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“Stephen Boscoe,” she answered.
Well, James thought, he finally had a name for his dead body.
Gabriella replaced the receiver and ran back to Teddy Roe, pressing down on her scarf.
She could hear the man James had gone after shouting something, and suddenly Hartridge was back from his trip around the house, coming back in through the front door and running up the stairs.
She relaxed a little, because now it was two against one.
“The ambulance is on its way,” she told Teddy Roe.
Ruby had managed to move Pete a little, out of the way of the entrance, so when Hartridge had come through, the door hadn’t hit him. It had swung back, almost fully closed, when it opened suddenly for a second time.
A man stood in the frame. He looked dangerous. He was all in black, but it was his expression, detached and blank, that worried her.
He stopped dead at the sight of them, and then narrowed his eyes.
“Who’re you?” His gaze flicked over Pete, lying unconscious, and Teddy Roe, with his bloody shoulder.
“We’re neighbors. The police are upstairs, so can you help me move this man into a more comfortable position?” Ruby asked.
At that moment, a bag came flying down the stairs.
For a second, they all stared at it, astonished, and then the man darted forward, grabbed it, and then almost dropped it in surprise at the weight of it.
“Shit, what’s he put in here?”
The wail of sirens began to sound in the distance, and he lifted his head like a predator scenting danger, then flicked out a knife that Gabriella hadn’t noticed until that moment.
The sirens got louder, and with a curse, the man dropped the bag and ran for the back door, and Gabriella heard it open and slam shut.
She and Ruby shared a look, and then suddenly police were streaming in.
DI Layman appeared in the doorway.
“Miss Farnsworth.” He took in Ruby and Pete, herself and Teddy Roe, and raised his eyebrows. “Is DS Archer here?”
“He’s upstairs,” she said. “He went after another of the gang.” She pointed to the back of the house. “The third one ran out the back.”
Layman turned and shouted orders to his team, and some of them disappeared, then there were footsteps on the stairs and they all turned to look.
Jerry was coming down, helped by a young woman, and James was behind them.
“Two hostages,” James said, looking at Layman. “Sarah Bicton and a man who saw her trying to escape, tried to help her, and got abducted as well.”
Layman looked up the stairs. “The man you went after?”
“Hartridge is watching him. He’s cuffed.” James finally looked over at her, and she could see a lot going on behind his stoic expression. “Everyone all right?”
“Teddy Roe’s been shot in the shoulder but the ambulance—” as she said it, the paramedics crowded in at the doorway, and took over from her.
She got to her feet and moved out of their way, and ended up standing right beside James.
She had to force herself not to lean on him a little.
“What’s in the bag?” Layman asked.
“Money from the post office heist, the wages heist, and some fake bank note counterfeit plates,” Sarah Bicton said.