Free Death Trap by Dreda Say Mitchell Page B

‘I don’t have time to talk about Stephen Foster when I’ve got to think about burying my parents.’
    She twisted around, walking hurriedly away, leaving Rio alone among the smell of smoke and trash. Rio gazed up at Ophelia Bell on the ‘Love Yourself’ poster.
     
    ‘The parents still inside?’ Rio asked the protection officer when she arrived back on the ward.
    He quickly explained that Nikki’s parents had gone to the canteen while a partner from Stephen Foster’s law firm had just arrived to speak to Nikki and didn’t want to be disturbed. Rio scoffed when he told her Foster’s associate had said that the lawyer was indisposed for the next few hours. She couldn’t believe that he had a vulnerable client, who’d witnessed a woman being murdered, and he was off doing God knew what for the day. Probably glad-handing some of his celeb clients.
    ‘What was it like speaking to Lady Clarissa?’ the officer quietly asked her.
    ‘You a fan?’
    ‘Me and the missus watch it every Sunday.’
    Rio remembered the man abusing Ophelia outside. ‘I think that it’s one tough business.’
    ‘She should try arresting drunks on a Saturday night. Now, that’s what I call a rough business – not dressing up and reading autocues.’
    Rio looked over at Nikki’s hospital door. ‘Did you double-check the identity of the guy from Foster’s?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘You’re certain about that?’
    The guard appeared slightly put out. ‘I rang Foster’s office. He’s OK.’
    Just as Rio raised her hand to lightly tap on the door, her mobile rang. She checked the caller ID.
    Calum Burns.
    Rio froze, like she wasn’t in the hospital ward anymore but being dragged back into the past. What did he want? They hadn’t crossed words with each other in three years. Maybe DSI Newman had given him a bell and told him to contact her? The saliva in her mouth started drying up. The phone kept ringing.
    Rio took the call. ‘Don’t phone me again.’
    She cut the call. That was easy. Then why was her heart pumping like it had just learned to beat for the first time?
    ‘Detective Inspector Wray.’
    Rio looked up to find Stephen Foster striding towards her.
    ‘I thought you were indisposed?’
    ‘Indisposed?’ He gazed at her confused.
    ‘Yes, that’s what the associate you sent over to speak to Nicola Bell told our protection officer.’
    ‘Hang on a minute, I was going to send a colleague, but I decided to come myself. I never told him—’
    But Rio was gone, racing over to Nikki’s door. The blind was down, the door locked. Rio didn’t hesitate; she kicked in the flimsy door. A man, sporting a black Kagoul coat, hood up, stood over Nikki holding a syringe.

twelve
    3:08 p.m.
     
    The man jerked to face Rio, the raincoat zipped to his nose, hood low down on his forehead. The only part of his face on display were light brown eyes and a touch of white skin.
    ‘Put it down,’ Rio shouted.
    She stayed where she was, just inside the doorway, knowing that any move could force him to plunge the syringe into the teenager’s neck. Nikki’s head was still, her eyes wide with terror.
    ‘Back. Off,’ Rio continued yelling, stretching her arms wide and frantically waving her palms behind her to keep the protection officer and Foster outside.
    The man’s hands moved quickly; one flipped the syringe around so he now held it like a dagger while the other pulled out a slim pistol fitted with a silencer. He jammed the silencer against Nikki’s temple. A strained, protesting noise came from the back of the sixteen-year-old’s throat, but she still didn’t move.
    Shit.
    Rio took a step forwards. ‘Put the gun and the syringe down.’ She kept her voice calm. Even.
    But he ignored her, instead shouting, ‘You two gentlemen behind her, please join us inside.’
    Confident, professional, and polite: that’s what Rio noticed about his voice and tone; all he was missing was the briefcase, suit and tie. Another policeman in the room