Page 72 of Nothing But the Night (Basic Instincts 2)

Nothing.

Jason advanced. On just the balls of his feet, he went up the stairs.

As he approached the top, he flattened himself against the far wall, to give him the widest view as he came up. The reception area was empty.

He heard voices and immediately recognised Marc.

The light he’d seen from the street came from an office at the front of the building.

He proceeded carefully. The top step creaked as put his weight on it.

Jason froze. Waited.

After another few seconds, when there was no movement from the office, he crept into the reception room.

There was no one at the desk. He checked behind it, in case somebody should be lurking there. It was clear. Whoever was in the building, was in that front room.

Was he overreacting? He hoped so.

It would be a relief to open that door wider and find Marc and Ryman chatting around the desk with Soloman.

Instinct, combined with years of experience, told him otherwise.

Breathing shallowly, Jason moved across the floor. He strained to hear.

“Did your son ever talk to you about any of this?” It was Marc’s voice. There was something off about it. A note of false bravado.

“Of course he didn’t.” Chantelle. So, their suspicions were correct. “He would still be here otherwise. His problems wouldn’t have seemed so bad if he’d confided in his mother.”

The door was open by just over a foot. He could barely make out the room beyond.

Jason edged closer.

Marc was on the far side of the desk. His hands were raised before him in surrender.

Where the fuck is Chantelle?

“Those other boys all had mothers too,” Marc said. “Theo, Dan and Tyrone.”

“No. They were sons of fucking bitches. Stefan was better than any of them. And their mothers deserve every agonising second of grief they suffer, and it will never come close to my own pain.”

From the sound of things, she was a metre or so in front of the door, still out of sight.

Where was Ryman? Jason couldn’t see or hear anything of him.

He weighed up the options.

Rush in, in the hope he could tackle her. Surprise was on his side. His injuries might prevent him from fully overpowering her, but with Marc and Ryman’s help, she wouldn’t be a problem. But what about Soloman? Was he in there too? Was he on her side?

Fuck.

If he knew the cops were on the way, he could just walk in and say so. They should be able to contain her until they arrived.

But in this weather, with the roads as bad as they were and services stretched all over the city, he couldn’t count on it.

Surprise was the greatest weapon that he had.

From his current position, it was his only option.

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