“No more delays, mademoiselle. If the dog is of no use to me…” He let his voice trail away with another expressive shrug.
Hope shot him a look of pure venom and dragged the bag of clothing closer. She thrust it under Lemon’s nose. The dog obligingly shoved her face inside until only her ears overlapped the top edge and made loud snuffling noises while Hope murmured words of praise to her.
“That’s it, Lem. Now find it!”
Lemon almost quivered with excitement as she began to circle, moving outward until she neared the crushed cars where Wilson and his team had cut their way through during the rescue. Was it really only a couple of days ago?
Lefévre’s attention was on the dog. I risked a quick glance around me. No sign of Marcus. I tried to catch Riley’s eye but he seemed as anguished as Hope.
Lemon nosed around the blocked gap for a moment or so, then apparently lost interest. She feathered away further up the street, head down and tail up.
“What is she doing?” Lefévre demanded. “Call her back.”
“She’s doing her job,” I snapped. “Let her get on with it.”
Hope gave me a look of grateful surprise and when Lemon paused to check back, she called encouragement in a stronger voice than before.
Lemon disappeared from view. With her eyes fixed on that spot Hope asked in a brittle voice, “How much do you know?”
“Some. Most of it, probably. Hope’s your older sister isn’t she? And because she’s mentally handicapped and cared for by your parents, you knew she was never going to leave home, get a job, or apply for a driving licence, or a passport, so you did it for her.”
“It was my fault,” Hope said. “A stupid dare when we were kids. I was only eight — didn’t know any better. She always was afraid of heights. Sometimes… sometimes I think it would have been better if she’d died. Instead, Mum and Dad were left with a constant reminder of what they’d lost. Of what I’d done. I guess I don’t blame them for taking it out on me.”
“So you ran away.”
She nodded. “Stuck it for a couple of years, but in the end you can only take the back of someone’s hand so often before you’ve had enough.” She glanced at Lefévre with hatred. He either ignored it or didn’t hear. “I lived rough, learned to get by.”
“Picking pockets.”
“Better than the alternative. I was lucky. Met someone who taught me. Got caught a few times, taken back home, but they couldn’t make me stay.”
“And then you found Lemon.”
For the first time she smiled. “Saw someone chuck a box in the canal. Though it might be something I could sell so I fished it out. Turned out to be pups, the sick bastard. Lem was the only survivor.”
The unwanted girl and the unwanted dog. Perfect companions. Hope’s face suddenly crumpled and she scrubbed away tears, meeting my eyes for the first time with a fierce promise. “If anything happens to her because of this, Charlie, I swear I’ll bloody kill you…”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
A further ten minutes went past in windswept silence before Lefévre glanced again at Hope and said, “I begin to think the abilities of your dog have been somewhat overplayed.”
“She’s working it,” Hope said, her whole body tense. “Give her time.”
“Time is a luxury I do not have. Perhaps you need some encouragement to persuade her to work a little faster.” Lefévre lifted the Ruger and swung it in my direction. “Your friend here, for instance, I do not need.”
Hope looked at me briefly and I knew she already regretted telling me so much. She sneered. “Shoot her then. She’s done nothing but poke her nose in since she got here.”
For a moment I saw Lefévre’s knuckles tighten around the grip of the big revolver. I braced myself automatically, waiting for the shot. If I was lucky I wouldn’t know much about it.
And then, muffled by layers of stone and concrete and brick, came the distinct sound of a dog barking.
Lefévre smiled. “Saved by the dog.” He lowered his arm. “Although I think it was perhaps a bluff on your part, mademoiselle.”
I glanced at Hope’s set face. I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you.
Hope shrugged and ignored him, just took a few steps forward and yelled, “FETCH, Lem! Bring it, girl.”
A few more agonising minutes dragged past until there was a flurry of movement from further along the row of storefronts and Lemon emerged from a tiny hole. Her golden fur was filthy with dirt and mortar dust, and there was a patch of what looked like oil staining her flank.
But clutched in that soft retriever’s mouth was a grubby canvas satchel.
“Good girl, Lem!”
The dog brought the find straight to Hope, head high to avoid bumping it on the uneven ground, and relinquished it directly into her hands.
I heard Lefévre mutter, “My God,” with wonder in his voice. “That’s it. She actually found it.”
And a voice behind us a voiced called out, “Did you ever have any doubts?”
We all of us turned almost as one unit. Across on the other side of the street, Commander Peck stood just far enough back to cover the group of us with a HK53 compact assault rifle. How ironic that I’d been wishing for one earlier.
Standing alongside him was the Scottish copper Wilson, and Joe Marcus. For a second I could not think of a good reason for Marcus to be there that didn’t have bad connotations for all of us. Me especially.
“Thank you, Miss Tyler, for retrieving my gems.”
Lefévre took a step forward but wisely did not try to bring the Ruger up to make himself more of a target.
“We had an agreement, commander, if you recall? A seventy-thirty split in my favour.”
Peck gave a negligent shrug. “Circumstances have changed, my friend.” He gestured around him. “More people are now involved on my behalf and, if you’ll forgive me for pointing this out, fewer on yours.”
I checked Marcus’s face but could glean nothing from it. Did that “more people” Peck mentioned include him or not? Where was the Colt he usually carried? And my SIG?
“But, a deal is a deal, surely?” Lefévre’s mouth was smiling but I was close enough to see his eyes were scared. “You brought us in — my late partner and myself — for this job because you were told you could trust us. Is it unreasonable to expect that you will keep your word?”
“Unreasonable? No. Unrealistic in the circumstances? Yes.” Peck’s face was stony. “It was supposed to be a simple robbery. You had no need to kill Señor Rojas. That was not part of the deal.”
Lefévre took a quick step back, opening his mouth to protest, but it was too late.
Peck fired a short three-round burst from the HK. The 5.56mm NATO rounds exploded into Lefévre’s upper torso, dropping him instantly. He let go of the Ruger which skittered away out of reach. I watched his chest deflate slowly as his last breath expelled and he was unable to draw another.
Riley swore again, low and vicious. Hope merely curled herself around Lemon’s shivering body as the dog cowered from the gunfire.
“Thank you all for assisting me to capture a dangerous criminal, who sadly resisted arrest,” Peck said calmly. “Mr Marcus, if you would be so kind as to retrieve the bag of… evidence from Miss Tyler, I believe I will now be able to close this case.”
With only the briefest pause, Marcus walked across the gap separating us and grasped the satchel Lemon had brought out. As he bent over her, Hope raised a tear-streaked face to his.
“It’s all right, Hope. Everything will be all right.”
He walked back to Peck without hurrying. Peck held out his free hand for the satchel but Marcus made no immediate moves to hand it over.