Page 111 of D for Dead

‘Oh my God, oh my God, stop the car.’

Rivers slammed on the brakes, looking annoyed. ‘What the hell?’

Amy opened the door, almost falling onto the road.

Jesus. Oh dear God, no.

She stared at the body they had been dragging along the street, her legs going weak.

The woman had rushed over to the victim and was already joined by other passers-by. Rivers came around the side of the car; his face drained of colour, his expression shocked.

Dropping to his knees beside Amy he started puking into the gutter.

33

By the time Rebecca and Jake arrived on the scene the street had been cordoned off with patrol cars positioned either end and cleared of pedestrians. Hickok arrived seconds later, pulling up behind Jake’s Audi, and the three of them approached the scene together.

Peterson was lying in the street, the noose that that had strangled him still attached to the car Rivers had been driving.

Rebecca clenched her fists, drew in a deep breath, as a wave of emotion hit.

Keep it together, Angell.

She had worked with Wes Peterson for six years and, while they had not always seen eye to eye, he was a good cop and a family man. He had been looking after Amy, doing his job, and he didn’t deserve for his life to end this way.

Niggling at the back of the sadness and anger was another little ball of emotion. Relief it hadn’t been Jake. And that brought with it feelings of guilt.

Jake’s life wasn’t more important than Peterson’s, but he was her partner and they had a bond. She tried to quash the feeling; it was a natural reaction and she had no need to feel guilty.

She spotted Rivers sitting on the side of the road, head in his hands. He looked pretty shook up.

Rebecca guessed killing someone would do that to you.

Amy was in the back of a patrol car, face pale and hands clenched nervously. She looked to be in shock. If the killer’s aim was to break her down, he was succeeding. This time she hadn’t just written about the crime, she had witnessed the murder first-hand.

Seeing Jake approach, she got up, went straight to him and into his arms. Holding her close, he shot Rebecca a look, daring her to say anything.

‘Leave it, Angell,’ Hickok warned. ‘Now is not the time.’

Rebecca got that and understood Amy’s turmoil. It didn’t stop her worrying for the safety of her partner. The closer he got to Amy, the more worried she became his guard would slip. Like her, he had worked with Peterson on numerous occasions, had shared a beer with him down at Mahoney’s. She knew the anger flashing in his eyes wasn’t directed at her, but at the person who had murdered one of their own.

Just be careful, Jake.

This murder came from Amy’s book about the cop killer, but it didn’t mean any of them were out of the woods yet. The killer was still on the loose and there was one final novel in the series. They were all connected to Amy, making every one of them a target. Jake had gotten closest and the killer knew that. He was going to want to end on a high, and her partner needed to watch his back.

Hickok headed over to Rivers. Rebecca could tell he was reining in his temper, trying to cut the younger agent some slack.

‘So what happened, Declan?’

Rivers wasn’t sobbing, but he was close to tears and the cockiness had gone. Peterson was dead and he had been the man to end his life.

‘I don’t know. One minute we were going out for food, the next he was in the road behind us. There was something wrong with my engine, I could feel it. I didn’t know he was under the car.’ He glanced up at Hickok, face distraught, his eyes huge and glassy. ‘I swear to God, I didn’t know. Oh jeez, I killed him. I killed a cop.’ He leant forward, throwing up fresh puke on the pile of sick already dripping into the gutter.

Rebecca screwed up her nose, waited until he had finished.

‘When did you last see Peterson? He was in Amy’s apartment when you arrived, right?’

‘Yeah, I told him about Boaz going sick and that I would be stepping in.’ Rivers caught a shaky breath. ‘He left. Told Amy he would see her tonight. I thought he’d gone home.’