Tell the Truth (29 page)

TWENTY-NINE

S
aturday morning was clear and sunny. Callum brought Ella tea and toast in bed, and sat beside her to check her shoulder again.

‘It's hard to drink when you're doing that,' she said as he rotated her arm in the air. ‘Ouch.'

He pressed his fingers into the joint. ‘Does that hurt?'

‘A little.'

He moved to the old bullet and surgical scar. ‘How about that?'

‘Not so hard.'

He moved down her back, prodding the vertebrae and the muscles either side. ‘Anywhere here?'

‘No. Yes. Ow. There.'

‘What about here?'

‘No. All good.'

‘Aaand here?'

‘Thankfully that breast is fine,' she said. ‘That one too.'

‘Just making sure.' He sat back with a smile. ‘You should get an X-ray though.'

‘Monday,' she said.

‘No, this morning. We'll go past RPA on the way to the wedding.'

She looked at the clock. ‘You're joking.'

‘Go as you are,' he said, and pulled back the covers. ‘You look absolutely fine.'

*

There was no parking at RPA so Callum drove into the ambulance bay.

‘This is silly. We'll be late,' Ella said. ‘And you can't park here.'

‘I'll run in with you and arrange it, then come back and move the car.'

She felt absurd hurrying through Emergency in her fancy blue dress, Callum smart in his suit and matching blue tie.

‘Here we go,' he said. She followed him into radiology, where a smiling young woman greeted them. ‘Penny, hi,' Callum said. ‘This is my girlfriend, Ella. Previous shoulder injury from gunshot five years ago –'

‘Six,' Ella put in.

‘Six,' Callum said. ‘Two days ago the same shoulder got wrenched in a fight with a bad guy. Some pain, decreased movement, tenderness in the area and into the thoracic spine. Should see him though: fractured T4, pelvis, looking at a long jail term once he's out of hospital. Reckon you could fit her in, please?'

‘Not a problem,' Penny said. ‘I've got a leg in the room, then I'll put her in after him.'

‘Thanks so much.' Callum turned to Ella. ‘If I can't find a park I'll just do laps, so text and I'll pick you up, okay?'

He dashed off. Penny pointed Ella to a chair and gave her a form to fill in. She felt ridiculous in her heels. It was cold in the radiology department and people kept looking in at her as they went by. She wrote out her details and looked at her watch.

‘All done?' Penny took the form off her. ‘You've ticked “not pregnant”. You're sure?'

Ella let out a laugh.

‘I'm serious,' Penny said. ‘When was your last period?'

‘Six weeks?' Ella said. ‘Seven? Around there. But I've never been regular.'

Penny rummaged in a drawer, then handed her a pregnancy test kit. ‘Bathroom's to the right.'

‘Is this really necessary? It was nine weeks once, so six is nothing. And we're practically late for a wedding already.'

‘The quicker you go,' Penny said. ‘To the right. Pee on that stick.'

*

Twenty minutes later, she walked outside as Callum pulled up. ‘Timing,' he said, as she got into the car. ‘What did Penny say? Did she give you the films?'

Penny had practised with her until she could say two things. ‘No fractures, and the films will be on your desk.'

‘Great.' He checked for traffic and eased out. ‘How's the pain? You're sure you don't want a sling?'

‘I'm good.'

She stared out the window. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a chasm, and she knew she had to commit to the leap, but she was terrified of falling and never stopping. At the same time, a bright silver bubble rose in her chest.

She talked to herself the whole way to the park.
See that corner? You have to tell him before then.
The corner went past.
Those traffic lights. The following traffic lights. That roundabout. Before the next suburb. Before the
next
suburb.

‘You're sure you're okay?' Callum said.

She nodded.

‘I know you didn't want to stop, but look, we're right on time.'

The street was lined with cars, the top of the marquee visible among the trees in the park.

‘I'll drop you, then find a space and walk back,' Callum said.

‘No. I'll walk with you.'

‘The closest spot could be streets away.'

‘Doesn't matter.'

They found a place to park, then started walking back. Callum took her hand. ‘You're all clammy. You're sure it's not hurting?'

‘No. I mean, yes. I'm sure.'

He looked into her face. ‘You're pale too. What's wrong?'

How to say it? She felt tears rise.

‘Ella.' He hugged her, kissed her. ‘What's the matter?'

‘The test,' she managed to croak.

‘The X-ray?'

‘The test they do before the X-ray.'

He stopped. ‘The pregnancy test?'

She couldn't read his face through her tears. She felt full of both hope and fear.

‘You're pregnant?' He held her arms, looked into her face, his grin huge and growing. ‘Really? Truly?'

‘Is this . . . I mean, I didn't know anything about it, I didn't intend for it or anything.' She wiped her eyes. ‘And then there's the family, your mother, and your father, your mother's going to go nuts, and there's work and everything. It's so . . . It'll be so . . .'

‘I can go part-time,' he said. ‘I can work around your shifts. It'll be easy. It'll be great.'

She looked into his shining eyes. ‘Is this what we want?'

‘I do,' he said. ‘I want you, and I want this.'

The silver bubble in her chest enveloped her heart.

‘What do you want?' he said.

‘The same,' she said. ‘You and this.' They'd make it work, no matter what his mother said, no matter how they had to juggle work. And imagining her parents' delight made her cry all over again.

It was all going to work.

‘Welcome!' said a man's voice.

Ella blinked and saw a tuxedo-clad Frank Shakespeare, Murray's father and retired Assistant Commissioner. He'd been her nemesis ever since he turned up in civvies at her crime scene and she'd told him to get the fuck out; and the relationship hadn't improved when on another occasion she'd mistaken him for a maintenance man and asked him to hurry up and fix the boiler.

Today, his face was flushed with pleasure, and he grasped her hand, then Callum's. ‘Welcome! Come along in. They're about to begin.' He leaned close, as if to share a secret. ‘It's a great day.'

Ella pulled Callum closer, and as she felt his smile against her cheek and his hand cup her belly, she blinked away her tears and said, ‘A very great day indeed.'

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

D
ear reader,

This is the final book in the Ella Marconi series – for now, at least. The last eight years of writing about Ella and her police and paramedic friends and foes have been simultaneously marvellous and exhausting, and while I will miss her, I am relieved to be taking a break.

But, reader, what I will miss much more is the connection that the books and characters have built between us. Thank you for the support you've shown me, whether by reading the books, getting in touch to tell me how much you liked them, or talking about Ella in such a way that I know she's as alive in your head as she is in mine. It was you I thought about when I wrote, trying to work out what you imagined might come next and how I could turn that on its head to keep you reading, and the messages you sent about having to stay up all night to find out what happened made my day, every single time. So, thank you again.

Writing and publishing involves many people, and so thanks go to my agent Selwa Anthony, publisher Cate Paterson, editors Libby Turner and Nicola O'Shea, and publicist Charlotte Ree, as well as to everyone else in the Pan Macmillan family, past and present, who I've had the honour and pleasure of working with over the course of the series. I could not have wished for a better publishing experience, and I know how fortunate I am to be able to say that.

Thanks to my writer friends dotted all over the country. We've celebrated and commiserated over the years and I look forward to continuing that. Special thanks go to Graeme Hague who helped me get going, to my friends in the MPhil group (12 years since we started!), and particularly to dear Karen Brooks who is always there on the end of the phone, no matter what or when.

Thanks for answers (and stories) to Adam Asplin, Karen Davis, Alan Smith, and Mel Johnson.

Thanks to Rachel Nisbet, Sue Hickson, and Elizabeth Libke for their charitable donations and allowing me use of their names (or in Sue's case a combination of her grandchildrens' names, producing the inimitable Sid Lawson).

And thanks, lastly, to my family. You guys are the best, and you, Benette, are the bestest.

Cheers,

Katherine

About Katherine Howell

Katherine Howell is a former paramedic. Her award-winning and critically acclaimed Detective Ella Marconi series is published in multiple countries and languages. She lives in Queensland with her partner.

www.katherinehowell.com

Also by Katherine Howell

Frantic

The Darkest Hour

Cold Justice

Violent Exposure

Silent Fear

Web of Deceit

Deserving Death

More bestselling fiction from Katherine Howell

Frantic

In one terrible moment, paramedic Sophie Phillips' life is ripped apart – her police officer husband, Chris, is shot on their doorstep and her ten-month-old son, Lachlan, is abducted from his bed.

Suspicion surrounds Chris as he is tainted with police corruption, but Sophie believes the attack is much more personal, a consequence of her own actions.

While Chris is in hospital and the police, led by Detective Ella Marconi, mobilise to find their colleague's child, Sophie's desperation compels her to search for Lachlan herself. She enlists her husband's partner, Angus Anderson, in the hunt for her son, but will the history they share and her raw maternal instinct lead to an even greater tragedy?

The Darkest Hour

Paramedic Lauren Yates stumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley – the killer still lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him – he's Thomas Werner, her sister's ex and father to Lauren's niece . . . and not a man to mess with.

But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back.

Ella knows Lauren is the perfect witness, but when Lauren tries to change her statement, Ella realises that Lauren is hiding something. The harder she digs into the paramedic's past, the more Lauren resists, and the worse the threat from Werner becomes.

Will Ella's investigation put her career on the line? Can Lauren keep her family safe? Or will they all – Ella included – pay the ultimate price?

Cold Justice

The past haunts the present . . .

Nineteen years ago teenager Georgie Daniels stumbled across the body of her classmate, Tim Pieters, hidden amongst bushes. His family was devastated and the killer never found.

Now political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened and Detective Ella Marconi assigned to the case. She tracks down Georgie who is now a paramedic. She seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more? And is it mere coincidence that her ambulance partner, Freya, also went to the same high school?

Meanwhile, Tim's mother suddenly turns her back on the investigation yet his cousin, the MP whose influence reopened the case, can't seem to do enough to help.

The more Ella digs into the past, the more the buried secrets and lies are brought to light. Can she track down the killer before more people are hurt?

Violent Exposure

When Suzanne Crawford is found stabbed to death and her husband Connor is discovered to be missing, it looks like just another tragic case of domestic violence to Detective Ella Marconi. But as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. Why is there no record of Connor Crawford beyond a few years ago? Why has a teenager who worked for the pair gone missing too? Is trainee paramedic Aidan Simpson telling the truth about his involvement? And above all, what was the secret Suzanne knew Connor was keeping at all costs – even from her?

As Ella begins to build a picture of the Crawfords' fractured lives, things around her are deteriorating. Her relationship with a fellow officer is hanging by a thread and her parents are keeping secrets of their own. But Ella only has time for the job she loves, and she knows she has to see her way through the tangled web of deceit and lies to get at the truth – before it's too late.

Silent Fear

On a searing summer's day paramedic Holly Garland rushes to an emergency to find a man collapsed with a bullet wound in the back of his head and her long-estranged brother Seth watching it all unfold.

Seth claims to be the dying man's best friend, but Holly knows better than to believe anything he says and fears that his reappearance will reveal the bleak secrets of her past – secrets which if exposed could cause her to lose everything.

Detective Ella Marconi suspects Seth too, but she's also sure the dead man's wife is lying, and the deceased's boss seems just too helpful. Then a shocking double homicide makes Ella realise that her investigations are getting closer to the killer, increasing the risk of an even higher body count.