Covet (15 page)

Ed did not look back in the direction of the entrance to the tunnel until he was safely on the crest of the hill close to the clubhouse. When he finally turned, he was so far away that the mouth of the entrance, with its iron gate, was a mere speck on the horizon, the figures huddled around it as small and insignificant as ants. It was hard to discern what was going on from such a distance, but it hardly mattered now. They would not think to check the golfers. Not at this point. They would be scanning the tunnels, checking the shoreline for an escape boat. They would be tending to the injured. They would still be panicking, if they even
knew
enough to panic yet. Had the men on the surface even heard the blast? Perhaps they had not. And what kind of carnage had he left behind? It would take some time for them to sort through the mess, and by then he would be miles away.

Less than ten minutes later, as he was driving down Anzac Parade in the Prison Lady’s beat-up Volkswagen, Ed heard the sirens. He calmly pulled over and let the speeding ambulance pass. And a few minutes after that, two blue and white police cars zipped by as well, all on the way to Botany Bay National Park.

Ed watched them disappear in the rear-view mirror.

He smiled.

Andy sped toward the Prince of Wales Hospital, still barely able to register the news. He felt numb, like a distant observer separated from his own body. With a tense grip he drove his car on automatic pilot, fighting to block out the emotion and fear, and the dark conclusions running through his mind.
Ed Brown is out. Jimmy is injured.
The news was inconceivable, the consequences grave. One of Australia’s most notorious serial killers was at large, having escaped directly from the custody of the New South Wales police—out of their very own hands, a damning reality. The escape would trigger a public outcry, and quite possibly another Royal Commission. Someone would have to pay, and if they did not act fast to bring him in, more lives would be at risk, Makedde’s in particular.

Lewis had better have some answers
, he thought.
Some bloody good answers.

The traffic was against him. He was only halfway to the hospital and already he found himself at a standstill. This was not the time for Andy to exercise patience. If Jimmy, his partner and loyal friend of many years, was badly hurt and fucking
died on the surgeon’s table while Andy was sitting in some mindless traffic jam, that would be the end of it. Andy would never be able to forgive himself.

He flicked on his siren with a loud
whoop.
A man in the car next to him jumped in his seat, startled by the noise. Drivers and passengers gawked, and yet the traffic did not move. He leaned out the window and yelled at the car ahead of him. ‘Come on, let’s move!’ Andy laid in on his horn with all his might, as if that would somehow encourage the cars to move more effectively. It did not work.

Warm tears welled in his eyes, and now they began to spill over. Andy did not acknowledge them, did not wipe them away. He simply rolled down the window of his car and yelled, ‘MOVE IT!’

The siren continued to flash and holler. A space opened up on the opposite side of the road and Andy wasted no time in driving straight over the divider into the oncoming lane, scraping his muffler across the top of the concrete. Cars came to a screeching halt. Mouths gaped. He sped through, his heart heavy like a block of ice in his chest. He had to get there fast. He had to know what had happened. He had to know where things stood. He had to see Jimmy.

‘Are you immediate family?’ the nurse asked.

Andy was slick with sweat. He had been stopped just beyond the main reception area of the hospital.
His heart pounded in his chest. It was hard to think.

‘Excuse me, sir, are you immediate family?’ the nurse asked again when he failed to respond.

Speechless with grief and anger, Andy flashed his badge and tried to shove past. She put up a hand to hold him back.

‘I am Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Flynn,’ he explained. ‘My colleagues are in here. My partner, Jimmy Cassimatis, is here. I need to see him now,’ he demanded, somehow managing composed speech.

She pursed her lips. ‘Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to take a seat.’

What?

Andy shook his head, and ignoring her instruction tried to walk past her again. She put a hand against his shoulder. He wanted to break it off. A young nurse. Bloody hell. What was she doing?

‘I’m sorry, sir, I’m going to have to insist you take a seat in the reception area.’

‘I’m not taking a damn seat.’ In the midst of his anger a moment of inspiration. Carol. ‘Is Carol Richardson here?’

‘Why, yes she is.’ Recognition flashed across the nurse’s features. ‘Wait here.’

‘I need to see Carol Richardson immediately. I’ll be the one searching the damn halls.’ The inexperienced nurse looked gobsmacked as he pushed past her and strode down the corridor towards the elevator. Where would they be?
Emergency? Which direction was it again? He should know. He’d been there so many times. His wits had left him. He was panicking.

Carol was quick to find him. He spotted her jogging down the hall towards him in her whites, her pretty blonde hair pulled into a bun.

‘Andy! They told me you were here. It’s terrible what’s happened. I’m so sorry.’

She ran up to him and hugged him briefly. He was as rigid as a plank. She pulled away.

‘Where’s Jimmy?’ he said bluntly.

Carol took him by the hand and led him around a corner and down a different corridor away from the reception area. ‘Andy, I know you must be upset, but I think you should try to calm down.’

‘Carol,’ he said and stopped in the hall, ‘just tell me where the fuck Jimmy is and get the fuck out of the way.’

His words gave her pause. Her eyes widened, the mascara-coated lashes batting once, twice. She was clearly shocked by his manner. Truthfully, he was too.

Andy realised he was being rude and unreasonable, but he was unable to apologise. He needed to find Lewis, or someone who could tell him what had happened. He needed to get the lowdown on Jimmy and on Ed Brown.

‘Where’s Senior Sergeant Lewis?’ he demanded.

‘Room 311,’ she said softly and pointed towards the elevators.

No sooner had the words left her lips than Andy was jogging down the hallway away from her. Carol
let him go, helplessly. She knew him well enough to know she should not get in his way when he was like this.

Room 311. He stopped at the door. There were four beds in the ward. Inspector Kelley was already there. He looked pale. He noticed Andy at the doorway and they exchanged glances. There was a hard look in Kelley’s eyes, a battle-weary expression Andy had only seen a handful of times.
‘Officers down…We have officers down.’
Kelley gave a nod and rose from his seat beside the bed of one of the men. Andy couldn’t identify the patient because his head was so heavily bandaged.
Is that Jimmy?

‘Flynn,’ Kelley acknowledged him gravely, joining him in the hallway.

‘Holy fucking Mother of God,’ Andy said softly under his breath. ‘Who is that?’

‘Symond. Half his face is gone.’

‘What happened?’

‘Ed had the place booby-trapped, it looks like. Some kind of explosive.’ He cast his eyes over the men in the room, and back to Andy. ‘There was no body. It was a trick.’

My God
, Andy thought.

‘A booby trap? How?’

‘We don’t know yet. We’re getting statements from the guys who can speak. They were in some kind of underground tunnel system in Cape Banks when it happened. A couple of constables were on the surface and didn’t get hit. They say they heard something, but couldn’t be sure what it was. One of them went down and saw that it was a mess. And
no sign of our prisoner. They quickly raised the alarm.’

Where would Ed get explosives? How?

‘Lewis is fine, apart from some shock and temporary hearing loss. He was furthest from the blast, they think. He was across the room with Ed.’

Andy frowned.
And the men under his command are dying…

‘Hoosier might be blinded. The doctors say it’s fifty–fifty he gets his sight back. The crime-scene guys didn’t fare so well. Neither did audiovisual. They were right up close to the explosion. Parker lost fingers. Flemming lost an arm. Then there was shrapnel ripping through everything. The doctors think they will recover their hearing. We don’t know what kind of explosive it was but we’re hoping like hell that Ed was injured by the blast too. That would be the surest bet to catch the bastard. We’ve got eyes at the hospitals, medical centres, veterinary clinics, anywhere he might go to get fixed up. We don’t know how he slipped from Lewis’s grip.’

Andy drank up the information, but Kelley had left out one big piece of it.

‘How about Jimmy?’

‘It’s not good, Andy,’ Kelley said. Andy waited, but that was it.

‘Was he right in the blast? Was it shrapnel?’

‘No.’

Clearly Kelley didn’t want to say anything more. That was a very bad sign.

‘You don’t think he’s going to make it,’ Andy said flatly.

Kelley looked him in the eye, silent. There was a controlled rage in there, and emotion too. Kelley’s men had been seriously hurt. In some ways they were like children to him. He would want someone to pay.

‘Jimmy is in bad shape. Apparently he was unconscious at the scene. The doctors can’t say if or how he will pull through, something to do with his heart,’ Kelley said.

Andy stared wide-eyed, disbelieving.

‘Let’s sit down, Andy.’

‘No,’ he said. He didn’t want to sit. He didn’t want to relax. He didn’t want to calm down. ‘No, no…’

‘Andy…’

Andy noticed Carol behind him. He turned and she took him into the hall while Kelley returned to his men.

‘It’s terrible. I’m so sorry,’ she said, her eyes large with sympathy.

‘Tell me. Tell me the truth. What’s happened to Jimmy? What are his chances?’

‘They don’t know, Andy,’ she admitted. ‘I wish I could give you an answer but I can’t. He has AF. He’s been on Warfarin.’

‘What?’

‘AF, atrial fibrillation. The atria in his heart don’t pump the blood effectively. Your partner has been a stroke waiting to happen, Andy. He’s been on blood-thinning medication to avoid blood clots. Unfortunately, that means his internal bleeding was excessive…’

‘What happened to him?’

‘He was struck on the head with a shovel, probably in some kind of struggle.’

Ed. He was trying to stop Ed.

‘He was unconscious when he was brought in. To staunch the bleeding they had to give him something to reverse the medication. In his case there was a risk of a clot. I’m afraid he suffered a stroke on the operating table. I’m sorry, Andy.’ She touched his arm reassuringly. ‘He has stabilised a little. There is a good chance he’ll pull through.’

Andy felt numb. He took a few moments to respond. ‘Is that all you can tell me?’

‘I’m afraid so.’

‘Thanks, Carol. I’m sorry if I’ve been…’

‘I understand,’ she said, squeezing his hand. ‘If I can do anything, let me know.’

She left him, and Andy moved back into the ward to speak to Kelley.

‘Has anyone told Angie?’

‘We’re sending a couple of constables around to inform her. She knows Hunt. He’ll be there to let her down.’

Three kids. Why did Jimmy have to have a wife and three kids to leave behind? He can’t die. He just can’t.

‘There was no sign of Ed Brown when they got there? Nothing?’ Andy pressed.

‘His handcuffs were on the ground. He’d already vanished.’

‘No one can
vanish.
Have we checked the boats along the coastline? The bushland? The freight port? Someone must have seen something for
Christ’s sake!’ Andy made fists at his sides. ‘Has anyone told Makedde that Ed is out?’

‘We’re sending someone over now.’

‘I’ve got to speak to her first. Give me ten minutes.’

‘Flynn…’

‘Just give me this, sir. Please.’

‘Makedde…’

‘Speaking.’ Makedde’s voice was dull and noncommittal.

‘I need to talk to you right now.’

‘Well, hello to you too,’ she said, recognising his voice.

Andy was so utterly relieved that she sounded okay, he barely registered her coolness.

Kelley had said her phone had been ringing out, but now she was safely inside her hotel room. Safe.
Thank God.
The dread in his heart eased just a fraction. The hotel was the best place for her to be at the moment. It was unlikely that Ed Brown would make a beeline for her there so soon. He would be too busy covering his own arse, wouldn’t he? Andy had to keep her inside that room until he explained the situation himself, and it wouldn’t take him long to get there. He knew that what he had to tell her would be the worst possible news anyone could give her, and it was only right that she heard it from him directly. Andy couldn’t bear the thought of her finding out from some door-knocking
flatfoot constable she had never met, or from the officers who were on their way to the hotel now to protect her.

‘There’s something very important I need to discuss with you,’ he urged with as much calm as he could muster. He sprinted across the hospital parking lot with his phone at his ear.

‘Are you running?’ she asked.

‘Um, yeah.’

‘I was going to ring you later,’ Mak said.

Andy finally reached his car in the hospital parking lot and threw the door open. He slid into the driver’s seat and shoved the key in the ignition.

‘I can’t explain it over the phone,’ he managed, now slightly out of breath. ‘I need to speak to you in person. I’m on my way.’

‘Oh, Andy, I’m meeting up with Loulou in fifteen minutes. I’m just about to leave.’

‘Don’t go out. Don’t go anywhere. I’m coming right over. Just promise me you’ll stay put.’ His knew his words sounded peremptory, probably even rude. He would have to apologise later. And to Carol too. She had turned out to be a great help at the hospital.

‘But…’

Andy pinched the phone between his shoulder and his ear, and started his car. It revved up reliably and he was about to step on the gas when he looked up and noticed an old man backing a station wagon out in front of him…slowly…slowly…so goddamn slowly. He pressed the horn in a fit of frustration, knowing full well that it
wouldn’t encourage the man’s driving skills in the least.

‘Fuck…’

‘Excuse me?’ Mak was still on the line.

‘Sorry. That wasn’t for you,’ he said.
Hurry up, old man! Hurry up!
‘Stay in your hotel room,’ he ordered bluntly, his patience waning. ‘I’ll be there in a few minutes, ten at the most—’

‘But…’

Finally the station wagon was out of the way. Andy laid the pedal down and burned rubber out of the parking lot. The phone was hot against his ear lobe.

‘Andy, are you there?’

‘Mak,’ he shouted. ‘I need you to stay right there. Just promise me you’ll stay put until I get there.’

‘Um, okay.’

‘Don’t let anyone in the room. I don’t care who they say they are. Bolt the door. Use the chain. I’ll be ten minutes at the most.
Do not open your door to anyone else, you hear me?
If you know anything about me, you’ll know I’m not fucking around. I’ll see you in under ten.’

He hung up.