Page 99 of Three for a Girl

Their eyes met.

A lit cigarette unstuck from Andrew’s lip and dropped to the ground.

“I’m detective constable Chad—

He leapt out of the van, dropping his keys and ran on foot to the front, scrambling up the verge. Chad pursued, but he wasn’t as fit as he’d once been. The chase on foot burned his lungs and had him wheezing. A car door slammed behind him and he suspected Ally had got out to follow.

“Stop.” Chad yelled.

Andrew clawed at the slope, half running, half climbing. He dropped something, a length of material that caught on the wind. Chad sparred it no thought and gripped onto the dry tufts of grass to haul himself up.

Andrew reached the top and his feet slapped on the pavement as he sprinted in the direction of the bridge.

Chad’s gut plummeted.

He called out to Andrew, told him to stop to no avail, Andrew had his sights fixed on the bridge.

Chad got to the top, but tripped on a clump of grass. He fell, catching himself on the heels of his hands.

“Chad!”

He got up, fixing his sights on Andrew’s disappearing form.

Ally called out to him again, but he didn’t stop. He ran with his heart thundering and his breathing skipping. Adrenaline soared through his body, aiding his chase, but it was no use. Andrew got to the bridge, and stopped in the middle.

“Don’t do it!”

Andrew climbed the railings and swung his legs over the edge, and Chad’s heart beat so fast it juddered it in his throat. This was the killer, the bad guy they’d been hunting. The one who had cut out Ellen’s kidneys and Kerion’s heart while they were still alive.

Vermin, right?

“Don’t!” Chad shouted.

Andrew turned towards him, and Chad got a good look at his face. Defeat wrinkled his brow, and his eyes shone with tears. Snot ran from his nose, and his skin blotched red. He didn’t look like a bad guy, he looked tormented, trapped, and helpless as he dangled his legs over the drop. Who the bad guy was in the case, Chad wasn’t sure. Ellen and Kerion had kidnapped his daughter, sold her to god knows who.

“Stay back.”

“Okay.” Chad said, holding his hands up. “I won’t come any closer.”

Andrew perched on the top, death in front of him and life behind, and Chad was the guy who’d insure he got locked up, spend the rest of his tormented life behind bars.

A coldness swept threw him, and the adrenaline that fueled him vanished. He swayed at the sudden drop, at the sudden weakness. He clutch his knees to catch himself, and panted at the new feeling. He didn’t reach his high, he didn’t plateau on the emotional climb. He dropped, until numbness spread through him.

Andrew sniffed, eyeing Chad. “They deserved it.”

“I don’t disagree with you… Come down.” Chad pleaded. “We’ll go to the station. You can give us your side of what happened. You can tell us what you know. Zara might not be dead.”

“She is.” Andrew hissed. “Ellen admitted it…”

“When?”

“When I caught her in the very trap she used on others. She told me everything. Told me what happened to my Zara. They’re evil, selfish, disgusting animals.”

Andrew shifted, holding onto the railing with one hand while reaching into his pocket with the other. He pulled out a square of what Chad thought was card, and a splutter left Andrew’s lips.

“This was the last picture taken. We went to the Scottsdale’s game the day before she went missing. We won that game.” He smiled, but it crumpled with a sob.

“I’m not much of a football guy.”

---