by Malcolm Rose
“You’re not that smart. Think about it, Harding. You’ve got me for three murders. One more won’t make any difference.”
Abruptly, Ed took a step closer and aimed the first blow down at Luke’s chest.
Startled, Luke could not react quickly enough to save himself from the blade.
But the stabbing pain and the warm blood never came.
Malc darted between the boys at amazing speed. The blow landed on his metallic shell and sent him crashing to the floor and skidding into the crowd. The weapon went in the opposite direction.
Most of the onlookers were so stunned by the spectacle and so scared of Ed Hoffman that they didn’t budge. A few people would have tried to help but each of them waited for someone else with the courage to make the first move.
Ed himself was the first to react. His fist thudded into Luke’s stomach, then he sprang after the knife. He snatched it up and, in a flash, he was standing over Luke.
Nauseous and totally winded, Luke had doubled up in agony.
Ed looked around briefly, a warped smile on his lips in his moment of triumph. In his madness, he seemed pleased to be performing to an audience again. He had lost the javelin competition in front of the whole school – he had lost face in front of the whole school – and now it was clear that he was making up for the humiliation with the same spectators. Taking a deep breath, he stretched out both arms, preparing to plunge the blade down into the back of Luke’s neck.
But he froze.
For a split second, Ed hesitated. Then he dropped the knife, clamped his hands to his ears and screamed.
Everyone who had watched him in the javelin competition had been surprised by his unexpected performance. This time, they were utterly amazed. They were mystified because they couldn’t hear anything but Ed’s cry of pain.
An intolerably loud noise was bombarding Ed and Ed alone.
Wheezing, Luke took a deep breath. Clutching his stomach, he kicked away the knife and dragged himself upright. Malc came unsteadily out of the crowd just in time to record Luke’s arrest. “Ed Hoffman. I have sufficient evidence to charge you with the murder of Vince Wainwright, Crispin Addley and Ms Kee.”
Malc added, “And the attempted murder of Forensic Investigator Luke Harding.”
It was unlikely that Ed heard anything. He collapsed to the floor.
****
Jade rushed down the steps and threw herself against the door at the back of the hall. Bursting through, she cried, “Luke!”
Still spellbound, everyone looked round. When the people nearest to her saw that she was charging towards the centre, they shuffled aside.
Shouldering a way through the channel, she burst into the middle and made for Luke who was still struggling for breath. “Are you all right?” she almost shouted in her anxiety.
Trying to ignore his tender midriff, he muttered, “I’m fine.” He took another breath and said, “Thanks, Jade. Brilliant idea. I owe you.”
Forgetting everyone else, Jade grabbed his arm in both her hands to help him stand up straight. Glancing at Hoffman, beginning to stir on the floor but still holding his head in his hands, she said, “I cranked the music up to ear-splitting and fed it through the spotlight probe. He would’ve thought his brain was about to burst.”
Managing a grin, Luke complained, “You took your time, though.”
“No pleasing some people,” she retorted. “Under the circumstances, I set it up pretty quickly. But he kept moving. I couldn’t focus on him.”
Georgia had also edged her way to the centre of the action. Seeing Luke in Jade’s arms, she flushed deep red.
There was a disturbance at the front of the Great Hall and the crowd parted again. This time, guards were coming to take Ed Hoffman away.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Why did you do it, Malc?”
“What are you referring to?”
Luke and Malc were going through every item of evidence, making sure that each one was correctly labelled for use as an exhibit in Ed Hoffman’s trial. “If you hadn’t come between me and Hoffman, I wouldn’t be here now. Which bit of your programming told you to do that?”
“My first duty is to the law. I did it to prevent a crime. Also, it was logical to keep you alive to conclude the case.”
“Oh, yeah.” Luke grinned. “If Hoffman had attacked Jade, I’d have been in there like a shot. Nothing to do with the law, everything to do with affection. You didn’t do it because you like me, did you?”
“I do not have the capacity for affection.”
“Are you sure?”
“Confirmed.”
Luke laughed. “I’m pulling your leg.”
“I do not possess a leg.”
“Come on. Admit it. Isn’t there a circuit somewhere that’s pleased with itself?”
“Negative.”
“Hey. I thought you’d agreed to say no instead of negative. You’re not trying to get your own back by annoying me, are you?”
“Negative.”
“Mmm.” Luke looked at Malc suspiciously. “Anyway, I reckon we might make a pretty good team yet.”
****
It was the last night that Luke and Jade would be together and they’d decided to spend it in the open air. Without Malc. They were lying down on the firing range, but keeping well clear of the spot that was marked with a sad and ragged bunch of lilies. That was where Luke’s first case had begun with an arrow and Crispin Addley.
It wasn’t particularly cold but, for comfort, they huddled under a blanket. The sky was beautifully clear, reminding Luke of another night he’d spent outside a long time ago, wrapped in a thick blanket. To the north, where particles from the sun were crashing into the upper atmosphere, a superb swirl of ghostly green shimmered. Earlier in the day, the weather forecasters had predicted that, after tonight, the rain would finally arrive and cloud would obscure the glittering stars.
Luke was quiet and thoughtful for lots of different reasons. Eventually, he sighed and whispered, “Of course, Ed would say I cheated again.”
“You just used a bit of imagination and creativity. Like a real artist,” Jade replied. “And you solved it. Mission accomplished. Time to look forward.”
The night was gorgeous and so was Jade. She’d become a redhead again. But Luke didn’t really want to look forward. Far from welcoming a new day, he wanted time to stall. He wanted to share this night with her for ever. Tomorrow, Jade would leave for Sheffield. A few days afterwards, he’d be sent south.
With her eyes on the heavens, Jade said, “This was a lovely idea, Luke. It feels naughty, silly and romantic all at the same time.”
“I stayed outdoors overnight once before. I was... I don’t know. Too young to remember – less than five. But, like this, it was beautiful and sad as well.”
“Sad?”
“I’m sure it was. I think it was some sort of parting.”
“Like tomorrow,” Jade said, her voice breaking.
“I don’t know. Maybe. But something tells me it wasn’t quite the same.”
Waving mechanical arms, ten moonlit giants watched over them from the edge of the school grounds.
Luke turned away from the sky to look into Jade’s face. “I’m really hoping you’ll get on well in Sheffield, you know. I think it’ll be great. I just wish I could be with you.”
“And I wish I could be with you. You might need me to rescue you again and I won’t be there.”
“You can beam music to me through Malc, can’t you?”
Jade smiled. “Yeah. I can send music, talk to you every day. I can send him pictures and he can project them onto a handy wall.”
“Nice. But you won’t be there. Not really.”
“Pretend, Luke. Pretend.”
Jade squeezed his hand and at once Luke shivered.
He remembered!
All those years ago, under the same sky, Kerryanne had taken his hand. That weak touch under the blanket had been his last contact with his little siste
r. By some strange instinct, his parents had known that the disease would steal their daughter on the following morning, so they were making her last night special.
Luke shuddered. Tomorrow, he would lose something else. Tomorrow, something else would die, something inside him. He grasped Jade’s hand and hung on tightly as if together they could hold back the dawn.
The Next Case
Lost Bullet
Want to find out how Luke and Malc get on in London? In Luke’s second case, they are sent to investigate a doctor’s murder in the slums of London. They find a bullet wound to her head but pouring rain has washed away the bullet itself – and just about every other clue. As more victims die at the hands of the same killer, Luke must uncover the culprit before the shooting spree becomes a massacre.
Read LOST BULLET for more forensic crime-solving with Luke and Malc.