She rang him again, but it went straight through to voicemail. And a second time. And a third.
“Fuck. Rayah. Fuck. What do we do?”
“Drive there. Keep ringing. Phone the station.”
“We can’t. Garrison…” She didn’t say anymore. If Garrison was involved like they thought, a call to the station would be like tipping him off.
She tried Alex again but now she had no reception.
The sign telling them they’d arrived in Waterfoot flashed by. Her phone vibrated in her hand, another voicemail.
“We’re at Tilly’s address – just got there. I’ve got missed calls from you. I’ll…”There was a bang that made Abby’s heart splinter and then the message went dead.
Nineteen
Alex no longer felt like a small-town cop. It had been a long time since he’d been part of a set up like this. Stab proof vests, batons, the whole safety kit. McKay had taken over as their lead, orders being sent down from Warren Mather, the head of internal affairs.
An additional team of four officers were on their way to join them from Leeds, in case there were any issues when they got to the house that Kenny and Tilly were staying in.
The intel from Indy was that Jones’ men were planning on hitting the house that night; they’d looked at when Kenny was going to be home and were confident that he’d be in. From the messages Indy had seen, they were going to head in through the back of the house which bordered on a field, execute and then leave in a car that would be parked on the front.
No one ever one hundred percent trusted intel. There was always the chance that it was a ploy or false, purposely laid to pull someone into a trap. Alex had heard it before when he was training, one of the officers having worked on various cases where they’d relied on intelligence.
It was agreed that heading over to Kenny Gallagher’s house to do a check and let them know was straightforward. A daylight attack was unlikely; the men Jones had given orders to were from the city and night-time was when they would usually make a move.
Daytime in the country was out of their comfort zone.
They drove along the road where there had been an uncontrolled fire on the moors the year before, the place where they’d found charred remains in a disused farm building.
“Have you told Abby you’re on your way to her sister’s?” Loneghan looked over from the driver’s seat.
Alex pulled his phone out and checked it. “No, not yet. I don’t want her trying to pull it out of me where she is. But I do have a missed call.”
He tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t unusual. Abby wasn’t addicted to her phone and if it ran out of battery, it wouldn’t be on the top of her to do list to charge it.
“Is it serious between you two?” Loneghan slowed down to take the hairpin bend. “You looked like it was when I saw you at the festival.”
Alex couldn’t resist a smile. “I think so. We’ll see what happens when this is over.”
“She seems like a good girl. I can’t believe the climbs she’s done. She’s got some skill. I saw photos of when she did Everest and man, that was some feat.”
The glow inside him grew stronger. “She’s really good.”
“You think she’ll start travelling again and climbing more? She must’ve given up a hell of a lot in deals to move here.”
They’d talked about this, him and Abby. He knew about the plan for the climbs that was linked to the sponsorship deal, and that she wanted to get some practice climbs in too. Then she got nervous, talking about it, as if it was a pipe dream.
“Shit happens.”
Loneghan left it at that.
“You seeing anyone?” Alex diverted the question away from him. He knew very little about Loneghan, apart from his name was Heath and no one knew much about him.
“Nope. Women are too much trouble.”
Alex sensed a story but didn’t ask. He checked his phone and saw a missed call from Abby, one that hadn’t rang.
He called back, keen to check in with her, make sure she wasn’t trying to do too much on her ankle.
