Read Online Silent Fear by Katherine Howell - Free Book Online Page B

today was . . . ?’
    Holly hadn’t wanted to go here, but to baulk would raise a flag she couldn’t afford. The little one that’d gone up when she pointed the finger at Seth was flapping loudly enough.
    ‘At their funeral,’ she said.
    ‘They died at the same time?’
    She nodded. ‘House fire.’
    ‘What happened at the funeral?’
    ‘We had an argument and I walked away, hoping to never see him again.’
    ‘What did you argue about?’
    A half-truth was better than an outright lie. ‘Money. He thought I’d kept his share. There actually wasn’t anything to inherit.’ She rubbed the back of her neck. She felt tense and a little sick. Dehydrated maybe, or just suffering the effects of the past. Oh, to be at home in the pool with Norris, washing all of this away.
    ‘Did you see or hear anything while you were at the scene?
    Strange noises? People in a hurry? Anything at all that felt odd or out of place?’
    Only Seth.
    ‘No,’ she said.
    Ella looked at her colleague as if checking something. He didn’t look up.
    ‘We’ll need to get a formal statement at some point in the next day or so, if you can come to the office,’ Ella said.
    Holly nodded. Nearly clear. Soon be home.
    ‘Thanks.’ Ella stood and put out her hand.
    Holly stood up too and shook it. Ella didn’t let it go immediately, and stared into Holly’s eyes. Hold the gaze. Holly imagined the pool, and didn’t flinch. Ella released her.
    Holly went out of the room feeling weak, and they called Joe in. She stood in the corridor for a moment and breathed and listened. She could make out a nurse telling a patient to keep his oxygen mask on, and another one somewhere encouraging somebody to cough deeper, but she couldn’t hear Seth’s voice. It didn’t mean he wasn’t around though. She should hide. Hopefully he’d think she’d left and go home himself and she’d never see him again.
    She texted Joe: In the bathroom. Text when you’re done.
    Okay , he sent back.
    She hurried around the corner to the staff bathrooms and locked herself in the women’s. She closed the toilet lid and sat down, and looked at her shaking hands. She was not going back there any more, not in life and not in her mind. It was done. Past. Over.
    And Norris didn’t know, and could never find out.
    *
    When Joe texted, Holly opened the door and listened for Seth’s voice, then sneaked around to the family room. Joe jangled the ambulance keys and she grabbed his arm. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
    She hurried him through the Emergency Department and out the sliding doors into the hot afternoon air of the ambulance bay. She blinked in the glare, then her heart sank as she saw Seth and his friends gathered in the driveway. He came towards her across the asphalt as Joe unlocked the ambulance with the remote. She put her head down and went straight for the passenger door.
    ‘Wait up,’ Seth said.
    Holly got in, but Seth caught the door before she could close it.
    ‘You’d leave, just like that?’ he said.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘At least give me your number.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘We’re family, Holly.’
    She gave him a look that made him let go of the door.
    ‘You don’t know me any more,’ he said. ‘I went to TAFE and uni; I’ve got a great job with Williams, Dean and Shaw –’
    She slammed the door in his face.
    ‘This could be our fresh start,’ he said through the window.
    ‘Drive,’ she said to Joe.
    He started the engine and put his hand on the gearstick. ‘You’re sure?’
    ‘Go,’ Holly said, ignoring Seth’s knuckles rapping on the glass.
    Joe pulled out of the bay. Holly didn’t glance back.
    The lights on Parramatta Road stopped them. Joe tapped his fingers on the wheel, then glanced over at her. ‘Did he call you Jade when we first got on scene?’
    ‘No, why?’ She hoped he hadn’t mentioned it to the detectives, but knew she couldn’t ask without raising suspicion.
    He shrugged. ‘Thought I heard it.’
    ‘He didn’t.’
    The denial