“You’re an evil bastard who deserves what’s coming to him. As if I could ever be interested in you after the way you destroyed my family. You make me sick. You and the others will be punished, all of you will perish before the week is out. You can all join up in hell and joyride to your hearts’ content with no fear of ruining others’ lives the way you’ve wrecked mine.”
His eyes widened and followed her out of the car. She opened the driver’s door and pushed a button. Then she rushed to the back of the car and removed the fuel cap. She withdrew a ten-inch piece of material she had in her pocket, lit a match, and placed the material into the tank and stood back. Then she ran to the front of the vehicle and watched the terror in his eyes until finally his body was engulfed in flames as the car exploded.
Removing her shoes, she ran towards the alley off to the left and slowly made her way back to her vehicle which was parked a few streets away.
One down, three more to meet their fate!
1
Katy woke with a start, tore out of the bed and raced along the hallway to her daughter’s bedroom. Georgie was sound asleep. She inched closer to listen to her breathing; it was steady, nothing to worry about, this time. This had been her routine several times a week since Georgie had been rushed into hospital almost three months earlier. Even though the doctors had assured her Georgie was now out of immediate danger, she could do little to push down the rising panic that emerged every so often to taunt her. The doctor had been certain that Georgie’s immediate future would be secure and said that they intended to monitor her closely in case things go awry. He’d told them that most kids with a heart defect were resilient. The odd exception to the rule would need surgery to correct the faults which showed up. Although, his final words had chilled her to the bone. There was no telling what kind of damage the meningitis had done to her heart, if any, and it might take months for them to find out.
She knelt beside her daughter and swept the fringe out of Georgie’s eyes. AJ appeared in the doorway and asked in a panicked voice, “Is she okay?”
Katy glanced his way and nodded. “I think so. It was just my vivid imagination working overtime.”
“Thank God. Come back to bed, let’s enjoy the peace and quiet while we can.”
Katy kissed Georgie’s temple and walked out of the bedroom. “I’ll go make us a coffee. I should be getting a move on soon anyway.”
AJ went back to bed. She rejoined him with toast and coffee ten minutes or so later. She’d just settled back into bed when her mobile juddered across the bedside table. She picked it up and through a mouthful of toast said, “DI Katy Foster.”
“Sorry to disturb you, ma’am. It’s Mick.”
Katy rolled her eyes at AJ and mouthed an apology. “I know it has to be important for you to be calling me directly, Mick. What’s up?”
“We’ve been dealing with a nasty one since first light that has your name written all over it.”
“My personal name? Or is that your way of saying this case is right up my street?”
“Sorry, yes, the latter.”
“Okay. You’re telling me I need to get my arse into gear and get to the scene, aren’t you?”
“Yes, actually, the pathologist just called in, wondering where you were.”
“Patti? Okay, if she’s chasing my tail, it must be a bad one.”
“It is. Shall I call her back to tell her you’ll be with her soon?”
“Hang on a sec, you haven’t told me what the location is yet.”
He sighed, and she heard him flick through a couple of pages before he gave her the address.
She quickly assessed how long it would likely take her to get dressed and drive the short distance to the scene. “Okay, tell Patti to expect me in around thirty minutes. Tell her to bear with me because I’m actually not even dressed as yet.”
“Oops, again, I apologise for disturbing you so early.”
“There’s no need. See you later.” She ended the call and ripped into her piece of toast.
“Why you? Can’t someone else attend and you pick up the slack later?”
She cocked an eyebrow at her husband and took a sip of coffee. “If only it worked like that.”
“I know, wishful thinking on my part. Anything I can do to help?”
“Nope. I’ll shove this down my neck, have a quick shower and make a dash for it. What have you got on today?”
“Several contacts I need to chase up. One party to start organising, and the rest of the day will be spent scouring the area for extra bookings. I’m not stressed about it, word of mouth is getting around and the phone never stops ringing with enquiries. I’m lucky in that respect.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “Have I told you lately how proud I am of you?”
He glanced at the clock. “Ooo… it’s been at least ten hours, but yes, carry on piling on the praise.”
“You’re amazing. To have stumbled across something that could make us a lot of money in the future.”
“Hold your horses. The business is still relatively new; saying that, I’m delighted by the amount of success we’ve had so far.”
“You’ve had. All your success is down to your sole input. Who knew kids’ parties could be so lucrative?”
“I had an inkling, otherwise I wouldn’t have entertained the business.” He chuckled. “See what I did there?”
Katy groaned. “It hadn’t gone unnoticed. I’d better get my arse into gear.”
“What you need to do is finish your breakfast first.”
She gulped down the rest of her toast and coffee while she sorted through her wardrobe. The navy trouser suit caught her eye. She teamed it up with a white blouse and then raced into the bathroom and jumped
