Money Run by Jack Heath

talk to herself without making him suspicious. She cleared her throat softly instead.
    â€œI’ve been watching the news,” Benjamin said. “There are cops outside HBS.”
    Ash’s eyes widened.
    â€œDon’t worry, they’re not here for you. But I think you should hear this.”
    A newscaster’s voice faded in, mixed with the hustle-bustle of street noise. “… five o’clock this afternoon, when witnesses reported seeing a window shatter on the top floor of Hammond Buckland Solutions. When the local police came to investigate, they found evidence that this alley was the scene of a violent murder. I’m here with Detective Damien Wright. Detective, what has led the police to believe that this is anything more than a suicide? ”
    A new voice came through Ash’s headphones. “ Obviously I can’t present many hard facts so early in the investigation. But I can say first that it’s police policy to treat every suicide as a potential homicide, and second that a typical suicide victim would jump from the roof of a building like HBS instead of through a closed window. There are other elements of the crime scene that are not consistent with suicide, and so far there has been no sign of a suicide note .”
    â€œ By crime scene, are you referring to the alleyway that has been blocked off by police? ” the reporter asked. “ How can forensics determine whether someone fell or was pushed? What inconsistencies have you and your colleagues discovered? ”
    â€œ I can’t comment on that ,” Detective Wright said, “ without compromising the investigation, and for the sake of the family of the victim, who have not yet been located .”
    â€œ But you believe that there is a killer and that he or she is still at large? ”
    â€œ I can say that we believe there may have been more witnesses to the event, and we’d like them to come forward so we can close the case swiftly and satisfactorily. As we speak a hotline is being set up— ”
    Benjamin came back on the line, interrupting the detective. “They’re showing footage of the broken window. It’s the window of Buckland’s office.”
    Ash’s mind was racing. Someone had been thrown through Buckland’s window? Who? The report said 5 p.m., and she’d seen Buckland since then, so it wasn’t him. Five was about the time…that Mr. Ford went into the office.
    Ash’s skin erupted into goosebumps. She hadn’t seen anyone else go in after Ford, but if he was here, and Buckland was here, then someone else must have been the victim. And if someone had been thrown out the window, it seemed likely that Ford had done the throwing.
    Ash reached casually into her handbag and pulled out her lipgloss and her mirror. She pressed the stick against her lips, and held up the mirror. Ford was still standing behind her, staring up at the screen with the numbers. He hadn’t moved since she walked in.
    She rubbed her lips together and put the items back in her bag, but as she withdrew her hand, she snagged the bolt cutters. She slipped them into her free hand and used the other to close her handbag.
    So who the hell was Ford? What was his agenda?
    Ping . The lift doors slid open. Ash walked out and turned towards Buckland’s office. She heard Ford follow behind her.
    Peachey wanted to walk faster, overtake the girl and get to Buckland’s office as quickly as possible. He had no idea how long it would be before Buckland returned to it, and while he had no problem waiting, he didn’t want to arrive too late. It was 5.25.
    He gritted his teeth. This was turning out to be one of the most difficult, annoying jobs he’d done in a long time. He’d once had to shoot a woman as she walked through a revolving door because it was the furthest away from her bodyguards she’d been since he took the contract. He’d once had to jump out of a