THEN
SHE
RAN
An absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist
CHARLIE GALLAGHER
First published 2018
Joffe Books, London
www.joffebooks.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events 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. The spelling used is British English except where fidelity to the author’s rendering of accent or dialect supersedes this.
©Charlie Gallagher
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THERE IS A GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH AND POLICE SLANG IN THE BACK OF THIS BOOK FOR US READERS.
CONTENTS
Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
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FROM CHARLIE GALLAGHER
VOCABULARY
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For Harris. We miss you man.
Author’s Note
I am inspired by what I do and see in my day job as a front-line police detective, though my books are entirely fictional. I am aware that the police officers in my novels are not always shown positively. They are human and they make mistakes. This is sometimes the case in real life too, but the vast majority of officers are honest and do a good job in trying circumstances. From what I see on a daily basis, the men and women who wear the uniform are among the very finest, and I am proud to be part of one of the best police forces in the world.
Charlie Gallagher
Chapter 1
‘Jenny, honey, we’ve got to go! We’ve got to go now!’
Jenny’s eyes opened and she tried to move her arms, but they were weighed down; their four-month-old daughter, Isobel, lay across them. Beyond her tiny, sleeping form was a digital clock with red numbers. They looked angry, as if they’d been scorched into the black face. The numbers advanced one digit, to 10:01 a.m. — Sunday morning. Once, this would have been her favourite day of the week: lazy and carefree, a cooked breakfast and a stroll — no work until tomorrow. But recently, days of the week had come to mean nothing. Time meant nothing. Sleep meant nothing.
‘What are you talking about? I only just got her off.’ It had been a terrible night. Isobel’s teeth seemed to be coming all at once. There was no doubt the poor thing was in a lot of pain, inconsolable for much of the time. But Jenny’s patience was frayed — damned near severed. Neither of them was coping with sleep deprivation very well.
‘We need to go. We need to go — now!’ Joseph said again.
Jenny was now wide awake. As gently as she could, she pulled her arm out from under Isobel’s neck. Isobel stirred enough to sigh but stayed asleep on the big bed. Joseph’s eyes were wide and filled with fear. He was serious — she’d never seen him like this before. ‘What’s happened, Joseph? What are you talking about? Leaving?’
‘I’ve put some bits in the bag, stuff for Issy. We have to go now, Jenny.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. We’re not going anywhere.’
‘We need to go NOW!’ Joseph’s raised voice got a reaction from Isobel. She scrunched up her face in a scowl, made tiny fists with her hands. Jenny knew the signs, knew what was coming next. Sure enough, Isobel’s cry was instant and powerful.
‘What the hell, Joseph?’ Jenny moved to the end of the bed. The curtains were drawn; Joseph walked over to them and tore them apart. Isobel’s crying got louder. Jenny could see their suitcase laid out on the floor. It was stuffed with Isobel’s clothes, her nappies and wipes. He pushed it shut and zipped it up. Jenny still sat on the bed. Joseph was like a man possessed. He picked the case up and stood it on his wheels. The handle clicked out. He had laid out a few bits and pieces on the unit at the end of the bed: his wallet, his phone and the papers they had been given when they had hired the car. The hotel room key was there too. He scooped up everything but the key.
‘Are you not taking the key?’
‘We can’t come back, Jenny.’
‘What the hell is going on? Like hell am I just going to take Isobel out like this — with no explanation!’
‘There’s no time. You have to trust me. We have to go now!’
Jenny couldn’t help but absorb some of his panic; Joseph didn’t scare easy after all. She found her feet. She picked up Isobel and tried to shush her. She pulled her in tight to her chest and she calmed down a little. Joseph strode into the bathroom. When he came back out, the keys to the car rattled in his hand.
‘Now!’ Joseph walked to the door and stepped out. Jenny saw him look both ways before disappearing a few paces down the corridor. She scooped up the keys to the room and stuffed them in her jeans pocket. She had dressed for the day hours ago and only needed to slip her feet into loose trainers. Joseph strode back into the room and took hold of the suitcase. Jenny looked around the room. She had clothes strewn over the chair, her toiletries and hair straighteners in the bathroom. She had other belongings on her bedside table and across other surfaces.
‘I can’t just leave all this. Can we not just take a few more minutes to pack all the stuff? I need to change Issy.’
‘We can get more stuff. There’s no time. We have to go now.’ Joseph walked back into the corridor and held the door to stop it swinging back closed. His eyes fell on Jenny, still full of panic, still desperate. He was pale and the hand that reached for hers was cold and clammy. He moved them towards the stairs. Isobel had calmed down enough so that her sounds were just unsettled moans. The crying had stopped at least. Joseph strode past the lift to the top of the stairs. Jenny stopped at the lift and pressed the call button.
‘We take the stairs,’ Joseph said.
Jenny followed him through a door to the stairwell but he was already out of sight, moving down the stairs two at a time with the suitcase held over his head, his footfalls echoing off the bare walls.
‘What is going on?’ Jenny called after him. Joseph ignored her; it sounded as if he was already on the landing below and moving to the next flight.
They’d been on the third floor of the Dovorian Hotel. Jenny had thought it to be a strange choice from the start. It was a budget hotel; there were no real facilities for families, certainly nothing for a four-month-old baby. Joseph had said it suited their needs; it was close to the centre of Dover. Jenny didn’t understand why this was important; there was nothing in the town for them, nothing in the county. But Joseph had just told her to trust him. He’d been saying
that a lot recently.
She made it to the ground floor. They had to pass the reception desk. It was vacant. She had needed to summon someone from the back office when they were checking in; she was glad there was nobody there now. Joseph was moving away from it at speed.
He was already halfway along the ground-floor corridor, which ran the length of the building to a side exit. The door was swinging open when Jenny got to it. She was going as fast as she could manage but she was some way behind Joseph, who was once more out of her sight. She stood still for a second. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and she was breathing heavily. Isobel wriggled and she tried to hold her firm against her chest. She knew it was the best chance she had of keeping her quiet. She heard an engine revving hard and their hire car pulled up in front, Joseph at the wheel. He was already out of the driver’s door by the time she got to the rear. He pulled the door open and unclipped the baby seat. Jenny hated it. It was rear facing and she would rather be able to see Isobel when they were moving, but the internet had told her how much safer it was.
Jenny tried to make Isobel cosy, wrapping a blanket around her as tightly as she could and tucking it under her tiny body. Isobel liked to be wrapped up tight and warm.
‘We have to go!’ Joseph bent over her, she had put the baby seat on the pavement. It was sloped, the hill was steep and it wasn’t easy.
‘We have to make sure she’s wrapped up and safe first, Joseph. What the hell has gotten into you?’
Jenny lifted the seat. It clicked into place on the second attempt. She kissed her fingers and rested them against Isobel’s cheek. Joseph was already revving the car. Jenny moved to the front passenger seat. The car was already moving as she pulled her door shut.
Jenny snatched at her seatbelt. In her haste it stopped short. She tutted and pulled it again. ‘What the hell is going on, Joseph? You have to tell me. Are we in some sort of trouble?’
She gave up on her seatbelt. They made it to a junction at the bottom of the steep hill. Jenny saw a sign that said Folkestone Road. The flow of cross traffic was relentless. Joseph had turned away from her, looking at the stream of cars coming from their right. The car was rolling further into it; there were no gaps and Joseph was starting to make noises that could almost be described as whimpers. Still holding her seatbelt, Jenny looked back to check on Isobel. She noticed a figure running towards them along the pavement on the opposite side. He wore a long, black coat and his right arm was tucked underneath it. The car bounced forward a metre as Joseph tried to bully his way onto the main road. Jenny’s head rocked and she lost sight of the man.
That was when Joseph’s window blew in.
It sounded to Jenny like an explosion. She had wrapped her arm around the driver’s seat for leverage, so she could lift herself enough to see into Isobel’s seat. She dropped back into the seat as her right forearm flashed with a stinging pain. Joseph cried out, the car lurched forward and Jenny was pushed against the headrest. She could hear car horns blaring and Joseph shouting at her to get down. The car was rammed from the rear, just enough for her to feel it. She heard more car horns and then the revving of the engine.
‘ISSY! Jesus, Joe! Issy!’ She pulled herself onto her knees, clinging to her seat back and facing the back seat. The car swerved suddenly and Joseph overtook something. She tried to lean into the seat back. She could see just enough of Isobel. Her tiny arms and legs wriggled and contorted in the air, as they did when she was confused and trying to understand her surroundings.
The back window popped inwards. In the same instant she could hear the air move, something fizzed past her ear and thudded into the roof lining. Instinctively she ducked back into her seat.
‘They’re shooting at us! Why are they shooting at us?’
Joseph’s cheek was rippled where he was biting down hard. The car swerved again, this time hard left at a roundabout — more angry car horns. Isobel was crying — at least Jenny knew she was breathing. Jenny spun in her seat to face forwards.
‘Joseph, talk to me! You need to pull over, we need to get Issy out of this car!’ Jenny was screaming. Joseph was still peering forward.
‘Joseph!’ She hit him on the arm. He had to brake hard and she was pushed forward in her seat. Issy screamed louder in the back. The car moved off at crawling pace; they were in two lanes of one-way traffic.
Joseph turned to face her. ‘We can’t stop.’ The right side of his face was slick with blood.
‘Joseph, you’re hurt!’
‘I’m fine. It’s a nick from the glass.’
‘A nick! You’re covered in blood.’ She reached out to gesture at his face with her right arm and saw that her sleeve was also soaked in blood. She tried to pull it up to inspect her arm; it felt boiling hot. She clenched her fist — it was still working at least. She would have to inspect it later.
‘What do these people want, Joseph? Jesus, what have you done?’ Joseph was peering forward. The car jerked and shuffled as he tried to move. Jenny could see both lanes of traffic were now at a standstill. They were in the right lane and there was a row of parked cars to their right and shop fronts the other side of them. People walked along, seemingly oblivious to the gunshots that had taken out Joseph’s window completely and left glass scattered over the parcel shelf.
When the left lane started moving, Joseph cut across immediately. Once more the horns blared but the lane was clearer and the car set off as if it had been stung. She could see green traffic lights ahead and a parked van that had been blocking the right lane. The left lane was clear and Joseph kept his foot planted.
Ahead, a car pulled out from a side street. Joseph was going too fast to brake in time so he wrenched the wheel right and changed lanes again. Jenny was thrown against the window. Isobel was now inconsolable in the back.
‘You’re going to kill us, Joseph!’ Jenny spun again in her seat, trying to get into a position where she could talk to their daughter. The car lurched forward and she was pressed back into her seat. She could see a black SUV behind, matching them for speed. It was in the other lane and now it seemed to be gaining on them.
‘They’re still chasing us, Joseph! What do they want?’
There was a jarring thud into the side of the car — then two more in quick succession. She felt the car lurch, as if the last blow had been a sucker punch. It skewed sideways as Joseph yelled out. Jenny was thrown to the front of the car and she struck something hard with her right side, and then came a savage blow to the side of her head. Suddenly, all she could hear was a whistling.
She faced out of the side window. She couldn’t move. The black SUV seemed to drift past in slow motion, part of a stream of traffic. She could only watch as a muzzle flared from the back window. She was aware of more thuds, the tinkle of glass, another shout from Joseph maybe. She watched the vehicle pass — and then its brake lights flashed red. More car horns, the black SUV stopped completely, a rear door pushed open. Jenny was transfixed.
‘Jenny!’ Her hearing returned all at once and the confusion came with it. Joseph was shouting in her ear, she snatched her head towards him. Isobel was crying at the top of her lungs from the back, it pierced her mind directly.
‘Joseph . . .’ It was all she could manage.
‘You have to go. You have to get Isobel out.’
‘What?’
‘Get out. You have to go. With Issy! GO!’
‘Aren’t you coming?’ Jenny felt dream-like still. Her voice was soft, she was confused by the pain in her side. Blood trickled into her mouth and she licked her lips.
‘They’re not here for you. Take her and go. Please! You have to run, Jenny!’
Jenny turned to her door. She pushed it open. Her hip shot with pain as she stepped out of the car, and there were pins and needles in her thigh. From the corner of her eye she saw someone walk towards her, he stepped off the pavement — a middle-aged man. She smiled at him as if it was all a dream.
‘You okay, love? Everyone okay?’ He looked
into the back of the car. He must have been able to hear Isobel crying.
‘I have to go,’ she said.
She walked around to the pavement and pulled open the driver’s side rear door. She lifted Isobel to her chest and pulled her in tight, just how she liked it. She was still crying. Joseph looked out and he still looked panic stricken. His whole right side was a mass of blood, his hair was matted and what had once been a light blue, long-sleeved jumper was shredded against his arm and neck. The car had a scorched look, too: the whole door was a rash of black bits and dents. Movement caught her eye from the other side of the car, a man was walking directly towards them, towards the passenger seat she had just vacated. She looked back to Joseph.
‘Are you not coming?’ she said. Isobel was calming down a little. Joseph glanced over his left shoulder and then snatched his head back to her.
‘Run, Jenny!’
Jenny could feel his panic. The man was almost to the car when he extended an arm. There was a sound like a firecracker. Joseph flinched. He was looking away from her. Another firecracker — he flinched again.
‘What the hell?’ The middle-aged man shouted in her ear. He must have followed her and he now ducked in front of her. Suddenly Jenny’s mind un-fogged and everything was clear. She ran round the middle-aged man as she heard another bang! The middle-aged man cried out and she heard screams. She had Isobel clutched to her chest and she was crying. She blundered into the crowd, everyone was still; they were all either ducking or stooping but she could hear at least one set of footfalls behind her. And they were running too.
Jenny made it to the end of a row of shops. There was a gap for a narrow lane, then a chemist on the other side. She spun right into the lane. It was tight, and didn’t look wide enough for a car — or so she thought. A second later she knew she was wrong; a car engine revved behind her, then a noise like a tyre struggling to gain a grip. The pavements were suddenly gone and she had an eight-foot wall on her left and the brick side of a building on her right. There was nowhere to go but straight on. This road ahead was empty, there was no one else on foot and the only sounds, amplified by the high walls, were her footfalls and a revving engine.
THEN SHE RAN an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist Page 1
