For All Our Sins: A gripping thriller with a killer twist (DCI Claire Winters, Book 1)

by T. M. E. Walsh

  Then he heard Amelia screaming for him.

  Racing back into the room, he saw Amelia by the window. Claire and Stefan were where he’d left them and Manuela appeared to be unconscious again.

  He ran to Amelia when he heard the sirens.

  Below them, pulling into the forecourt, were several Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs), crewed by Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs), highly trained for hostage rescues and major incidents.

  Michael felt his stomach roll.

  He grabbed Amelia forcefully by the arm. ‘Take him to the roof,’ he said, kicking Manuela in the leg. ‘Get up!’

  Manuela groaned in pain as he was pulled to his feet. Amelia took his full weight as he draped his arm across her shoulders.

  ‘He’s too heavy.’

  Michael gripped her chin, forcing her look at him. ‘You stay strong. You have to do this…you can do this.’ Amelia’s eyes misted over as reality hit her.

  They might not be coming out of this together.

  Her eyes stared at Claire. ‘You kill her. Don’t let her walk out of this.’

  Michael leaned forward and kissed her. ‘Remember Rebecca… Make it count.’

  He helped them out of the door and waited until Amelia had climbed the first flight of stairs to the fifth floor before turning back into the room, staring at Claire.

  She took a step back.

  ‘You,’ he said. ‘Come here.’

  ***

  Specialist Firearms Officer Brendan Warren shook his head at Christoph Adler as he spoke.

  ‘The risk’s too great. We’ve got two officers up there with a civilian held hostage. We can’t delay this. We need a plan and fast.’

  Adler was a Tactical Advisor with over fifteen years’ experience and he was not about to be harassed into making any rash decisions under pressure from anyone. He distanced himself from Warren as he spoke.

  ‘We need to think this through. I need plans of the building. I need to see the exits.’

  ‘We don’t have time for that.’

  Both men turned to stare at another AFO who had come up to them, his voice serious.

  His face showed his hesitation, uncertainty gripping his body. ‘We’ve got movement up on the fourth floor.

  CHAPTER 92

  Michael shoved Claire’s body forward, leaning her torso right out of the broken window, its sharp edges digging into her stomach. He gripped the back of her shirt, as he leaned against her back.

  When he saw officers looking up, he raised the gun, aiming it down on Claire’s head.

  ‘I’ll shoot her, you hear me?’ he shouted down. He felt Claire stiffen. ‘Make any attempt to enter the building and I’ll fucking shoot her, I swear to God.’

  ***

  Amelia jumped as she heard gunfire but her eyes never left Manuela’s.

  They were sitting just feet from the door that led to the roof, sprawled on the floor, breathless. Amelia’s strength was waning. She pulled at the dagger and stared at the blade.

  Manuela’s eyes felt so heavy he could barely follow her movements.

  In a few moments, he knew, the pain in this life would be over, and he was preparing himself to start a new kind of torment on the other side. This was what he deserved.

  This was now his fate and now he longed for it.

  ***

  Claire felt like her eardrums were bursting as Michael fired at the officers below. Then, before she could open her eyes to see if anyone had been hit, he pulled her back from the window with such force, she went crashing down onto the floor.

  She pressed the palms of her hands against her ears, her teeth gritted with the pain.

  ‘How many more people have to die, Michael?’ she said, as Stefan crawled towards her.

  ‘You stay where you are!’ Michael said, pointing the gun at him. When Stefan was back against the wall, he reloaded the gun.

  ‘They were warning shots,’ he said, crouching down to Claire’s eye level. ‘Don’t you think I know how these things work, how they usually play out?’

  ‘We can negotiate.’

  ‘I’ve got a senior officer held hostage…as long as they know I’m serious about killing you all, they won’t make any rash decisions. They’ll be too busy trying to work out the best way to take me and Amelia down with the minimum threat to life possible.’

  ‘Let Manuela go,’ she said, pushing herself back. ‘He’s suffered like you wanted. If we can get him to hospital now, there may be a chance to save him.’

  ‘Before his heart gives out?’ Michael laughed and shook his head. ‘No can do. Do you know what he did to poor little Rebecca?’

  ‘The investigation will be reopened. Let us bring her killer to justice the right way.’

  Michael acted like he didn’t hear her. ‘He cut her throat so deep, the blade sliced through every piece of tissue, every muscle, right down to the bone.’

  Claire shook her head. ‘None of this will bring her back.’

  ‘He nearly took off her head!’

  ‘You don’t care about Rebecca Turner!’ she screamed in his face. ‘This has never really been about her, has it? This was just what pushed Amelia over the edge.’

  Michael looked away, gritted his teeth.

  ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ His silence only confirmed it. ‘Christ…’ she said, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Why, Michael? None of this was worth it.’

  He pressed the barrel of the gun into her temple. ‘All my life I’ve been shoved from foster home to foster home, nobody giving a fuck about me,’ he said, saliva misting her face. ‘I had my fair share of physical and mental abuse at the hands of people who should’ve been there to protect me.

  ‘I felt like dying. I nearly succeeded once. One day I swallowed a load of pills and enough alcohol to put me in a fucking coma but I was saved, and I came to live with Mark Jenkins and everything changed.’

  Claire swallowed hard. ‘Amelia…’ she said.

  He nodded. ‘The only constant in my life, the one who kept me grounded, and even then I couldn’t stop what was happening to her. Do you know how old she was when Manuela raped her?’

  Claire slowly closed her eyes, not wanting to hear any more, but he shook her, and pressed the gun harder against her head. ‘It only stopped when she reached fifteen. He only ever liked them really young.’

  ‘You could’ve told someone. You could’ve—’

  ‘Could’ve stopped it?’ he said, cutting her off. ‘You think anyone would’ve believed someone like me, like us, over them? The saints of the fucking community?’

  ‘This won’t help you or Amelia. If she’s who you really care about, then you need to end this now.’

  ‘Spare me the mind-fucking games. It won’t work on me. You forget, I’ve trained and prepared for this day since I was sixteen…and I’ve got plenty of time to decide how and when you both die too,’ he said, glancing at Stefan. ‘So,’ he said, ‘any last requests?’

  Claire stared back into his eyes, seeing their true colour for the first time since he’d stepped into her life.

  The ice-blue irises rivalled her own in intensity like none she’d ever seen before.

  ‘Are you ready to die?’ he pressed.

  ‘Don’t…’

  ‘Come on, Claire, I thought you liked the bad-boy type,’ he mocked.

  She glanced towards Stefan, then back to Michael. He was barely recognisable to her now. ‘I don’t believe I was nothing to you,’ she said.

  He paused. ‘You were a distraction, a means to an end.’

  ‘That’s bullshit, and you know it.’

  He grinned then. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘OK, I’ll admit, there was part of me that wanted to confess everything… What is it they say about lying? Keep it as close to the truth as possible? I did mean a lot of what I said. What we had, whatever it was, did mean something, as fucked up as it was, but…’ He trailed off. ‘We never did have a future together. Even if I wanted it.’

  Claire leaned her face in clos
er to his. ‘I don’t believe you want to hurt me.’

  Michael paused, mulling over her words, studying her face, remembering back to the day he first met her. Then his resolve hardened.

  ‘What I feel towards you is nothing compared to Amelia. When she hurts, I hurt.’

  ‘Michael…please…’

  ‘You played with fire and now you’ve been burnt.’ He leaned in closer. ‘Nothing you can say or do will stop us.’

  ‘Even if means life behind bars?’

  He regarded her for a few seconds.

  ‘You know what they do to policemen in jail.’ Her face pulled into a look of defiance. ‘You wouldn’t last five minutes.’

  His eyes grew angry and narrowed into thin slits.

  Without warning, Claire brought her forehead forward with all her strength and struck him hard across the bridge of his nose.

  There was a sickening crack as blood exploded across his face. He bellowed in pain, instinctively grabbing his nose. He dropped the gun, which skidded across the floor.

  Stefan seized his chance, and ignoring the pain in his body, he reached for the gun.

  ***

  It’d taken most of her strength to haul Manuela those last few feet, but she was now closer than ever to her goal.

  Amelia pushed her way through the metal door and dumped Manuela in the middle of the roof.

  Her arms ached and her breath caught in her throat. She doubled over, hands resting against her thighs.

  After taking several deep breaths, she stumbled towards the edge of the building and dared a look over the top. The wind nearly caught her off balance.

  Realising it wouldn’t take much to take her off the top, she cautiously stepped back a few paces.

  ***

  Michael’s fist made contact with Claire’s jaw, sending her sprawling across the floor just as Stefan grabbed the gun.

  But Michael was too quick.

  He kicked the gun from Stefan’s hand and stamped on his wounded shoulder, sending Stefan’s nerves into overdrive as pain shot through his body.

  ‘That was stupid,’ Michael said, looking back at Claire, gesturing towards Stefan. ‘And you’d choose this as a partner over me?’

  He laughed, eyes turning back to Stefan, just as pain shot through the back of his knee.

  Stefan’s boot struck him with such force that Michael’s legs buckled instantly. Stefan launched himself forward, ignoring the crippling pain in his shoulder, and pinned Michael down.

  Claire pushed herself to her feet.

  She stared at Stefan.

  ‘Go!’ he said. ‘Stop Amelia!’

  CHAPTER 93

  Amelia hauled Manuela up on his feet when she heard the footfalls ascending the stairwell to the roof. She raised the dagger to his throat as the door was kicked open.

  Her eyes instantly met Claire’s.

  She backed away, closer to the edge of the roof. Manuela was slumped to one side, her body struggling to hold his weight.

  Claire stepped forward slowly. ‘It’s over, Amelia. You need to stop this. Let me get Manuela to a hospital.’

  ‘It’s not over until I spill every last drop of his blood right here across the concrete.’

  ‘You know I can’t and won’t let you do that, Amelia. The place is surrounded…and we have Michael.’

  ‘My Stevie?’

  Her hand moved away from Manuela’s throat. Her eyes misted with tears as the gravity of Claire’s words hit home.

  After a few seconds, her face changed into a look of defiance. She tightened her grip around Manuela’s body. ‘I don’t believe you, bitch. Stevie would never let himself be taken. Not alive. We made a pact.’

  Claire saw a window of opportunity and took it. She edged closer. ‘He didn’t put up much of a fight when DI Fletcher handcuffed him.’

  Amelia glared at her.

  ‘Or maybe he was just in too much pain to care once I’d shattered his nose.’

  ‘Stay back!’

  Claire froze before slowly circling her way out onto the rooftop.

  The sound of gunfire startled them both.

  Claire tried to remain focused on Amelia. She prayed the gunshots were from the AFOs and all this would soon be over.

  Manuela suddenly jerked, crying out in despair, before slipping into unconsciousness again. Amelia began to waver under his weight and Claire knew she was growing tired.

  Several more shots rang out and this time Claire heard a scream before there fell an eerie silence and the wind seemed to disappear at the same moment.

  She risked a glance towards the door to the roof.

  ‘Looks like things aren’t going to your plan, Chief Inspector.’ The expression on Claire’s face grew tense. ‘You think someone like you can make a difference? You’ll not stop us… Stevie’s under my control, not yours.’

  Claire heard the door behind her swing open, the hinges whining under the strain.

  Amelia smiled as Michael emerged, covered in both his own drying blood and spatter marks, fresh red in colour. His eyes fixed upon Claire and he raised a gun.

  The one he’d just used to beat Stefan with.

  Claire’s world seemed to be crashing down around her.

  ‘Shoot her!’

  Amelia’s words were barely audible above a roar of wind, which whipped around them with force.

  Michael swallowed hard, trying to keep his hand steady. He aimed the gun at the point between Claire’s eyes.

  But he hesitated.

  And Claire saw it in his eyes.

  ‘You know we can stop this here. I can help you if you come quietly,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

  ‘Just fucking shoot her. What the hell are you waiting for?’

  Michael glanced at Amelia and then back to Claire, who shook her head.

  ‘You’re better than this. Let me help you.’

  ‘Don’t listen to her, Stevie. She doesn’t know us, how Rebecca suffered, or anything about what we have.’

  Claire saw her angle and seized her chance. ‘You know I never had you as being the follower, Diego. Even with me, you always rebelled.’

  ‘Don’t listen to her, Stevie, she’s fucking with your head!’

  Claire edged closer towards him. ‘She really does call all the shots, doesn’t she?’

  He remained silent, his jaw fixed and set like stone.

  ‘Put the gun down now and we can talk, before armed officers enter this building. They’ll shoot to kill if mine or Manuela’s life is at immediate risk. You know that… This is your last chance.’

  ‘No, Claire,’ Michael said, ‘it’s yours. Nobody will be shooting anyone if you’re already dead.’ He moved closer to her. ‘There’s no way Manuela is walking away from this and I will kill you if you stand in my way.’

  Frantically searching the space around her, for something, anything, to arm herself with, Claire felt desperation taking hold, when she saw there was nothing.

  Michael looked at Manuela on the floor, curled up into the foetal position.

  Pathetic…

  ‘Amelia…kill him. Do it slowly.’

  She smiled and looked at Claire. ‘With pleasure.’

  She lifted the dagger again.

  ‘Amelia, don’t. This won’t bring Rebecca back,’ Claire said, the strain unmistakeable in her voice.

  Amelia raised the dagger and brought it down into Manuela’s chest with force. Claire screamed out and charged towards them.

  Michael fired the gun and the bullet whizzed past her head, and she threw herself towards the floor, rolling as she hit the concrete.

  She landed in front of Manuela. His eyes were now wide, silently pleading with her. The dagger had missed his heart, but he didn’t have much time left. If he fell unconscious again, it would be a darkness he’d never recover from.

  Claire looked up, her eyes locking with Amelia’s as she launched herself forward, the dagger raised.

  The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow m
otion for Claire, as she instinctively threw her body into Amelia’s, twisted her arm around and buried the dagger into her thigh, driving the blade through to the hilt. She felt a mist of blood spray her face.

  Claire heard Michael scream out Amelia’s name as he ran towards her, his arms outstretched.

  Amelia staggered back, pulling the dagger out in one fluid motion and let the blade drop through her fingers.

  She stumbled back towards the edge of the roof.

  Michael reached for her, pulling her against him.

  Amelia turned her face from his, eyes gazing over the edge. She felt the sadness grip her, as it had done many times before, only this time was different. This time she only saw one end.

  And she didn’t fear it.

  She could take Manuela’s life. She didn’t care what happened to her afterwards so long as her Stevie was with her.

  Life was nothing if she didn’t have him.

  She looked back into his eyes.

  ‘Stay with me.’

  Her words were choked as they escaped her lips. Michael’s eyes narrowed as he followed her gaze over his shoulder towards Claire. ‘I won’t lose you to her… As long as you’re here, she’s won.’

  Claire backed away from them, her bones aching under the strain as she tried to push herself up from the floor.

  Michael looked back at Amelia when he felt her fingers bite into the skin at his waist. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said.

  ‘I told you I wanted you forever…’ She blinked hard, the pain in her thigh unbearable. She almost dropped to the floor, but his arms held her tighter.

  ‘I am yours forever,’ he said.

  Amelia shook her head. ‘There’s only ever been one way out of this.’

  ‘We can negotiate our way out, buy ourselves some time to make a break for it,’ he said. He gripped her arms tighter. ‘We’re not done yet.’ He looked back towards Claire. ‘She’s our ticket out of here.’

  Claire saw the gun still clasped in his hand. If she tried to run, she knew she wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Amelia pulled Michael closer to her, her arms gripping him by the waist. Her chin rested against his shoulder, her eyes closed. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

  Then her eyes opened and she looked straight at Claire.