The handcuffs snapped shut around the wrists of the three suspects. It was only a question which one of them broke down first and talked.
The winner was Sarah Green. “You can’t arrest me,” she snapped, “I didn’t do anything. It was William who shot the guy and William who forced me and Devi to back him up. We didn’t do anything.”
“We never meant for him to die,” Devi Patel added, “It was self-defence.”
Not to be left out, even William Smythe decided to talk at last. “This is a gross miscarriage of justice,” he insisted, “This Rudy whatever his name was robbed my store and threatened me and my staff with his gun. I only shot in self-defence, so why am I suddenly the villain in this piece?”
“He had a gun,” Devi Patel added, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, “It was so horrible.”
“The gun Rudy Billings used to threaten you was only a toy,” Helen said.
“Well, how on Earth was I supposed to know that?” William Smythe demanded, straining against his handcuffs, “It certainly looked real enough.”
“I have no doubt that you felt genuinely threatened by Rudy Billings,” Helen said, “And if you’d called the police at once after shooting him, you’d probably have gotten off with a rap on the knuckles about the unlicensed gun. But instead you decided to cover up your deeds and commit a bit of insurance fraud while you were at it. And that’s why you’re going down.”
She turned to PC Jackson. “Take them away, Constable.”
Once the three prisoners had been booked, accompanied by a lot of whining and crying and complaining, Helen returned to the office to write up her report.
The office was largely deserted, since everybody was either home with their families or out Christmas shopping. The emptiness was actually soothing, Helen thought. No idle chatter to distract her from the job at hand.
On her desk, there were two parcels, one bigger and one smaller, both wrapped in paper that would have been festive, if it hadn’t been covered in little Daleks and Tardises. There was also a note, composed in PC Walker’s primary school perfect handwriting.
Hi boss,
I got the Dancing Groot toy for Olivia and since you can’t have Groot without Rocket Raccoon, I got Rocket, too. Hope she likes them.
I also picked up an extra for you, boss. I know you tend to kill houseplants, but Groot is rather hardy. Merry Christmas, boss.
PS: He likes Michael Jackson.
In spite of herself, Helen smiled. She picked up the smaller of the two packages and tore open the wrapping paper (Daleks? Really?). Inside was a box containing a flower pot, from which sprouted a vaguely plantlike plastic thing with a very unplantlike grinning face. Apparently, it danced if you gave it a push or so the box claimed.
Helen opened the box and put the pot onto her desk.
“Michael Jackson, eh?” she said to the thing, not even feeling silly about talking to a plastic plant, “Well, we’ll have to work on that. Let’s see how you like the Sex Pistols. Or maybe we’ll better start with The Clash.”
The End
About the Author
Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today — after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. When she is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. Visit her on the web at www.corabuhlert.com or follow her on Twitter under @CoraBuhlert.
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Other Books by Cora Buhlert
In English
A Bullet for Father Christmas
Acacia Crescent
Bank Job
Cartoony Justice
Christmas Gifts
Countdown to Death
Courier Duty
Debts to Pay
Demolition
Dream Job
Elevator of Doom
Family Car
Flights of Madness
Flying Bombs
Hanging Day
”He has come back to me…”
He never brings me Flowers…
Heartache
History Lesson
Honeypot
Hostage to Passion
Insomnia
Letters from the Dark Side
Loot
Love in the Times of the Macrobiotic Müsli
Mean Streets and Dead Alleys
Mercy Mission
Murder in the Family
Muse and Crisis
New York City’s Finest
Old Mommark’s Tale
Open Season
Outlaw Love
Overdose
Paris Green
Payback Time
Pissed
Rites of Passage
Seedlings
Seeing Red
Seraglio
The Apocalypse Protocol
The Butcher of Spain
The Cork and the Bottle
The Dark Lily
The Great Fraud
The Hidden Castle
The Hybrids
The Iron Border
The Kiss of the Executioner’s Blade
The Other Side of the Curtain
The Spiked Death
Thirty Years to Life
Under the Knout
Whaler
In German
Auf der anderen Seite
Das Last Minute Weihnachtsgeschenk
Der Kuss des Richtschwertes
Die Liebe in den Zeiten des Frischkornmüslis
Familienkutsche
Gesetzlose Liebe
Honigtopf
Kurierdienst
Reiche Beute
Unter der Knute
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