Page 82 of Loyalty

Bertram Atherton uttered a strange sound and then toppled backwards to the ground.

Someone screamed, shouts were heard and running feet, but Michael was already in motion. Bushes… the bushes just to one side of the bridge… that was where the gunshot had come from. Frantically he scrabbled from one bush to the next, pushing, pulling… surely the assassin could not have escaped? There was a low wall behind the bushes, but if he had jumped over that, he would have fallen clear to the basement level. He leaned over, saw nothing.

Where the devil could he have gone?

“Anything?” It was Lucas Atherton, his face ashen.

Michael shook his head. “Is he—?”

“Dead? No. Your wife has taken charge. Seems to know what she is about. For the love of God, Edgerton, what is happening here? Why would anyone shootBertram?”

But Michael could not answer him. The murder investigation had just become vastly more complicated.

THE END