Chapter 67
In times of crisis it is important to keep things in order. To prioritize action over worry, and to understand the things you can affect above those you can’t.
Sure, Amy has solved the murder of Esteban, but three other things have just happened at speed. Four, if you count the unexpected romantic arrival of her husband, but there’s only one that Amy can do anything about for now.
Steve says that Trouble has solved a murder. That was briefly her priority. Which murder? Who did it?
This was superseded almost immediately by the news that Felicity Woollaston has shot Rosie. Amy’s only priority then was to reach Rosie. To make sure she didn’t die.
But then the news that Connor Brooks had escaped in the chaos, and Ernesto has gone straight after him.
If Trouble has solved a murder, then Amy will hear about it in good time. If Rosie is in hospital, she is in the hands of doctors, and nothing that Amy can do will change whether she is to live or die.
She won’t die. Please. She can’t die.
But, running through the New Forest, Steve puffing behind her, she can help to catch Connor Brooks. So that, for now, is what she will do. Ernesto is armed, and Brooks is handcuffed, but he is a very dangerous man. The sooner they catch up to the chase, the better the odds.
Tracking people is a difficult skill. But tracking two grown men, both in a hurry, is very easy.
Amy barely pauses as she follows their trail, light boot prints and broken branches guiding her way. If Brooks has any sense he will have found somewhere to hide. Hiding in handcuffs is a great deal easier than running in handcuffs.
Amy has serious doubts about Ernesto’s tracking skills.
Ordinarily he would be leaving gouge marks in the towering trees with his gun to aid anyone who might be coming to help, but Amy has seen none.
If he doesn’t have even this basic skill, then it is very possible that Connor Brooks might evade him.
But he won’t evade Amy. There is a lot Amy doesn’t yet know about this case.
How did a killer manage to infiltrate Rosie’s castle, why has Felicity just shot Rosie?
Has Steve’s cat really solved a murder? But she knows one thing above all, and that is that Connor Brooks is at the heart of this whole web.
There will be plenty of time to lay the whole story out in neat ranks and strict order, but, for now, Amy just needs to focus.
She keeps pushing Rosie out of her mind.
Amy reaches a stream and stops. No one has gone left, no one has gone right, and no one has made it to the far bank.
Jumping into a river is a good trick to shake off dogs, but a poor trick to shake off humans. Amy can see that both men have jumped in and headed upstream.
Steve has managed to catch up with her and doubles over, trying to catch his breath.
‘You okay?’ Amy asks.
‘You worry about yourself,’ says Steve between huge gulps of air.
Amy takes him at his word and sets off again. Within thirty yards or so, both men have clearly left the stream by the far bank. Amy jumps in, wades across and climbs out. She hears Steve splashing behind her. He is doing an amazing job.
Amy sees Ernesto up ahead. He is crouching behind a tree, his gun trained on a wooden shelter, some sort of bird hide, in the treeline up ahead. He turns and sees her, and beckons her over.
‘He’s in there,’ says Ernesto, waving his gun at the bird hide. ‘Cover me while I go in.’
‘I’ll go in,’ says Amy. ‘I’ve done this sort of thing a million times.’
‘I have too,’ says Ernesto. ‘And I let him escape, so it’s my job to capture him.’
Amy understands Ernesto’s thinking. She would be the same in his position. She looks back and sees Steve, still running.
Ernesto crawls his way over to the bird hide, and, when he reaches it, stands and edges around to a small door. Amy sees him draw his weapon. It shouldn’t be needed, there is no way Brooks can be armed, but it is better safe than sorry.
Ernesto kicks open the door to the bird hide.
Amy can make out the gaunt, bald man inside, his skull-like face looking frightened, arms above his head.
Funny how even the toughest criminals can look so pathetic once they’re cornered.
Whatever danger this man has posed to his many enemies over the years, he is meek as a lamb now.
Amy stands, job done. And then she hears the gunshot.
At first Amy thinks Ernesto has shot at Connor Brooks. But it is Ernesto who falls to the ground, not Brooks.
Her brain recalculates. Brooks has shot at Ernesto? But his hands remain above his head?
Which is when Amy realizes that only one option remains.
Steve, her father-in-law, has shot Ernesto.