Read Last Orders (a Gus Dury crime thriller) for Free Online Page A

faded grandeur to the place that a few years ago must have been close to the
condemned list. TV's property porn had a lot to answer for, they'd be reselling
us avocado sinks as trendy must-haves soon enough.
    Craig had got twitchy in the taxi on the way over,
seemed to want to confide something in someone — it didn't turn out to be me. I
was still scoobied about his role in all of this when he introduced me to
Caroline where she sat on the sofa in the midst of her duvet-day. She was a
pretty girl with a wide, trusting face. The red hair from her photograph was
now subdued by a darker blonde, but the piercing blue eyes still shone.
    'Hello, Caroline ...'
    She clocked me and then her eyes darted to Craig, who
held up his hands in histrionic style.
    'Don't even go there ...' he said, shifting hands to
hips. 'He's nothing to do with me.'
    Craig went over to fluff up Caroline's pillows. 'She's
warned me about bringing men back, you know.'
    'Oh ...' The confirmation that he was gay just added to
my confusion.
    'You pair aren't together then?' I said.
    Caroline grabbed back her pillow, pushed Craig's fussing
hands away. 'No, we're just good friends.'
    If that was meant to be funny I wasn't laughing. This
girl was a heavily pregnant runaway that her father had hired me to find. Now I'd
set eyes on her I wanted some answers, but I sensed they weren't going to be
the ones I expected.
    I could see Caroline and Craig had set up home together
in Poor Street and the idea didn't seem to appeal much to either of them. The
impending delivery seemed to be weighing heavily, in more ways than one, on
Caroline who looked to be near the end of her tether with worry.
    'You should know, your father hired me to find you.'
    Silence.
    Craig pressed his back to the wall and slid down to the
floor; Caroline had him in her gaze but he didn't look up as he buried his head
in his hands.
    'Craig ...' she said. Her stare flitted between her
friend and myself. 'What's going on?'
    I took a step forward, sat on my haunches beside her. 'Craig
has nothing to do with why I'm here, I found him at the squat and didn't give
him much choice but to bring me here.'
    'Some mad Weejie cracked a pot over his head!' said
Craig.
    Caroline thinned her eyes and mumbled towards Craig, 'Bloody
Florence Nightingale effect works on you every time.'
    Craig pursed his lips, 'Hey, I don't hear you complaining
about me nursing you!'
    I felt trapped in a surreal sit-com. I rose to my feet
again. 'Look, is somebody going to tell me what the hell is going on here?'
    The earlier silence was joined by a rolling tumbleweed.
    I pitched up the volume. 'Right, I have just about
enough brain-cells left to suss that something's not as it appears here, but I'll
be fucked if I can pin the tail on the donkey, so one of you better start
talking or I'm on the blower to daddy ...'
    Caroline kicked off the duvet; rising from the sofa was
a struggle in her condition but she managed to find her feet before the
red-cheeked anger subsided from her face. 'No! You can't!'
    I repositioned myself a few feet away from her, she had
a crazy look in her eye now and I didn't want her to hurt herself lunging for
me.
    'Caroline, calm yourself ...' I said.
    'We came here to get away from him.' Her eyes filled
with tears, she was sobbing as Craig appeared at her side and placed a
comforting arm around her shoulders.
    'I showed them my palms, tried to reel-in any earlier
threat I'd put out. 'Okay, okay ... don't get upset.'
    Craig picked up a stray vibe from Caroline and went from
placid to belligerent in a blink. 'You've no idea what she's been through with
him ... '
    His words seemed to set Caroline off again, her lower
lip went into spasm and she sobbed. 'I can't see him ... I just can't ...'
    I looked back to the door, touched the sides of my mouth
and wondered if I could have created more panic with a hand-grenade. When my
mobi started to ring the situation went atomic.
    'Who's that?' yelled Craig.
    I took out my