I heard his feet scuff across the floor, and when I judged he’d had enough time to move away, I raised my gun and fired just under the doorknob, the shot extra loud in the silent building.
The door swung open at my touch, revealing a brightly lit room. It was sparsely decorated, a table and couch the only pieces of furniture, and it looked like Holden had already started stockpiling everything Haruto would need to continue his project. Haruto himself crouched behind the sofa, hiding from my gunshot. He had a black eye and a scrape on his chin, but he otherwise looked unharmed. He stood slowly, clutching that leather satchel to his chest, and stepped towards me.
“Is it… Did you get them?”
“I did,” I said and waved him towards the door. “It’s over. Let’s get you out of here.”
“DC Fawkes had just gotten back with dinner,” Haruto explained as he made his way over to me, walking as if he thought the floor might collapse beneath him at any moment. “A bunch of people jumped her and forced their way into my apartment. Collins tried to stop them, but they overwhelmed him. I tried to run. I didn’t get very far.” Haruto shuddered as we crossed the library floor, weaving in between the bookshelves. “They made me retrieve my manuscript, and then they brought you here.”
“Do you still have it?” I asked. We descended to the ground floor, passing through the den.
Haruto slipped the manuscript from his satchel, secure in its sealed plastic. “I still don’t understand what they wanted with me.”
“They wanted that manuscript,” I said. He put it away before we stepped outside, squeezing past the tumbled chest Fletcher and I had used as a barricade. “Either one of their clientele found it, or they heard about its discovery. Either way, they wanted you to restore it so they could sell it for a higher price. They were watching you to make sure that happened. When they realized we were onto them, they decided to nab you and force you to complete the job under their watchful eye.” I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “But you don’t have to worry about them any more.”
The rain had finally stopped, and the clouds had pushed off, leaving the night sky full of stars. My team had rounded up nine of Holden’s employees. They knelt on the ground, hands bound behind their backs, while the officers watched over them. Fletcher had just finished adding Holden, Harris, and the curly-haired woman to the line, pushing them down beside Sarah who had a makeshift bandage around her shoulder. Elias was not among them. There was a vaguely sick expression on Lena’s face as her eyes roved the dark, searching for him.
I led Haruto over to the group. Reid was busy binding a strip of cloth around Holden’s arm to staunch the flow of blood until we could hand him over to the paramedics.
“Are you hurt?” I asked Haruto, but he shook his head, eyes wide as he looked over the assortment of criminals arrayed before us.
“Does anyone have any food?” Fletcher asked, and I laughed. I was starving, too, my stomach like a vast black hole clamouring for attention.
“I could eat five burgers right now,” I said, “and a pound of chips.”
“I want ice cream,” Fletcher said, “along with half a dozen scones.”
“I could go for an entire boatload of pasta,” Lena added, though she sounded hesitant as if she wasn’t sure if we would allow her to join in on the conversation.
“We’ll have to get Italian when we go out,” I decided.
She gave me a shocked look. “You still want to do that?”
“Yeah, I mean, maybe we can start over?” I scratched at the back of my head, and Lena beamed.
“I’d like that.”
Fletcher sidled up to her and leaned in so close her nose was practically touching Lena’s cheek. “Watching you,” she whispered.
Lena turned white.
A boat honked, and I spotted several bright lights approaching across the water. Four large speed boats docked at the small marina by the front of the estate, and Fletcher and I went to help secure lines before the extra officers jumped down and began to access the scene, Dunnel among them.
“Sir,” I said when I spotted him. The three of us stood on the narrow wooden dock while the others tramped across the island and began to secure the prisoners properly. “Is Finn safe?”
“Yes. Holmes brought him across. Ms Wair insisted on coming along when we told her what was happening tonight, so they’ve been reunited. She was overjoyed.” Dunnel smiled at the memory, and the expression took years off his usually severe face. He glanced at Haruto. “I’m glad to see Mr Sato is safe as well.”
Haruto gave him a little wave.
“I’d like to see them if I could,” I said.
Dunnel clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll want to thank you both. But that and your debrief can wait until tomorrow. You two look like you’re ready to drop. Good work. You’ve done the department proud.”
Part of me wanted to stick around and see everything wrapped up, but I trusted Dunnel to process Holden and the others, and he was right: I was ready to drop. I relinquished the bag full of Viking treasures to him, and then Lena, Fletcher, Haruto, and I found a constable to ferry us over to Tain, using one of the small boats we’d chartered earlier since the others would need the larger boats to transport the prisoners and we needed to returned them anyway.
The town of Tain was basically a straight shot south from the island, and in no time, we were climbing stiffly out of the boat and walking towards the fleet of flashing police vehicles waiting for us. It looked like they had already whisked Finn away in an ambulance along with his mother. DC Reed led us towards one of the empty cars, having offered to
