by Anne Coates
“Just happened to be passing. Stroke of luck, don’t you think?”
The church’s exterior lights had been switched on and he turned and smiled at Hannah. Whoever he really was she didn’t care. He… Hannah realised he was bleeding. He’d taken a bullet meant for her.
And then he was beside her. Tom. Tom who was never there when she needed him had turned up with only seconds to spare. He looked at Sherlock and called out for a paramedic to attend him. The other Cardboard City dwellers melted into the evening. Then she was in his arms. Sobbing. Slowly he guided her down the steps and into a car.
“So how did you know there was to be an attempt on my life?”
They were sitting side by side on the sofa. Tom leaned forward and poured some more wine in their glasses. “Some of this comes under the official secrets act. What I can tell you is that people we are investigating in the US are connected to your investigation into the child trafficking. Most of the perpetrators have been rounded up in the UK. But we got wind that someone in the US had been assigned to… to…” Tom took a large gulp of wine. “I was supposed to intercept him. But he gave me the slip at the airport.”
Hannah sat silently absorbing these facts.
“I rang here and Janet told me you were meeting Simon Ryan at the vicarage. I went there first. I think the hitman had been waiting for you there then saw you go to the church. The guy with the camera was a distraction.”
“But what about Sherlock? How did he know? I don’t believe he had just been passing.”
“He wasn’t. He’s an undercover officer. Working on something altogether different. Anyway his cover is probably blown now.”
“Well he took that bullet for me. He must have been shot just as he moved in front of me and he never flinched. He must have the courage of a … of a … I can’t think of a comparison.”
“What a journo like you, lost for words?” Tom took her hand. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been here for you, Hannah. Claudia did warn me but…”
“Claudia warned you! Oh for God’s sake.”
Tom looked at his watch. “My car will be here in five minutes.”
“You’re leaving?” Hannah couldn’t believe her ears.
“I have to. But I should be back in six weeks or so.”
“Don’t rush on my account.” Hannah stood up. She’d heard the car pull up outside.
They both walked into the hall. “Goodbye Tom. Take care.”
His eyes bored into hers. The inches between them were the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’ll be back.” He kissed her fleetingly on the lips and was gone.
Hannah leaned back against the locked door then slid to the floor and sobbed until her tears subsided and she blew her nose loudly.
Wearily she climbed the stairs and slipped silently into Elizabeth’s room. Her precious daughter didn’t stir. But tomorrow – tomorrow they’d catch up on all the games and fun she’d missed out on recently. At least she had a tomorrow to look forward to.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost I must thank Matthew Smith of Urbane Publications. He agreed to publishing Death’s Silent Judgement sight-unseen as a sequel to Dancers in the Wind which is an amazing compliment for an author. I finished writing the sequel just before publication of the first Hannah Weybridge thriller.
I owe a debt of immense gratitude to Sue O’Neill and Elisabeth Stevenson who read the manuscript. Sue, who had been one of my readers for Dancers in the Wind, checked for any inconsistencies with the first book and Elizabeth judged whether Death’s Silent Judgement could be read as a stand-alone. They have both been fabulously supportive and encouraging during my darker moments.
In researching this book I am indebted to Ian Patrick who served in the Metropolitan Police in the 90s, Dr Geoff Lockwood, a consultant anaesthetist at the Hammersmith Hospital, who helped with medical questions and Revd Ben Rhodes for biblical references. Any inaccuracies are totally of my own making.
Thanks to friends who must have been bored rigid with my talking about writing Hannah’s second story and to my daughter Olivia who, having read the first chapter, highlighted a problem. The remedy for this provided me with another sub plot…
And huge thanks to everyone who reads and buys books and to the amazing book bloggers and twitter friends who herald new books and introduce authors to a wider audience.
For most of her working life in publishing, Anne has had a foot in both camps as a writer and an editor, moving from book publishing to magazines and then freelancing in both.
Having edited both fiction and narrative non-fiction, Anne has also had short stories published in a variety of magazines including Bella and Candis and is the author of seven non-fiction books.
Born in Clapham, Anne returned to London after graduating and has remained there ever since. In an attempt to climb out of her comfort zone, Anne has twice “trod the boards” – as Prince Bourgrelas in Ubu Roi when a student and more recently as a nun in a local murder mystery production. She also sings periodically in a local church choir and is relieved when she begins and finishes at the same time – though not necessarily on the same note – as everyone else. Needless to say, Anne will not be giving up her day job as an editor and writer.
Telling stories is Anne’s first love and nearly all her short fiction as well as Dancers in The Wind and Death’s Silent Judgement began with a real event followed by a “what if …” That is also the case with the two prize-winning 99Fiction.net stories: Codewords and Eternal Love.
Anne is currently working on the sequel to Death’s Silent Judgement.
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