Endgame. Wilna Adriaanse
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Название: Endgame
Автор: Wilna Adriaanse
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Ужасы и Мистика
isbn: 9780624086505
isbn:
At the end of last year she had been ready to resign. The letter had been written and the paperwork was being processed when the chief asked her to reconsider.
“Take some time off,” Brigadier Andile Zondi advised her. “I can stretch it to six months, if necessary. Sort yourself out, get some fresh air and live a little. Then come back and give me your answer.”
Brigadier Ahmed, her late father’s friend and chief, had agreed when she told him about Zondi’s offer.
“We’ve had this conversation before. You know one shouldn’t make drastic decisions in a situation like this. Clear your head before you decide.”
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to clear her head. Heaven knows, she had done her best. Sometimes she thought she was succeeding but then – sometimes in the middle of the night – a door seemed to open, and on the other side there were questions, nightmares, reproaches, anger. Like a hall of mirrors at a carnival. Mirrors that twisted the truth, made you see things that didn’t exist and showed you pictures of yourself that you’d rather not see.
She had accepted Zondi’s offer and hoped the bile would settle and somewhere among the mirror images she would recognise the truth.
The day she discovered she still had access to all the department’s files it felt like a sign. She knew what she had to do. Try to solve the most important case of her life. The murder of John McKenna.
She believed the people on the case were trying their best; she also knew that, as time elapsed, the chances of finding the perpetrators diminished. She paged through the files again, randomly picking up a page or two. She had gone through the paperwork a hundred times and still there was no one she could point a finger at. At the time the press had called it a random shooting, implying that the bullets could have hit anyone. Her father had unfortunately been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn’t believe it. It was senseless. John McKenna had been too great a man to die a senseless death. There had to be a reason for his death. Coincidence was just not good enough.
She heard the doves again, got up and stood by the window. The yard was silent. The light was on outside and she noticed that the oak tree at the front door was rapidly losing its leaves. More and more leaves lay scattered under the tree every day. From the porch she could smell the damp soil under the leaves. That earthy smell of mulch so specific to autumn.
Yet tonight it wasn’t her father’s death that was keeping her awake. She couldn’t get Clara out of her mind. Clive could say it wasn’t her responsibility all he liked, but it didn’t help. She felt responsible.
She turned back to the names and lines on the papers against the wall. So many possibilities. In the lives of people like Nazeem Williams there were no simple problems or solutions. He was a man with many enemies, just like the rest of them. They lived in a world where loyalty was determined by the size of your wallet.
She took a last sip of tea and went back to bed. The bed was cold and she drew up her knees. Sometimes she missed a warm body beside her. The drawing closer, the hand on your hip, your body in the hollow of another’s. Your breathing finding the rhythm of the other’s. The night wasn’t made for being alone. She preferred not to think about where Clara could be tonight. She had learnt that death was sometimes the merciful option, but the thought that Clara might be dead made her feel sick. Life owed her more time.
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