‘You’re going to be the death of me,’ Ripley said.
‘You love it.’
‘I really don’t.It’s lucky I don’t have Max this week, or you’d be screwing up my whole life instead of just half of it.’
‘I know you don’t have him.I saw your schedule on your calendar at your place.’
‘And you memorized it?’
‘Maybe.’
Ripley shook her head.‘Unbelievable.As if you and Hawkins knocking boots in my spare room last week wasn’t enough.Why didn’t you drag him south instead?’
‘There’s a joke in there somewhere,’ Ella said.‘He’s busy, though.He has to plaster over the bullet holes in our ceiling.’
Ripley summoned the stewardess over and ordered a neat whiskey.Ella guessed it was the first of many she’d be consuming on this trip.‘You didn’t get a tradesman to do it?’
‘Not after what the last tradesman tried to do.’
‘Fair point.Please tell me it’s not just me and you on this trip.’
‘No.There’ll be a SWAT team with us too.And Terrance Dever.’
‘Ugh.Dever.He’s not on this flight, is he?’
‘Nope.He’s flying out tomorrow.I don’t think he wanted to be stuck on a plane with me and you.’
‘Good.So, what’s the plan, exactly?’asked Ripley.
‘We go to New Orleans, we meet with local PD because they’re the ones providing the muscle.Dever and Vernon are dealing with the legal stuff, and once we’ve got clearance, Creed will be ushered out of that prison the same day.SWAT team will be on standby.That’s as much as I know.’
‘Fun.Let’s hope Creed is still the barrel of laughs he was last time we saw him.Which, if memory serves me, was in the back of a police car outside a women’s shelter.’
Ella grinned, despite the topic.‘And here’s me thinking that you forgot about your old cases as soon as they were over.’
‘I remember that one because it was my first case with you, and yes, I’ve been trying to forget about it ever since.Anyway, what’s the latest with Lindsey Doyle?Has she confessed yet?’
Ella wasn’t looking forward to this part.She took a breath.
‘She hasn’t confessed.She hasn’t said anything at all, actually.Complete radio silence since we brought her in.’
‘Classic.Give me five minutes with her and I’ll loosen her up.I’ve got a bone to pick with that bitch for what she left on my doorstep.’
‘Well, it gets weirder than that.Lindsey Doyle has a twin sister.Tracy Doyle.’
Ripley accepted her drink from the stewardess and put it on the table.‘I knew she had a sister, but a twin sister?Really?’
‘Yeah.Identical.And we can’t confirm which one we have in custody.’
Ripley said, ‘Dark, you’ve read Sherlock Holmes, haven’t you?’
‘Of course.’
‘It’s never twins.’
‘No, it definitelyistwins.We knew she had a sister, but we didn’t know they were identical.’
Ripley snorted.‘Did the date of birth not give it away?’
