Page 49 of Savage Redemption

Megan appears in the doorway, looking as near exhausted as I’ve ever seen her.

“Boss, you’re back.”

“I am. I gather we have a lot to thank you for.” But for her, I suspect we’d have at least one, maybe two bodies to dispose of.

“I did my job.”

And the rest.“What’s Andrej’s status?”

“Critical, but there’s an excellent specialist team at the Richmond. Even so, it’s going to be touch and go.”

I nod. “What about the others?”

“Natalija will be okay. A fair bit of smoke inhalation, and I’ll be keeping her on oxygen for the next few hours.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“Of course. She’s through there.”

“Thanks. And what about the other one? The man?”

“Still unconscious.”

“Has he come round at all?”

“Not so far. If you hadn’t instructed otherwise, I’d have sent him to the Richmond, too. I still think…”

I pat her arm. “I know, and noted. But I need to know what he was doing here in the first place before I risk letting him loose.”

“He’s through there.” She gestures to the other treatment room. “Nico is with him.”

Thanks.” I take step towards Nataliya’s door, then pause. “Tomasz, just one more thing. Did you see which direction the man came from?”

“Direction? I’m not sure…”

“Did he come round from the back of the cottage?”

He shakes his head slowly. “No, I don’t think he did. I was lying on my back gasping for breath, and suddenly he was next to me.”

“On which side?”

He lifts his left arm. “This side. He caught me with his foot, almost tripped over me, in all the smoke.”

“Okay. Thanks. Unless Megan needs you to stay, you’d best go find your mother. She’s been out of her mind worrying about you.”

He gives me a laddish grimace but ambles off to do as I’ve asked.

I turn to Tony, still beside me. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

His face is grim. “If our mystery man approached Tomasz from the left, he couldn’t have come from the castle, or the construction site.”

Exactly my thoughts. “There was a lot of smoke, it was chaotic. Tomasz could be mistaken.”

“Worth talking to him again, find out exactly where he was lying, but he seemed pretty clear to me.”

Again, I can’t disagree.

We find Natalija seated on a high-backed chair, her oxygen supply provided through a narrow tube in her nose. She’s thumbing through one of those music magazines teenagers are so fond of, but she puts it aside when we enter her room. “We never meant to do anything wrong,” she blurts. “I don’t know how it started.”

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