THEN SHE RAN an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist

by Charlie Gallagher

  The boy didn’t hesitate. He was wearing loose-fitting trainers and no socks. He put his bare feet back down in the damp mud.

  George searched the shoes. ‘Nothing,’ he said.

  Goddes’s body language relaxed a little. He kept his weapon levelled. The torch on the top was bright and the boy narrowed his eyes to it. He relaxed a little too. His head dipped and he sniffed. George didn’t want him to relax. He needed information.

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Cole. People call me Cole. Colin.’

  ‘Where’s your mate, Cole?’ George said.

  ‘What mate?’

  ‘Don’t fuck about. You’re part of a gang, right? So where’s the rest of your gang?’

  ‘There was two. Only two of us. I wasn’t even driving. I just came out to help. I got nothing to do with this.’

  ‘Nothing to do with what?’

  ‘Any of this. Jimmy . . . he just said to come out and help him pick up a trailer. That was it. I did what I was told.’ The boy sniffed again and his eyes flicked away, back to the muddy ground. George knew he was lying. He’d had enough of being lied to.

  George lunged at him and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He pulled Cole’s face in close to his own. ‘You were there, right? When the old lady was shot . . . when she was murdered? Did you pull the trigger, you piece of shit?’

  ‘What? What are you talking about?’ The boy stammered over his words. George wrenched him to his feet, grabbed his arm and twisted it up his back. The boy cried out in pain. George shoved him back down the path, forcing him to walk on his tiptoes, his bare feet scraping over the woodland floor. He pushed him back into the clearing. The car lights and torches lit up the scene. George pushed the boy onto his knees — just a few metres from where his accomplice was lying dead on the ground, on his back, his head lolling towards them, his eyes bolt open and reflecting the pulsing blue lights. The two police officers who had been working on him had the same shocked look as their sergeant.

  ‘Jesus, Jimmy!’ Cole said.

  ‘He’s dead, Cole. Shot dead. Who else was here?’

  ‘No one else! No one else was here. Me and Jimmy were sent out. It was a simple job — get the trailer. There’s a lock box in the back. Two man job.’

  ‘What happened at the farmhouse, Cole? You shoot that lady?’

  ‘Sir?’ Goddes stepped towards him. George raised his hand; his attention was still fixed on Cole.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘He’s dead, Cole. Look at him. LOOK AT HIM!’ George grabbed Cole again and dragged him another metre. Cole was now so close to Jimmy that they were nearly touching. Jimmy’s wide eyes stared into nothing, his lips already a dark blue in the torchlight. Cole recoiled, but George grabbed him by the hair and forced him to look.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing, man? You can’t do this!’ Cole screamed.

  ‘He’s dead. Jimmy’s dead, Cole. All I’ve got left is you. I’m gonna make sure you go to prison for the rest of your life for shooting that woman. I promise you that.’ Cole tried to move his head.

  ‘I didn’t shoot her, alright? We were just supposed to be there to pick up the cash. I didn’t know what it was all about. Next thing I knew it all got out of hand and I was running for my life.’

  ‘What happened?’

  Cole was starting to break. He clenched his eyes shut to the torchlight and the vision of his dead mate.

  ‘Joe and Jimmy never got on. Everyone knew it. Joe didn’t think we were getting enough of the cut, so he started skimming some. Joe said we could stash a bit up at a farm down here. We were going to share it out and fuck Jimmy off. We’d drop a bit down here and there. It was far enough that Jimmy wouldn’t find out.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘We get up there and the old lady comes out to meet us. Joseph knew her, I didn’t know, but it’s like his mum or something. That’s why we went to see her. She moved the cash about the place apparently, so her old man don’t find it. Then he comes down — the old man. He’s proper angry. Joe argues with the lady about his sleeping pills. I think she was supposed to load him up. The old man’s got a gun. Fuck knows what for — we all knew he was just shitting with us. Even when he shot one off over our heads, I never thought nothing. Joseph called him out — said he didn’t have the balls. He was winding him up. He come stomping out. The old lady shouted at him and he just shot her, man! I didn’t see it coming. It was like it was from nowhere.’

  ‘Who shot her?’

  ‘The old man. She begged him. She begged him to leave Joe alone and then she was on her back. The second she hit the deck we were gone. I mean, I never ran so fast. We got in our truck and we were gone. That night, though, it was such a mess that Jimmy got to find out about what we did. One of the crew called him up. I think we figured that he was going to find out and he would know what to do. We were all shitting it. We all played Joe. We got our stories straight blaming him. It was his fault after all. We said that we thought we were there to get the money for Jimmy. We said that Joe had told us that’s what we were doing. Joe tried to run. Jimmy was pissed. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it. He was on some rampage. He had like a shotgun and something else tucked in his waist. It was the middle of the day! We got hold of Joe and he went after his girl. He wanted her dead real bad. He wanted to be the one to tell Joe when he did it too. There’s summin’ wrong with him in the head.’

  George pushed Cole back to the floor. He stepped away. He was suddenly aware that all the officers were staring at him. He could hear sirens too, more patrols arriving. Harry must have called up on the main channel. Harry still looked in shock.

  ‘We need to get him away, George. We need to clean this up.’

  George nodded. ‘Yeah, we certainly need to do that.’

  Chapter 32

  7:30 a.m. George pulled down the drive of the farmhouse with Paul Bearn in the seat next to him. Their car disturbed a layer of light mist that hung under a blue sky. The farmhouse appeared as a dark outline at first. George could see cars parked on the drive outside. One he recognised: an unmarked police car that was the same make and model as his. He knocked the door and was answered almost immediately by a smiling Louise.

  ‘George! Good to see you. I didn’t think you would be coming up so early.’

  George stepped in. Paul followed him in behind. They had come in through the main entrance. The kitchen was straight ahead, the large living room off to the right. George hadn’t been expecting anyone to be there, least of all Jenny. Hers was the next face he saw. She stood just inside the living room. She turned to smile at him too. A suited man stood next to her; George had worked with him some time before on a witness protection case.

  George moved into the lounge. At the far end, in front of the fireplace, was Stanley Wingmore. Baby Isobel was in his arms. Stanley hadn’t noticed George yet. He didn’t look like he would notice anything; his attention was fixed on the tiny bundle that slept soundly in his arms. He was spinning gently on his scuffed floorboards, slowly and with a rhythm no one else could hear. George was close enough to hear his soft humming by the time he was back round to face him. Stanley raised his head, his face flushed with colour. George recognised it as pride.

  ‘Did you know? About little Isobel here?’

  ‘I did, Stan. We didn’t work it out straight away. When I knew, I spoke to Louise about the best way to tell you.’

  ‘It’s the circle of life, George, that’s what it is. A tiny miracle. The family goes on. The next generation. I had no idea.’

  ‘I need to talk to you, Stan. Alone.’

  Stan pushed his little finger into Isobel’s fist and she gripped it, her eyes still shut. Stan looked up at George. His expression didn’t change. The pride and the colour remained.

  ‘I thought you might. Jenny, love!’ Jenny moved over and Isobel was gently transferred. ‘Jenny here is going into protection for a little while. You probably know th
at already though, right?’ Stan said.

  ‘I do. I promised her we would look after her. I didn’t know she was coming up here to see you, though, Stan. It was something we were looking to arrange.’

  ‘I know. Louise said you were going to sort something out, but we just couldn’t wait. Louise tracked her down. She knows someone who works the reception at the hospital. An old friend from before she moved. They were able to get a message to Jenny here and she was happy to come up and see us. I’m so happy she did.’

  ‘You’re welcome, Stan,’ Jenny said. ‘She’s your granddaughter after all.’

  ‘She’s beautiful, Jenny. Absolutely perfect.’

  ‘I think so too.’

  ‘Do you mind if I just have a couple of minutes with the Inspector here? I think he has something important to talk to me about.’

  ‘Of course.’ Jenny moved out of the room. Louise stood at her shoulder.

  ‘Can I stick around?’

  ‘No, love,’ Stan said. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’re kept up to speed. We need a few minutes is all.’

  Louise made eye contact with George. She hesitated for a few seconds but she did move away. She pulled the door to behind her. George walked over and pushed it all the way shut.

  ‘There were some developments last night, Stan. I got hold of one of the lads who was here that night.’

  ‘I knew you would, George. I told Louise it was just a matter of time.’

  ‘We had to bed him down. It was quite late by the time we got him inside a custody cell. But he told me a few things, Stan, and I’m pretty certain he’s going to repeat them again in his interview in a few hours.’

  ‘Did he now?’

  ‘How’s that short-term memory problem of yours?’

  Stan’s smile fell away a little. He took a deep breath. ‘Genuine to start with. A blessing it was. Of course I was cursing it at the time. I desperately wanted to know what was going on, what had happened. I wanted to be able to help you. Then it started to come back. It was like being shown drawings at first. I couldn’t see the details but I got outlines. I knew what happened though. I remember that much.’

  ‘You remember how Janice died?’

  ‘I do, George. More and more of it every day. Joseph never came to this house without causing trouble of some sort. If he hadn’t turned up that night we would have both slept soundly in our beds and woken up to breakfast. I got disturbed. I heard someone talking. I got out of bed and I could hear Joseph’s voice. I heard him checking with Janice that she had given me my medication — my sleeping pills. He was checking she had drugged me! I got my gun George, I was just going to make a statement. I wanted him to know once and for all that he couldn’t come back. Not ever again. I just had it broken over my arm. I didn’t even put any cartridges in it at first. I walked away from the gun cabinet. But, for some reason, I went back and put two shots in. I kept it broken. It was a present from my wife, that gun. Beautiful thing — a Browning over-under.’ Stan stopped to compose himself a little. ‘She knew I had been courting it for a little while. She wouldn’t let me buy it. I got angry with her for that. I didn’t know she had already bought it for me — I ruined that night too.’

  ‘How did it happen, Stan?’

  ‘I was furious, George! I can’t tell you how angry I was — as angry as I’ve ever been. I don’t remember the details still. Joseph was stood in my kitchen. He was making fun of me. He said I would never use the thing so I might as well put it down. Janice convinced him to leave. I followed him out and we argued some more. He had a few of his cronies with him. Druggy scum, the lot of them. They stayed out the back. They said something about wanting their money. I fired a shot over their heads. They all backed off but Joseph didn’t. He went back into the house. I shouted at him, I told him to come out. I said I wasn’t messing about. He shouted back at me. He said that his mother had made her choice, that she had been helping him for a long time. She had been hiding money in the house, in the barns — on my land, George! Drug money! I told him again to come outside. I closed the gun. I pointed it at the door. I could hear Janice, she was pleading with me, George. She said to just let him go. She begged me. I heard Joseph — he said that she was choosing him again over me. He was goading me. I heard him at the doorway. I could see his outline. There’s a bright floodlight over the door and I couldn’t make him out. I pulled that trigger, George. I wanted to kill our son. Just in that moment, but I did. I meant it. My Janice . . .’ Stan became unsteady. Paul stepped in to guide him to the seat. George didn’t move. ‘My Janice — it was her in the doorway, not Joseph. I think Joseph took one look at her and he ran! What sort of a son does that? He did what he always does when life gets tough. Now I hear he finally found something he couldn’t run away from.’

  ‘You know what this means, Stan?’

  ‘I do. I’ve known it from the second that gun went off, George. I tried to run away from it, too, in my own way. The barn, that’s what I was doing. I was running away from my responsibilities. You have to stand up and be a man when you’re wrong.’ Stan pushed himself to his feet. He was still unsteady. He stepped closer to George.

  ‘Thank you, George.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘You kept your promise. You said you would find the bastard that killed my wife. Now you need to make sure he gets what he deserves.’ Stan reached out with his arms locked together.

  ‘You’re under arrest, Stan. For murder. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be used in evidence. My advice is to say nothing more, Stan, because now I’ll have to start writing it down.’ George met eyes with Paul, who nodded and felt his pockets for his car keys. They had spoken on the approach up here. They needed to get Stan out of the house as soon as possible. George immediately led Stan towards the door, taking hold of his right arm. Louise was on the other side of the door.

  ‘All done?’ she said, then her expression swiftly changed. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘I need to go the police station. I’m sorry, Louise. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘What do you mean? Why do you need to go to the police station? What’s going on, Dad?’

  George led him straight out of the front door. Louise’s questioning continued; she was getting more and more upset. Stan got in to the back of the car. George had to put his arm out to stop Louise getting hold of him. He forced the door shut. She turned on him.

  ‘What are you doing? He’s an old man! He’s a witness to a terrible murder — of his wife! Why are you treating him like this?’

  George moved around to the other side of the car. He opened the driver’s door. Paul was already in place in the seat beside Stan.

  ‘I’m sorry, Louise.’ George looked at her over the top of the car. ‘He’s not a witness. Not anymore.’

  Chapter 33

  George was running a few minutes late, he needed to hurry into the building. The heavy wooden door crashed shut behind him and he grimaced as faces turned towards the noise. The girls were already dancing. The parents were seated on long, wooden benches as they faced the performance. George looked beyond the tutting and the shaking heads. He could see his daughter; she was out the front. She saw him too. She squealed and broke from the formation. She sprinted through the gap in the seating and to the back of the village hall where George was already on his knees, his arms out to meet her. He swooped her up, tears in his eyes, and he buried his face in her hair. Her torso shook, she was crying too.

  ‘Hello, monster,’ he spluttered.

  ‘Daddy!’

  George rocked from side to side. It took a few moments for him to realise the whole room had stopped and turned its attention to him. He opened his eyes and scanned the faces. The dance teacher was in the background with her hands on her hips. Sarah was sat down, off to the right. She wore a beaming smile. Her eyes were puffy with emotion.

  ‘Charley
, I think you need to go finish your dance.’

  ‘I don’t want to leave you, Daddy. I don’t want to.’

  ‘I’ll be right here. I’m going to watch you dance, honey, I’m not leaving. Not ever again.’ He put Charley down. She took a step back and wiped her face. She reached out towards him with her little finger outstretched.

  ‘Pinky promise?’ she said.

  George wrapped his little finger gently around hers.

  ‘Pinky promise,’ he said. Then he swept her up again and carried her back towards the dance floor.

  THE END

  OTHER BOOKS BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER

  LANGTHORNE POLICE SERIES

  Book 1: BODILY HARM

  Book 2: PANIC BUTTON

  Book 3: BLOOD MONEY

  Book 4: END GAME

  STANDALONES

  MISSING

  RUTHLESS

  THEN SHE RAN

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  Book 1: BODILY HARM

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/BODILY-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01MR94IP5/

  https://www.amazon.com/BODILY-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01MR94IP5/

  An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller starts with a vicious stabbing of a pretty teenage girl and her boyfriend on a local bus. She happens to be the mayor’s niece. It’s the final straw for the community. The police are desperate to get results and decide on a risky course of action involving undercover infiltration of the notorious Effingell Estate.

  Detective George Elms knows this hellish place extremely well, and his sharp investigative mind is put to work to solve the crime. The police are under immense media pressure and conveniently a local lowlife confesses to the attack. But George is not convinced. There are many layers of criminal and police motivation, and few people are what they seem.