by Nick Hollin
Katie continues to stare at the syringes. ‘I don’t think that’s what you ever intended.’ The words are coming out before the thought is fully formed, but she goes with it anyway, trusting her instinct.
‘In truth, even I’m not totally sure of my intentions,’ says Max. ‘I’ve been confused for quite some time now. Perhaps ever since I discovered a man could toss the mother of his child away like a piece of scrap.’ She places one hand on the floor to her side, and Katie is certain Max is sitting almost exactly where her mother’s body was found. ‘But I do at least understand the situation here. I hope you do too. Unless you do what I’ve asked, you’re not getting the antidote and Nathan will be every bit as dead as his brother.’
‘There is no antidote,’ says Katie, her hunch having grown to a terrible certainty. ‘Whatever mixture you gave Nathan is also in the second syringe. That syringe was for you, for you to die in the same way and the same place as your mum. Only you bottled it, just like couldn’t give Nathan everything. And now you’re hoping that I’ll be partly to blame for his death, by hesitating.’ As she speaks, Katie lifts the bar high above her head. At the same time, Max leans forward and presses the gun into Katie’s belly, close to the point where Christian had thrust the knife. For a moment, the two women stare at each other, frozen in that position. Then Max pulls the gun back and lifts it, before grinning and saying, ‘Time’s up.’
Katie tries to bring the bar down, not waiting any longer, not caring about the consequences for herself, but there’s a sudden flash, soon followed by a deafening bang and she’s falling backwards, dropping the bar. Katie crumples to the floor. Squeezing her shoulder, she can feel the hot blood pumping out. It’s not a fatal wound. Not yet. But she doesn’t have long.
In the mayhem, Katie’s missed Max turning the gun on Sam. The senior policewoman looks ready to leap forward, but at the same time Katie can see the focus on her face. Careful calculations are taking place.
‘You most likely thought the gun wasn’t loaded,’ says Max to Sam. ‘Were probably still trying to convince yourself my dad only took it along to scare me off. You were so wrong about him.’ Max turns to look at Katie, her eyes burning bright. ‘And I was wrong about you. I really thought you had it.’ She shakes her head and sighs. ‘But you couldn’t even do it to save your own life.’
‘The game’s over,’ says Katie, through gritted teeth. She’s certain she’s going to pass out at any moment, but she knows that if she does, if she enters that darkness, then she’s likely never to come out.
‘Not quite,’ says Max. She takes a step forward and points the barrel of the gun at Sam’s head. ‘Now it’s Ms Stone’s turn. It’s up to you, Samantha, to see if you can be sensible, and not quite such a coward.’
Katie sees Sam look down at the metal bar on the floor to her right, a horrified expression on her face. ‘You mean, use that on Katie? I can’t.’
‘You can’t?’ Max says, with a laugh. ‘You were quite happy to torture Nathan. Quite happy to sleep with my dad, with a drug dealer and murderer. Have you suddenly found morals?’
‘But it’s not—’
‘It’s all right,’ says Max, cutting Sam off. ‘Just relax. You’ve got it far easier than Katie. Forget about the bar. The only thing you have to do is walk out of here and tell your friends the story. Leave out the stuff that incriminates you, if you want. You see, there is no physical evidence of your dealings with my dad. I lied about that, just like I lied about the antidote. The only thing you need to worry about is what is in my head, and the drugs in the other syringe here are going to rapidly remove any trace of that. Simply step out of this container into the sunlight and you’ll be okay. If you choose to stay, on the other hand, well…’
Still slumped on the floor and through partly closed eyes, Katie can see Max’s finger twitch on the trigger with the gun held up towards Sam.
‘Go,’ says Katie, weakly. A new wave of pain takes her, and rather than flinch and try and hide away from it, she brings it into focus, at the same time remembering what she’d been told about Nathan as he’d been tortured at the school. He’d thought of her. It had got him through that nightmare. She does the same, picturing his face, his smile, and somehow the pain starts to recede.
‘There’s nothing else you can do.’ She’s aware of Sam looking at her as she takes a small step towards the door. She can see what will happen. Once Sam has gone, Max will move across and bolt the door shut. A lock has been placed on the inside, and there’s no way anybody will be able to break in in time. This will become a coffin for them all.
Katie looks across at Nathan. He’s not moving. He most likely won’t move ever again. She’ll never get the chance to tell him how important he is to her. To say sorry for the way she’s treated him. More than that, she’s thinking that they’ll never get to work together again, and of all the injustice that will pass because they’re not around.
As she starts to drift towards unconsciousness, she stares at Sam. It appears the other woman is not going anywhere. She cannot bring herself to walk away and leave her to die, the same way Katie hadn’t been able to bring the metal bar down on Sam’s head. Katie finds herself smiling; then, with a pain so intense she can barely breathe, she rises slowly to her feet. She finds Sam’s stare again and the two women exchange a look that tells Katie her intentions are understood. There is no other option.
‘No hesitation,’ says Katie, before turning to face up to Max. With whatever strength Katie has left, and with her thoughts focused purely on Nathan, on this faint chance of saving him, she charges forward at the barrel of the gun, with Sam beside her.
Forty-Seven
‘I had gone,’ says Nathan, looking out of the window of his hospital room at the tops of trees gently swaying. ‘I was right there…’ He stretches a hand out. It’s not really directed at anything. But then, where he’s trying to get back to isn’t in any location that he could place, or that he understands. There had been no bright light at the end of the tunnel, no booming voice, no gates at the top of the stairs; it was just a sense of nothingness laid out before him like an endless ocean, and he’d wanted so much to dive in, to give up all thought, all feeling. A blessed relief. The only thing that had held him back was what he’s looking at right now: Katie’s beautiful face.
She’s lying in the neighbouring bed, hooked up to just as many machines as he is, her shoulder patched up and held in a sling.
‘I know what you mean,’ says Katie. ‘I think I was there too. And to be honest, it wasn’t such a terrible place.’
‘No, it wasn’t.’ Nathan came back for Katie, to be with Katie, and to be with Katie, he knows that he has to play a professional role. ‘But we’ve still got stuff to do here.’
‘Plenty,’ says Katie. ‘Although I guess we’ll have to see where we stand after all the formal questioning.’
Nathan tries to calm himself as he thinks of another inquest, another no doubt very public inquiry into his behaviour and that of those he cares about, because he knows any distress will instantly register on the machines monitoring his heart. It’s not easy, but he’s got enough drugs – and good drugs, this time – in his system to help suppress any panic.
‘I still don’t fully understand what happened,’ he says. ‘Why did you both rush forward at the same time?’
‘It was simple maths,’ says Katie, remembering the calculation she’d been able to make in the middle of the fog of pain. ‘The only way we could possibly save more than one life was to give Max two targets at the same time. The chances were that between me and Sam, one of us was going to survive.’
‘But why did Sam take that risk, for me?’
Nathan can see Katie flinch, before her features twist in pain. ‘I keep hearing that gunshot ringing out in the metal container. In that moment, I believed it could have been me that was hit for the second time, but looking back I can see that Sam knew exactly what she was doing. I couldn’t move fast, not with my injury, and Sam was alwa
ys going to get to Max first. She also crossed in front of me before diving forward on Max. The doctors reckon the bullet in her chest should have killed her instantly, but she was still able to get in a couple of strong blows that knocked the gun from Max’s hand and left her barely conscious. I landed a punch of my own before being dragged away by armed officers rushing in.’
‘Sam could have walked away,’ says Nathan, wiping a tear from his cheek. ‘Kept her life. Kept her career.’
‘I think she wanted to prove who she really was,’ says Katie. ‘To us. To her colleagues. To herself.’
‘I owe her so much,’ says Nathan. ‘Both of you.’
‘And you’ll repay us,’ says Katie. ‘By doing what you do. Every murderer we track down, every victim we find justice for, will be in the name of Sam Stone.’
Nathan falls back on his pillow, releasing a long breath. ‘And Max? Do you think she’ll talk?’
‘Who knows? And who knows what she might have to say?’
‘I’ll be honest,’ says Nathan. ‘I would like to find out more about my brother. He might have been a monster, but I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to understand those like him, and him more than any…’
‘Let’s worry about ourselves first,’ says Katie, straining to reach out from her bed. Nathan stretches out his own hand towards hers, but with their injuries, they don’t even come close to touching. Still, it’s a start, and their excitement at what the future might hold registers instantly on the heart rate monitors between them.
Two weeks later and Nathan, Katie and Richard are standing in the middle of a graveyard. The body of Ben Peters has just been lowered into the ground in front of them alongside the grave of his brother Mike, and although the few mourners who attended the service have now departed, Nathan’s certain that there are still people watching from a distance. He and Katie are big news, and will remain so for quite some time. But this time, he’s not going to run. There is no hiding, not from the press and not from the authorities. They will ask their questions and he will answer as best he can. The early signs are good for a return to work, with Superintendent Taylor and even DCI Ken Stocks willing to act as character referees. Nathan knows that they don’t really trust him, but what he and Katie bring they value highly: results.
‘I must head back to Wales,’ says Richard, lightly pressing a hand on Nathan’s good shoulder. The pain of his injuries is lessening now, but he knows it’ll take a long time before he’s fully recovered.
‘We’ll come and visit,’ says Katie. ‘If you don’t mind?’
The old doctor smiles a broad smile. ‘The door of my yellow house is always open for you.’
It seems so long since Nathan arrived panting on the doorstep of that house, fearing losing Katie to the pains in her stomach. In the end, those had been the first signs not only of food poisoning, but of the poisoning influence of Max.
‘It’s been a pleasure,’ says Nathan, holding out his hand. Richard takes it and shakes it firmly, before turning to Katie. She pulls him into a tight hug, her face pressed into his shoulder.
‘You take care,’ she says, tears forming in her eyes. ‘And call us if you need anything.’
‘What I need is for you two to stick together,’ says the doctor. ‘What you have, whatever it might be, is something special.’
Nathan feels his face flush and looks across to see the same has happened to Katie. It’s highlighted the scars on her cheeks, but also the awkwardness that still exists between them.
They wave goodbye to the doctor, and then return their attention to the graves, of two brothers who deserved so much better. Nathan hasn’t visited his own brother Christian’s grave – hidden away, with no name on the stone – nor does he imagine he ever will, but he can’t help reflecting on the importance of family. He will most likely never add to his. He is the last of the Radleys, as Katie is the last of the Rhodeses, but while he’s with her, while they’re working together, sharing their experiences, making the most of whatever abilities they have, it somehow seems enough.
If The Goodnight Song had you on the edge of your seat and you can’t wait for more from Detectives Rhodes and Radley, then make sure you’ve read about where it all started in Dark Lies.
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Get it here!
Dark Lies
Get it here!
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‘I couldn't stop reading… an absolute corker!… I found myself so immersed that the outside world almost ceased to exist… totally addictive… gripping, compelling, utterly absorbing… it blew my mind!' Novel Deelights, 5 stars
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When a young mother is found dead in her home with a mysterious symbol drawn on her body, DI Katie Rhodes is shaken to her core; it’s a perfect match to the birthmark she once saw on her old partner, Nathan Radley.
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Formerly one of the best criminal psychologists on the police force, Nathan was renowned for getting deep into the minds of the murderers he hunted. But for the past year he has lived in isolation, terrified of losing control over his own dark desires…
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Katie swore she’d never knock on Nathan’s door again, but when another woman’s body is found, she knows she doesn’t have a choice.
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As the body count rises and the calling cards get increasingly personal, Katie and Nathan realise that someone very close to them is playing a dangerous game. Who can they trust, and how many more innocent lives will be taken before they can crack this disturbing riddle?
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An absolutely nail-biting serial-killer thriller. Fans of The Girl in the Ice, or anything by Angela Marsons or Rachel Abbott will not want to miss this page-turning debut!
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Also by Nick Hollin
Dark Lies
The Goodnight Song
A Letter from Nick
Hello,
Thanks so much for choosing to read The Goodnight Song. If you enjoyed it, and want to keep up-to-date with all my releases, please sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time:
Sign up here!
It hardly seems five minutes since I was starting out on book 1, Dark Lies, and here we are with a sequel. I’ve loved returning to Rhodes and Radley. I now see them as close friends. Given what I’ve put them through, they might not be so keen on me.
I hope you enjoyed their latest adventure, and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review for The Goodnight Song. I’m very keen to hear what you think, and it makes a huge difference in making other readers aware of my work.
Whilst I’m not the greatest with social-media – work and family rarely afford me the time – I would be delighted to hear from you over at Twitter @vonmaraus.
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Best wishes,
Nick
Acknowledgments
Family, friends, agent and editor. Same people. Same support. Same sacrifices. Even more appreciation.
Published by Bookouture
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
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www.bookouture.com
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Copyright © Nick Hollin 2018
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Nick Hollin has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
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ISBN: 978-1-78681-432-6
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publishers.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
