Emma
It was at that moment that Ward escorted her from the office. He shut the door behind them. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"I won't make you say it." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I'm too emotionally invested. I know."
He opened his eyes and the lines on his forehead deepened. "Emma, I think you're seeing something that's not here after the events of early this morning."
She swallowed and took a breath—
Ward put up a hand to stop her. He looked at her with an openness she'd never seen before. "You are my best Inspector, but I am worried about you, and it takes a lot to make me worried. I've been worried about you for months." He rubbed a hand over his face. "There is no definitive proof."
"Ward, I know you think I'm crazy, but that man is"—she mouthed the name—"Beck Howards with a beard and brown contacts. He said I owe him."
"You are a public figure who has recently been back in the press. And if that were Beck Howards, he owes you for keeping his arse out of prison."
"I—" she gulped down a decade's worth of emotion. "I know that. But, he saved my life." She shook her head. "I know that voice. I know that nose. I'd know them anywhere. He said he'd worked for the past five years, exactly how long Howards has been dead." She put her hands on her hips. "Isn't there anyone you could call? Anyone who was around during that time and would have had access to the Howards family?"
Ward exhaled. He pulled out his phone. It was a flip phone by choice. He hated any technology with the word smart attached to it on principle. The area inside and around his office was the securest place in the Met as he routinely checked it for bugs. "There is one person." He typed in a number from memory. He put it to his ear. Someone picked up on the other. "Jim?"
She heard a mumble come through the speaker.
"It's Mark Ward. Listen, I need a simple yes or no, and I need it now. Is—" he breathed out. "Is there any way that Beck Howards could be alive?" He paused. His jaw fell slack. His eyes locked onto hers.
Her heartbeat felt lodged in her throat.
YOU ARE READING
The Enemy
Roman d'amourOnce upon a time, a madman tried to murder Emma Stapleton on a perfectly normal school day. And, the unlikeliest of classmates came to her rescue: her nemesis. Ten years later, her nemesis is dead, her school sweetheart divorced her, and she's no cl...
