Web of Deceit Read Free

stepped away to speak to the police, listening on the way for the low murmur of Jane’s voice in the back of the ambulance. There it was. She was fine. And so am I .
    ‘Injuries?’ the younger cop said.
    ‘Possible psych,’ Alex said. ‘We’re going to RPA. You want to speak to him before we go?’
    The cop shook her head. ‘We’ll catchup with him there.’
    Alex looked into the back of the ambulance. Marko lay on the stretcher under a blanket and Jane sat in the seat beside him, talking and holding his hand again. She smiled at Alex.
    He nodded and shut the door.
    The breeze rustled the leaves of the fig trees in the park and the sun was warm on the back of his neck as he walked around to the driver’s side. RPAwas just a few minutes away. Nothing bad had happened. He got behind the wheel, checked the rear-view and saw that Jane and Marko were still talking, then called Control and told them they were departing.
    ‘Copy, Thirty-five.’
    He started the engine and pulled out, looking over at the corner Marko had been so focused on. Now only a few people remained: a child in his father’s arms pointingat the ambulance, two young women talking and looking past him towards the scene, a man with his hands in his jeans pockets and dark sunglasses covering his eyes. Alex waved to the toddler as he went past.
    The lights at Bridge Road were red and Alex checked his mobile. No text from Mia. What did you do when they were like this? Eleven years of parenting her on his own and he still sometimesfelt as lost as he had back at the start. There was a chance she was at Frances and Donald’s place; they hadn’t called to say she was late, after all. But with the way she’d been lately – with what had happened to him too – he needed to know for sure. He glanced at the lights and could see the oncoming traffic slowing. He was about to get a green. He’d have to wait and call after the case.
    Five minutes later he backed into RPA’s busy ambulance bay, turned off the engine and met Jane’s eyes in the mirror. ‘Stretcher?’ Mobile patients often walked in.
    She nodded.
    He went to the back door, checking his phone again as he went, though he generally always heard a text arrive. Sure enough, the screen was blank. He lifted the door to see Marko had hidden himself completelyunder the blanket.
    Jane tucked the case-sheet folder under her arm and climbed out the back and patted Marko’s feet. ‘Few clunks underneath you now,’ she said, and she and Alex pulled out the stretcher then wheeled it into Emergency.
    Two crews of paramedics with occupied stretchers waited ahead of them. Trudie, the triage nurse, a slender woman in her twenties with lots of make-upand jet black hair, frowned over a wad of paperwork. Marko lay motionless.
    Alex spoke to Jane in a low voice. ‘Mind if I step back out to check on Mia?’
    ‘Go for it,’ she said.
    Outside the automatic doors, Alex called Mia’s mobile. ‘ Hey, it’s me ,’ he heard his daughter say. ‘ You know what to do .’ Beep.
    ‘You were supposed to text,’ he said. ‘We’ll be talking about this tonight.Again.’
    He hung up and rang Frances’s mobile.
    ‘Alex,’ she answered. ‘How are you?’
    He could tell from her tone that everything was okay, and turned his face into the breeze. ‘Checking in, you know how it is. She’s there?’
    ‘She was a little late, but she’s here all right,’ Frances said. ‘Would you like a word?’
    ‘One or two,’ he said. ‘Thanks.’
    Mia came on theline. ‘It wasn’t my fault.’
    ‘We have these rules for a reason.’
    ‘It went flat,’ she said. ‘I told you I need a new charger.’
    ‘I’m not going to argue about it now,’ he said.
    ‘How am I supposed to stay in touch like you want when I can’t charge my phone properly? You expect me to do these things but then you make it impossible. It’s not fair.’
    He heard raised voicesinside the department. ‘I have to go. Do your homework and be