“Not unexpected.”
“No, not at all. But this cable tie does suggest that someone else was at the scene. It doesn’t make sense that it was Aidan, judging by where he was found.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Stop treating me like an idiot Raven.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes you are. You always have.”
The hurt in those beautiful eyes of his made her feel ashamed. “I’m sorry.”
“You were there, weren’t you?”
Raven looked around, trying to judge whether this was some sort of trap but she couldn’t see anyone who could be a possible undercover officer. Clouds were moving in, the temperature starting to drop and all the mothers were steering their precious offspring out of the park before the deluge started. However she wasn’t about to openly admit to something, so she just nodded.
“I knew it,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Why?”
“Survival.”
“Why didn’t you come to me? I could have helped you.”
“You couldn’t. What’s done is done and can’t be changed.” She was remaining deliberately cryptic so it would be difficult to prove what she was saying in court in case anyone was recording their conversation. She nodded at the cable tie. “What are you going to do with that?”
“This,” he replied, dumping it in a bin. He smiled. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you look surprised.”
“Why?”
“I can hardly turn it in as evidence after I cut if off Elias’s wrist.”
“And why did you do that?”
“Moment of madness I think. I just knew you’d been there.”
“You were protecting me?”
He nodded.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t want or need you to say anything. In the years to come I’ll constantly come back to this decision, wondering whether it was the right thing to do. I know who you are Raven, I know there’s much more to your work than my colleagues know. Jeremy kept trying to tell us but we wouldn’t listen. I just can’t prove it.”
“Are you going to try?”
“That depends. I don’t want to see you behind bars but I don’t know if it’s right letting you carry on with what you’re doing.”
“You’re not going to do anything. If you were you wouldn’t have told me how you tampered with evidence at a crime scene. You’ve given me a hold over you.”
“That was my reasoning, yes.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Jeremy Elias got what he deserved. We’ve spoken to a couple of nurses who worked on the ward you were admitted to at Stonefort. They both knew you’d been assaulted by him but they were told they’d lose their jobs if they reported it. Three families have come forward claiming he assaulted their children. One of them even had strands of his hair as proof.”
Clever One Eye, thought Raven, recalling the hair she’d taken from Jeremy when they’d fought, hair she’d given One Eye to look after.
“Elias’s reputation as a paedophile has been confirmed and justice has been served,” continued Tom.
“This isn’t your idea of justice. You’re a police officer.”
“You’re not the only one with hidden depths.”
“Thank you for what you’ve done. I appreciate it.”
Tom was unmoved. “I suggest you keep a very low profile for a while.”
“I will.”
“I’m keeping an eye on you Raven. Don’t forget, I will arrest you if I have to.”
“I know.”
When they gazed at each other, Tom decided it was time to go, he could feel himself being pulled under her spell again. “See you around Raven.”
She watched him go, meandering along the path to the exit, head bowed against the rain as it began to fall but she didn’t move until he’d vanished from view, wondering if he was going to be the man to finally bring her down.
CHAPTER 43
Upon waking the next morning, Raven felt lighter, like a weight had been removed from her chest. Jeremy was gone, as were Dexter and Pitbull and his gang. Finally all her enemies were dead and couldn’t hurt her anymore. She nestled into Aidan, nuzzling his neck with her lips. And her husband was still here. Bliss. During this precious time she refused to think about him leaving again. Instead, she was going to make the most of him.
His eyes rolled open, that beautiful smile of his cracking his face. He flipped her onto her back. “What do you want to do today?”
“I just want to go hiking, spend all day outside in the fresh air…”
“And making love in the bracken.”
“Naturally,” she grinned.
No one was more surprised than Raven when three weeks later, Aidan was still at home and showing no signs of leaving. They’d managed to go hiking, shopping in the city, out for dinner, to the cinema and even on a couple of day trips and nothing bad had happened. They hadn’t argued once, neither had they got themselves into any life-threatening situations. She allowed herself to hope that this time he could stay, that they did have the possibility of a future together.
The fuss around the explosion at Stonefort was finally dying down, except for the occasional snippet mentioned in the media. Another MP sex scandal had rocked Westminster - she wondered why anyone was surprised anymore - and some royal had given birth, so everyone had mercifully been distracted from Stonefort and its disgorged secrets. Deciding to take Tom’s advice, she’d kept a low profile, being careful to remain strictly law-abiding until the fuss had died down. Marcus Moore still needed to be removed from the equation and Patrick Bryce had to be given a serious spanking but she daren’t make a move until she felt it was safe. Even Aidan had agreed with her being so cautious, for once. She was surprised Marcus hadn’t struck first, he must know she was coming for him, however it wasn’t wise to kill someone who was so in the spotlight, not only with the media but with the police too.
Raven slid her foot up Aidan’s leg beneath the table, leaning into him as he fed her chocolate pudding from his spoon. He kissed her when she swallowed, his left hand moving up her thigh.
The blushing waiter stood by the table, unnoticed, holding a tray with two coffees. The other diners were trying not to look their way but found themselves inexplicably drawn back to the smooching couple in the corner.
The waiter, unable to take it any longer, cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”
Finally they realised he was there.
“Sorry,” said Raven, sitting up straight so he could put the coffee cups on the table, biting her lip when Aidan’s hand slid higher, brushing her panties. “Actually,” she said, squirming in her seat. “We’ll skip the coffees and have the bill please.”
“Yes Madam,” replied the grateful waiter, hurrying away.
“Take it easy,” she whispered in Aidan’s ear, his fingers pressing against the centre of her. “You’ll get us thrown out.”
“So what? There’s plenty of pretentious restaurants in this city. I want you. Now.”
“You’re going to have to wait.”
“I can’t. Let’s go outside and find a nice, quiet spot.”
“Like some alleyway?” she said with a curl of the lip. “How romantic.”
“Or the park?”
“Better.” She raised his hand to her mouth, taking the tip of his index finger between her lips. “I want to feel you inside me and the rough bark of a tree against my back.”
Aidan’s eyes flicked sideways and flashed. “What are you looking at? You wanting to watch or something?”
Raven turned in her seat to see the middle-aged man at the next table staring at them with his mouth hanging open, the spaghetti on the end of his fork slowly unwinding itself. “Can I?”
“No,” snarled Aidan, causing him to look away.
They left the restaurant, arms wrapped around each other, heading towards the park.
“See, it’s deserted,” said Aidan, pulling he
r towards the bushes. “And dark.”
He pressed her up against a tree, pulling up her dress, grinding his mouth against hers.
They both sensed it at the same time, spines prickling with unease. They whipped round to be confronted by a gang of five men dressed all in black, hoods obscuring their faces, moonlight glinting off the knives they carried.
“Now we know why this park is deserted,” said Raven.
“Give us your fucking money,” said the ringleader, the other four fanning out around them, penning them in. Clearly they were well practised at this.
“Leave while you still can,” Raven told them. “You’ve picked on the wrong people.”
“Give us your fucking cash.”
“Not happening.”
“No money, huh?” The ringleader pointed the blade at Raven. “Then we’ll take you instead.”
Aidan was gripped by horrific flashbacks to the time they’d been attacked by the three mercenaries, similarly during a night out together, Raven bleeding in his arms, dying…
His fist shot out, slamming into the ringleader’s throat. He fell to the ground, eyes bulging, clutching at his neck, fighting to breathe.
Fury pounding through him, Aidan launched himself at the two closest to him, his rage fuelling Raven, who attacked the other two, between them easily pummelling the men into bloody pulps, her lilac dress spattered with blood. Aidan punched one so savagely blood sprayed out of his mouth and across Aidan’s face.
“Aidan,” said Raven when he picked up a dropped knife, preparing to bring it down on the ringleader’s heart.
He nodded, slowly lowering the weapon. When he saw the cut on Raven’s arm, her precious blood dripping from the wound, his rage reignited and he pushed the knife into the ringleader’s left eye, being careful not to drive the blade into his brain. When his eyeball popped, the ringleader passed out and one of his cronies puked into the bushes.
Aidan slapped the man awake, whose body began to shake with shock. He dragged him to his feet and shoved him towards his friends. “Fuck off out of it,” he snarled.
They grabbed their blinded friend and pulled him along with them as they vanished into the night as fast as they could on shaky legs.
Aidan looked to Raven and when their gazes locked they flew at each other, frantically kissing. He pushed up her dress and tore down her panties, thrusting inside her, the blood on her clothes sticking to his while the blood on his face transferred onto her skin, the coppery scent filling the air. They came together, making no effort to stifle their cries.
“You’re okay?” he said, cupping her face in one hand, breathing hard. “Your arm…”
“Just a scratch. I’m fine.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing deeply to try and calm himself down. “History won’t repeat itself,” he said, running his fingertips down her face. “No one will hurt you again. I won’t let them.”
He kissed her before releasing her and they adjusted their clothing.
“We’re covered in blood,” she said. “And the car’s two streets away.”
“It’s dark and quiet. We can make it.”
Taking each other’s hands, they left the park. On the one hand she was glad to leave it behind, on the other the darkness had disguised the fact that they were covered in someone else’s blood.
They managed to traverse the first street with no problems. The only people they encountered were another couple coming the opposite way, who were far too engrossed with each other to notice them and a drunk man taking a piss in a doorway, who was entirely focused on remaining upright.
On the next street, they encountered two police officers on patrol.
“Hey, you two,” said one of them.
Raven and Aidan attempted to skirt round them but they blocked their way. Fortunately they weren’t any of Tom’s team, they were from another station in a different part of the city, so the officers didn’t recognise them.
“What’s that all over you?” said the first officer.
In the dim light the blood looked black.
“Mud,” replied Raven, careful to keep her head bowed, her hair hiding her face. “We fell in the park.”
“There was a serious assault in the park a few minutes ago,” replied the officer, reaching for his baton.
He was knocked flat on his back by Aidan’s fist, having failed to see the blow coming. When the second officer reached for his radio, Aidan kicked him in the back of the knee and punched him in the face.
The two of them ran off, vanishing into the darkness, leaving the two officers crumpled on the pavement.
“Jesus Christ Aidan,” yelled Raven the moment they walked through the front door of the barn. “Why the fuck did you have to knock out two coppers?” She’d tried to restrain her anger, remaining furiously silent in the car on the drive home. She didn’t want this argument, she knew where it was going to lead but it was impossible to contain any longer.
“You really think they believed that crap excuse you gave them about mud?” he retorted. “I had no choice.”
“Of course you had a choice, there’s always a choice. Now they’re going to be looking for us.”
“They won’t find us. It was dark and there were no witnesses. I hit them so hard they probably won’t remember what happened.”
“All we did was go out for dinner and as usual you turn it into a complete clusterfuck.”
“I didn’t ask for those retards to attack us in the park.”
“But you didn’t have to attack two police officers. Act first, think later, that’s always been your way.”
“And if we’d left it to you we’d be in custody right now. Instead we’re home, safely.”
“We were lucky to get away with what happened at Stonefort. This on top of that would make them even more suspicious. We probably would have been locked up for life.”
“They won’t know it’s us. Just relax, will you?”
“Relax? How the fuck am I supposed to relax after the night out from hell?”
“We were having a good time up until the park.”
“Then it got ruined, like everything we do together inevitably gets ruined.”
She went silent when she realised what she’d said, looking down at her feet.
“It’s happening again,” he said.
Raven nodded, swallowing hard. “You’re going to leave, aren’t you?”
“We were in the park because of me. I was the one who attacked those coppers.” His chest heaved. “You got cut because of me. It’s always because of me.”
Raven was tempted to try and talk him out of leaving, they’d been doing so well. But she restrained herself. The wildness between them was returning, she’d felt it when they’d fought that gang in the park and when they’d fucked up against the tree. If he didn’t go now, they’d only do worse things together and neither of them would be able to help themselves. Innocent people would be hurt. “I thought this time…,” she began, trailing off when her voice cracked.
“I know,” he sighed. “Me too.” He took her face between his hands. “But we did better, much better. Maybe things are changing for us? Maybe next time I’ll be able to stay for longer?”
She forced herself to smile with hope she didn’t feel. “Maybe. When will you go?”
“I don’t like leaving you now, especially after what you’ve remembered about the past.”
“I’m over that, the ravens helped me. Don’t worry.”
“Are you sure?”
“That bastard lost. End of story.”
He nodded. “Then I’ll go while you sleep.”
That was how he always left because it was easier on them both. It was so much harder for her to watch him leave rather than wake up and for him to already be gone.
“I’ll let you know where I end up,” he said. “And I’ll phone every week. Some of the places I travel to are off the grid but I’ll find a way to stay in touch. I don’t want you crying yourself to sleep anymore
because you don’t know whether I’m alive or dead.”
“You’ve been talking to One Eye.”
“Yes and I’m glad I did because I don’t want you living like that.”
“That might make it easier for me to cope, although it won’t stop me missing you like crazy. I’d give up everything - the money, the house, the cars…”
“Even the weapons?” he said playfully.
“Even the weapons,” she laughed while tears rolled down her face. “I’d happily let it all go if only we could live a proper life together.”
Tears shone in his own eyes, a very rare event for Aidan Gallagher. “I’d burn the whole world to make that happen.”
“And I’d let you.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t want to go. It’s been heaven here with you in our home.”
“I’ll be waiting for you when you come back.”
“In about two or three months.”
“Please don’t say that. It’ll only make it harder when you don’t show up.”
“I will be back, I promise.”
“Okay,” was all she said.
“I leave in a few hours. Let’s make the most of the rest of our time together. Woah,” he said when she dragged him towards the bedroom.
CHAPTER 44
When Raven woke she remained still with her eyes closed, assessing whether or not she was alone in bed. She strained to hear Aidan’s soft breathing as he slept, but there was only silence. Tentatively she reached out a hand, feeling only the cold sheet.
Forcing her eyes open, she saw his side of the bed was empty. Part of her clung to the vain hope that he’d gone out for an early morning hike, but the note on his pillow destroyed that.
I’ve managed to book a flight to Honduras. I’ve got a contact out there who has some work for me. I’ll call you when I arrive. Love you my little bird.
Beneath this was a beautiful sketch of raven and hawk wings encircling each other, which said more than words ever could.
Raven buried her face in her hands and cried, letting the note flutter into the bedclothes. She’d known it was coming, every time she knew it was coming but no matter how much she prepared herself she was always left torn, wounded.
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