Page 110 of We Chase Shadows

‘Let’s get this guy covered up,’ says Amy.

‘I’ll do it,’ says Lee. Lee looks very jumpy to Amy.

‘And we can go and tell Vern the good news,’ says Steve. ‘Connor Brooks’s hitman is dead.’

‘You’ve got to tell him the bad news too,’ says Amy, as they reach the house. ‘That there’s someone with a gun loose in the countryside. In fact, someone with two guns.’

Rosie takes a set of keys down from a wooden board.

‘Why two guns?’ says Steve.

‘Because there was no gun with the body,’ says Amy. ‘Ernesto?’

‘Nope,’ says Ernesto. ‘What you see is what we saw.’

‘And the one thing we know about gunmen,’ says Amy, ‘is that they always carry a gun.’

‘It’s where the name comes from,’ says Ernesto.

Rosie leads them down a narrow stone corridor that ends with a heavy metal door.

Before she opens it, she turns to Steve. ‘How was the dentist, by the way?’

Steve lodges his tongue into his cheek. ‘Need a couple of fillings, but nothing major.’

‘That’s nice for you,’ says Rosie.

‘And how was your dentist?’ Steve asks.

‘Honestly?’ says Rosie. ‘Bloody awful.’

She turns the key in the lock and opens the door. ‘Vernon, the cavalry are here!’

‘With good news!’ says Steve.

‘And bad news,’ says Amy.

‘I hope you’ve got a bottle open for us?’ says Ernesto. ‘Something Spanish.’

Rosie stops dead in her tracks. Amy bumps into her and cranes around to see what she is seeing.

Vern Blackwood is slumped on the floor in a pool of blood.

Amy rips off his shirt to find a bullet hole straight through the heart.

‘Dead,’ she says.

‘No,’ says Steve. ‘How?’

‘It’s impossible,’ says Ernesto. ‘He was in a locked room. Lee locked it himself.’

‘What now?’ says Rosie. ‘Even for me this is a bit much.’

Ernesto and Amy are opening every door in the wine cellar, looking in every possible hiding place. Steve and Rosie are trying to prop Vern’s body up.

‘It can’t be possible, Amy,’ says Ernesto. ‘You tell me how.’

When Amy is sure that the gunman is not hiding in the cellar with them, she leans in closely to Ernesto.