Still Bleeding (A Jack Nightingale Short Story) by Stephen Leather Page B

what side
of the fence your actions have put you on, and what the
repercussions to that might be.’ He wagged the shotgun at the
priest. ‘I have to say that the Virgin Mary is one lady I wouldn’t
want to get on the wrong side of.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m just saying,
that’s all.’
    Connolly pulled
up his left sleeve, then tapped on his arm to expose a vein. He
opened his mouth to say something but Nightingale shook his head
and pointed the shotgun at his face. Connolly sighed, inserted the
needle into a vein and gently pushed the plunger and slowly
injected the contents of the syringe into his arm. When he’d
finished he removed the needle, replaced the orange cap, and put
the syringe back into its box. Just as he closed the box his
eyelids fluttered and he slumped forward. A few seconds later he
was snoring softly.
    Nightingale
left the house through the front door, hiding the shotgun under his
raincoat. He waited until he was back in his MGB before he phoned
Ricky Hamilton. ‘Where are you?’
    ‘Almost at the
cottage,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long drive.’
    ‘It’s over,’
said Nightingale.
    ‘Are you sure?’
asked Ricky.
    ‘ As sure
as I can be,’ said Nightingale. ‘But you have to keep her away from
South London. For a while, at least.’
    ‘That’s not a
problem,’ said Ricky. ‘She can stay with me for as long as needs
be.’
    ‘No one can see
her, you know that?’ said Nightingale. ‘The Vatican will be told
that her stigmata was a fake. If she attracts attention again they
might send someone else. So no healings, no Press, no nothing.’
    ‘Will they send
someone else?’
    ‘I don’t think
so,’ said Nightingale. ‘I put the frighteners on the guy, and he
knows that if anyone else threatens Tracey I have more than enough
evidence to go to the police.’
    ‘Evidence?’
    ‘I have him on
tape, but I also span him a line about CCTV, DNA and fingerprints.
He’ll run off with his tail between his legs and he won’t be back.
And the deal we’ve done is that he’ll tell his bosses that the girl
is a fake.’
    ‘And they’ll
believe him?’
    ‘Ninety-nine
per cent of stigmata cases are fake, that’s what they expect to
hear,’ said Nightingale. ‘But you have to keep her under the radar
from now on.’
    ‘I hear you,’
said Ricky. ‘I’ll take care of her.’
    ‘I hope so,’
said Nightingale. ‘And Tracey? How is she?’
    ‘Still
bleeding,’ said Ricky.
     
     
    THE END
     
    Jack
Nightingale appears in the full-length novels Nightfall, Midnight,
Nightmare, Nightshade and Lastnight. He has his own website
at www.jacknightingale.com
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