Aled sat at the kitchen table over the shut bakery at ten to six in the morning with his phone face down in front of him and Inspector Adair’s number open on the other side of it, and waited for the kettle.
He had not slept. He had lain on the sofa in the front room until three with Jas’s radio murmuring on the desk, and then come in here, where the second chair was, and sat in it, because she was not in the room.
The number had been open since half past four. One touch and it would ring. He had turned the phone over so that he would not have to look at it, and it made no difference; he could see it through the case.
He knew what he would say. He had said it over until it was smooth. Ma’am, I need to report a…
Keep reading.
Unlock this story and the entire library.
Or start another story free
Every story here is finished, and its first five chapters are free.
- Everything Below the RingA filmmaker gets six weeks inside London's underground fight circuit, and one rule from the man who runs it: nothing below the ring.Completed · 18 chapters · 2h 30m
- The Frost LedgerA city debt-reader inherits a page that can end a border lord's endless winter, and the price only counts if nobody makes her pay it.Completed · 18 chapters · 2h 26m
- The Standing InvitationA married engineer and the architect she works beside spend months not touching each other. Then she faces what she has already done.Completed · 19 chapters · 2h 32m