Sloan groaned, sitting up. “Yes, coming.” She turned back to Matty. “Stay in bed. Rest. I’ve plans for you later.”
“What makes you think I don’t have plans for you?”
“Touché.” Sloan laughed and got up, shrugging into her dressing gown. “I’ll be right back.”
***
Mid-afternoon, Matty headed home to get changed, with Sloan’s instructions she should return at six to drop her things off before the Uber arrived.
“We’ll stop for cocktails on the way,” Sloan had said as Matty kissed her goodbye on the doorstep.
Now, as she neared the flat she shared, she felt a spring in her step. For once, life felt like it was on the up.
She slid the key into the door and took the stairs two at a time.
“Just me,” she called out to voices in the kitchen. A man popped his head around the door. She didn’t recognise him, but Brandon pushed past and smiled awkwardly at her.
“Alright, Matty.” He looked back over his shoulder at the man who now stared at her. “Just got some friends here.”
“Right,” Matty said, the hairs on the back of her neck lifting. “I’ll just be grabbing a quick change and then you’ve got the place to yourself.”
Brandon was nodding rapidly. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
Something about the other man made her want to move faster and she turned and dashed away. Behind her, she heard him ask Brandon, “She won’t be an issue, will she?”
Matty ran into her room and shut the door. Leaning against it, she got her breathing back under control.Who was this man? And what was Brandon up to now?
She needed a calming voice—someone to settle her nerves and talk her out of all the paranoid and ridiculous notions running around her head. She pulled her phone free to call Sloan.
“Damn it.” The battery was dead. The charging cable was on the floor beside her bed, and she rushed over to it, plugging it into the phone.
Okay. Breathe. Think.
Glancing around the room, she saw her work rucksack, but she’d left her skates at Art last night in her rush to get into the Uber Sloan had organised.
She opened it, pulling out the dirty T-shirt and tossing it into the laundry bin, then opened drawers and began stuffing it with clothes—enough for a few days.
And that was when she heard it.
***
Everything happened too fast for Matty to think. There was a loud bang, then a crash, then shouting and feet trampling up the stairs.Too many.Her mind snapped back to the man in the kitchen.Was it him? Had he brought friends?
Her throat closed. Her hands went slick on the rucksack strap and she gripped it harder. Could she climb out the window?
She lurched for the window, yanked it open, and looked down—a long way down—too long.
The door was kicked in. Matty screamed.
All she saw was a man in black filling the doorway, broad-shouldered and moving fast, coming straight for her.
“Get away from me!” Matty shouted.
He grabbed her and threw her to the bed. She landed on her stomach, all the air in her rushing out when his knee landed on her back and her arms were yanked behind her and cuffed.
“You have the right to remain silent—”
She was hauled to her feet, her bag kicked to one side. “You’re police?” she said, finally understanding. “What have I done?”
