Then We Die Read Online Free PDF Page B

handy.’
    Silver ignored the insinuation.
    ‘How much is it worth?’ Carlyle wondered.
    ‘It varies,’ said Dom casually. ‘The middle-class clientele she serves more or less demand to get ripped off. Maybe quarter of a mil, give or take.’
    Carlyle let out a low whistle.
    ‘Want to rip it off?’ Dom grinned. ‘Get me to sell it for you?’
    ‘Yeah, right.’ Carlyle shifted uneasily in his seat. After all these years, Dominic Silver’s willingness to dangle temptation in front of him continued to annoy and make him feel uncomfortable in equal measure.
    Dom gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. ‘Don’t worry. There will be no cameras, no drama. Plenty of opportunity for you to make the collar with a minimum of fuss.’
    ‘No drama!’ Carlyle snorted. ‘Is that possible? With this lot?’
    ‘Rollo knows what he has to do. Anyway, I know that you’ve had quite your fill of excitement for one day.’
    ‘I certainly have,’ Carlyle replied.
    ‘It was all over the news. How is Joe? What’s the latest?’
    ‘No news yet,’ Carlyle mumbled. The truth was that he hadn’t yet spoken to the hospital. Having allowed himself to be diverted to the fashion show, the inspector was too scared to give the doctors a call. No news, he believed, really was good news. Bad news would find him soon enough.
    Dom gestured to the plaster on Carlyle’s forehead. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
    ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘I’m sorry I was so bolshie on the phone earlier. I didn’t realize . . .’
    ‘It doesn’t matter.’ Carlyle looked over at the runway. ‘You were right – we have to move on this now. Apart from anything else, Joe did a lot of work on this case.’
    Dom nodded. ‘He’d want you to get the result.’
    Carlyle made a face. ‘Right now, I don’t imagine he could give a toss. But
I
want to get a result.’ He gestured towards the empty runway. ‘This is the girl’s last show in London this week?’
    ‘Yeah. Then she’s booked on the lunchtime BA flight to Rio tomorrow.’
    I wish I was flying down to fucking Rio
, Carlyle thought sourly. He looked at his watch. ‘Shouldn’t this shebang have started by now?’
    Dominic shrugged. ‘They’re always running late.’
    ‘Great.’ Carlyle looked at his shoes, knowing that he really should call the hospital.
    He really should
be
at the fucking hospital.
    ‘How are the family?’ he enquired.
    Dom turned and gave him a pained look. ‘Not great, to be honest.’
    ‘Oh.’ Carlyle was already wishing that he hadn’t asked that question.
    ‘You know we’ve had some problems with Marina?’
    ‘Er . . . yes.’ Carlyle vaguely remembered Helen telling him, a while back, something about Dom’s youngest child needing to go into hospital for some tests.
    Dom let out a long sigh. ‘The doctors think it’s something called Cockayne Syndrome.’
    ‘Uh-huh?’ Carlyle murmured, clueless.
    ‘Type One,’ Dom continued, sounding as if the words were seared into his brain. ‘The classic form: impairment of vision, of hearing, and the central and peripheral nervous systems progressively degenerate, until death occurs in the first or second decade of life.’
    ‘How old is she now?’
    ‘She was five only a month ago.’
    ‘Fu-uck.’
    ‘I know.’ Silver shook his head. ‘It’s a complete and utter fucker, a genetic disorder so rare that less than twenty other children in Britain have it. Just one in 186,000 people carry the gene. Both partners need to have the gene, and then there’s a one-in-four chance of them passing it on to the kid.’
    You
’
ve beaten the odds big time
,
then
, Carlyle thought, keeping his mouth firmly clamped shut. Silver and his partner Eva Hollander had five kids.
    ‘There’s talk of her taking part in a new drugs trial which could slow down her deterioration, but there’s no cure and, so far, there’s no treatment. All anyone can offer her is palliative care.’
    ‘That’s terrible,’ said Carlyle, wishing