Amanda’s voice came back on the phone. ‘He just left with Basic. Jan’s probably just asleep with his phone off. I remember how tired I used to be after a run of shifts.’
The call had eaten up most of the remaining journey time and I was leaving the motorway. Wanting to be able to concentrate on the directions, I wished everyone back at the office better luck and got off the phone.
Harrietsham was not a place I knew, nor one I believed I had ever been to before. That it was unfamiliar mattered not in the era of satellite navigation as Hilary’s phone’s built-in system took us directly to the address Karen gave.
The street was lit much like the last one in New Ash Green, Christmas lights making the houses look inviting and warm. It wasn’t hard to imagine the palpable excitement bubbling away inside those houses with children inside. As I pulled to a stop, I got the notion that I might enjoy being a father. The idea snuck up and jumped out on me, catching me by surprise and I thought that it was perhaps the first time parenthood had ever occurred to me as an attractive possibility.
There being no time to dwell on such things, I checked my watch, patted my pockets to make sure I had all my things and swung the door open. Hilary bailed from his side, fighting to get his feet under his backside as the car delivered him almost level with the pavement.
The house to my front had a driveway with a single car parked on it. There were lights on in the back that shone through vaguely to the frosted glass in the front door but for the most part, it did not look like there was anyone home.
I was expecting there to be someone watching for my arrival, but looking for a tell-tale twitch of a curtain in any of the windows facing out to the street, I saw nothing.
‘It’s awfully quiet,’ observed Hilary.
Alert as I walked up the driveway toward the front door – which is to say I was looking for danger – I felt the person approaching before I saw them. Someone was moving stealthily, sneaking up on us from behind a clipped hedge at the property’s boundary.
I lifted my left hand to my face, a single finger in front of my lips as I silently begged Hilary stay quiet. His eyes went wide, and I saw him gulp with nervousness.
My shoulder bag came over my head to be set down on the ground as I slid soundlessly into the shadow thrown by the hedge.
When the person – a man, I could tell the moment his lead foot came into view – slunk around the edge of the twiggy shrub, I struck.
Good timing and the element of surprise gave me all the advantage I needed. The man, overweight by fifty pounds or more reeled backward and squealed in fright when I suddenly appeared in front of his face but by then it was too late.
I already had hold of his coat and was converting his backward motion into a throw. Yanking him off balance, I planted my feet and spun. He went over my legs, falling and twisting at the same time to land on the driveway with a hard thump.
The air rushed from his lungs in a whoosh, and I heard his head crack on the solid concrete surface. It was the perfect time to follow up with blows to soft body parts such as his throat, eyes, and groin, but I had no idea who he was and had already tackled one innocent person today.
I stepped to his side to make striking with his feet less easy and loomed over him, looking down with threatening malice on my lips.
‘Start talking,’ I insisted.
Hilary came at him from the other side, a snarl on his lips. ‘Yeah, punk! Start talking.’
I had to hitch an eyebrow at my partner but didn’t get to say anything to his odd display of machismo because a voice called out from the across the street.
It was accompanied by a squeal of horror. ‘Tempest! Don’t hurt him!’
I stepped back and away from the fallen man, taking myself out of strike range while also keeping him in sight. Doing so allowed me to swing my attention to the two women running across the road.
One was Karen Gilbert.
Putting two and two together fast, I said, ‘You’re not staying in this house at all are you?’
The woman with her had to be the man’s girlfriend or wife; she ran straight to his side to check his condition. Karen came to me.
‘Sorry,’ she apologised. ‘It felt safer to lie about the address and then be able to watch who turned up. Just in case, you know?’
I nodded and turned my attention to the man on the ground and offered him my hand to get up. ‘Are you okay, big fella? I hope I didn’t damage anything.’
He was doing his best in front of the ladies to pretend it didn’t hurt – I would have done the same. Thankfully, he took my hand and didn’t appear to hold a grudge.
‘That was quite the move you put on me,’ he said.
‘I caught you by surprise, that’s all. You probably would have snuck up on me, but I was already watching for someone to attack when I arrived.’ Okay, so I was being generous – this wasn’t a competition and I thought it likely the man had gamely volunteered to be the one to make first contact with me.
Karen did some quick introductions. ‘Tempest this is Marion and Buck. I went
