position, badgered by the police until he was too scared to say anything in his own defence? Taken advantage of because of the communication barrier?

I hadn’t seen any evidence of the police treating him like that, but I didn’t say as much. Sasha obviously had her own reasons for being so defensive, and I wondered if she also knew more than she was telling me.

She shook her head. I think maybe you need to rest. Let me know if you’ll be back at work on Monday or if you need more time off.

With that she stood up and walked out of the room, leaving me confused. What had I said? What was she hiding from me?

Chapter 32

‘Well, Paige, I think you’ve been quite lucky,’ the doctor told me as she looked at my notes. ‘I don’t think we need a CT scan. The nurse will give you a leaflet with your discharge letter about the warning signs to look out for following concussion, but you’re fine to go home.’

I breathed a sigh of relief, before wondering how I was going to get home. My car was still parked a few streets away, but I didn’t have any keys, having left mine with Singh so he could lock it after they’d taken fingerprints. I needed my car, so I was going to have to swallow my pride.

Hi, where can I pick up my keys?

I sent the message quickly before I could overthink what to say and change my mind. I was worried he’d be too annoyed with me to answer, but I got a quick response.

Are you still in the hospital?

Yes.

Stay there.

I sat on my bed and waited. A nurse had come to tell me it could be a couple of hours before I was officially discharged, so I had nothing else to do until then.

About half an hour later I heard a conversation outside my room, recognising one of the voices as Singh’s. I felt a flutter of nerves – how was he going to be with me after everything that happened yesterday? Maybe he was just dropping my keys off with a nurse so he didn’t have to see me. I bit my lip and waited.

There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Singh looking a bit rumpled.

‘They really don’t like anyone coming onto the ward outside of visiting hours, do they? I had to point out that I’m a detective and you were the victim of a mugging before they’d even consider letting me in.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I blurted out, stepping back to let him into the room.

‘It’s not your fault – they’re just strict about visiting times,’ he replied with a smile.

I blinked, then realised he was trying to make a joke and had known exactly what I was talking about. Relieved that he was the one to break the tension between us, I returned his smile. Moving past me, he reached into his pocket and handed me my keys.

‘Have you been discharged?’

‘Not yet, but it shouldn’t be long,’ I said, gesturing at the door to indicate that I was waiting for someone to tell me I could go.

‘How are you getting home?’

I looked down at the keys in my hand, then back up at him, and he rolled his eyes.

‘Paige, you can’t drive yourself home less than twenty-four hours after being hospitalised with a head injury.’ He sat down on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘I meant it when I said you were your own worst enemy.’

‘Well, Anna and Gem are both at work, and I’m not calling Max to give me a lift home, seeing as I broke his heart a few days ago,’ I said, my words coming out a bit sharper than I’d intended. ‘I don’t have any money on me to pay for a taxi or a bus. So what do you suggest?’

He mimed looking over his shoulder, then checking under the bed, then sat back. ‘No, you’re right. There’s absolutely nobody else who could give you a lift home.’

I folded my arms, feeling my face redden. ‘I think I took up too much of your time yesterday to impose on you again.’ I had decided when he walked in that I wasn’t going to mention the kiss unless he did.

‘Well, I can be the judge of that.’ He looked at me seriously. ‘I’m sorry I left it the way I did last night. I was frustrated that you keep putting yourself in dangerous situations. It’s not nice for the people who care about you to see you get hurt.’

I felt a little flush of pleasure that he was obviously including himself in that group of people, and moved to sit next to him on the bed.

‘You’re right that I don’t always think before I do something. But I was being careful yesterday, I promise.’ He raised his eyebrows, but I