Read Jill Jackson - 04 - Watch the World Burn for Free Online Page A

happened.’
    ‘He’s probably just focused right now on making sure she gets through this,’ said Jackson.
    Troy felt Scotty’s focus on him, and wondered whether he should tell him that he’d just voiced some of Troy’s own thoughts. But an urgent bustle of staff at the ICU doors stopped their speech. They watched as, further down the corridor, a matching set of swing doors burst open and a blue-gowned doctor skidded through, bolting into the ICU.
    Troy dropped his eyes to the floor at the same time as the cops. There was no need to comment on what was going on now. They’d all been in wards like this enough times to allow the cases from the past to fill the silence. Troy felt ghosts writhing in the space between them.
    The ICU doors smacked back again, and David Caine stumbled through.
    This face I will remember, Troy couldn’t help but think. Now Caine wasn’t a man you could walk past at the shops. Lips drawn back in a silent scream, his eyes were portals to madness. He stared at something no one else could see. Troy wondered whether he was watching his mother’s soul leave the earth.
    Caine took another step forward and stumbled, dropped to his knees, slumped forward, his forehead pressed to the floor.
    Troy took half a step forwards, towards this portrait of misery.
    David Caine threw his head back, his eyes crazed.
    ‘Mama!’ he screamed.

6
    Friday, 26 November, 3.24pm
    ‘So, what are you going to do now?’ asked Jill. She was sitting on the grass on a slight hill in Centennial Park, facing the lake. With Scotty sitting behind, wrapping her in his huge arms and legs, she felt she had just a little more control than had she been facing him. Being touched, held, was still weird; every now and then her nervous system sent a brief but terrifying message – are you sure this is safe? She felt the question now; her gut clenched, her thighs stiffened and her toes gripped the ground, ready to spring away.
    Scotty rested his chin on her head. ‘It’s okay, J,’ he whispered. ‘Check out the ducklings.’
    Jill focused on the string of golden cotton balls stumbling after their mum at the edge of the lake. Her nervous system backed off – all right, if you think you know what you’re doing.
    She reclined back into Scotty’s chest. They’d headed to the park for lunch after the hospital, but the afternoon was slipping away and they both had places to be.
    ‘So?’ she said. ‘What’s next for you this arvo?’
    ‘I’m gonna catch up with the fireys. They’ve got the fire investigation unit on the job.’
    ‘Where’re you meeting?’
    ‘Incendie. They want to see the scene again.’
    ‘I have to admit, this case is fascinating. I kinda wish I could be there.’
    ‘Well, you can’t come,’ he said. ‘You’ve got a lecture.’
    ‘Is Emma going to meet you there?’ she asked. Emma Gibson, jet-haired fantasy for most of the male cops in Sydney; probably for a good few of the females, too. In love with Scotty.
    Jill felt him sigh into her hair.
    ‘Yeah, she’s already over there,’ he said.
    ‘Great.’
    ‘Well, she is my partner, J.’
    ‘Oh, really? I’d completely forgotten about that,’ said Jill, and she was suddenly propelled backwards. Scotty had scooped his hands under the arch of her legs and rolled with her. On her back, on his chest, she kicked in the air, trying to hurl herself upright, but Scotty held her. Swiftly, he swivelled her round, let her legs go and tugged at her hands until she sat, straddling his chest.
    ‘I’m not a fucking turtle,’ she said.
    He grinned up at her. His blond hair was mussed with grass, his smile made faint crinkles around his eyes. Huh. When did they get there?
    ‘Tactically, not a good move,’ she told him. ‘You know I can go forwards and crush your windpipe with my knee. Or go backwards and wipe out the Scott Hutchinson procreation line with my elbow.’
    ‘Why do you go all schizo-borderline when Emma’s name comes up?’
    ‘Uh,