Chapter 58
An hour after they’d been called out, the police wished the Carter family a good evening.
They’d dusted for fingerprints and talked about checking the neighbours for CCTV coverage, but it was clear they weren’t hopeful.
Had it not been for the family’s recent notoriety, they probably wouldn’t have bothered coming out at all.
On the plus side, nothing of value had been taken.
The TV was untouched, and they hadn’t even bothered with Jason’s laptop, although in all fairness it was a very old model.
Sabri’s jewellery, such as it was, was still in its box.
On the other hand, the house was wrecked.
Every cupboard, every wardrobe, every drawer had been emptied, its contents strewn around so that barely a square foot of carpet remained to stand upon.
The burglars had been looking for the token.
After her shower, Sabri wrapped a dressing gown over her pyjamas and crept along the corridor.
She wasn’t surprised to find Darren’s room empty.
Pushing open the girls’ door, she saw him curled up in his duvet on the floor between the two beds.
Maddy, the only one still awake, raised her eyes to look at her mother.
Sabri blew a kiss and softly closed the door.
She crept downstairs through the darkened house and found Jason sitting in the dark living room by the window, staring out at the street. Across his knees was something long and thin, shining metallic in the light from the street. A shotgun.
Sabri kept her voice low; the kids had been upset enough for one night. ‘Where the hell did that come from?’
‘Mitch lent it me. No one is coming through that door without my say-so.’
So gallant, this man of hers. And so stupid.
‘Put it away, please. What if one of the kids comes down and startles you?’
For a second he didn’t move; then he lifted the shotgun, broke it and leaned to tuck it beneath the chair.
‘Better?’ he asked.
‘Not really.’ She took a seat on the sofa. ‘We can’t live like this, Jace.’