The Guilty

Sean Slater is the pseudonym for Vancouver Police Officer Sean Sommerville. As a police officer, Sommerville works in Canada’s poorest slum, the Downtown East Side – an area rife with poverty, mental illness, drug use, prostitution, and gang warfare. He has investigated everything from frauds and extortions to homicides. Sommerville has written numerous columns for editorials for the city newspaper. His work has been nominated for the Rupert Hughes Prose Award, and he was the grand-prize winner of the Sunday Serial Thriller contest. His debut novel, The Survivor, was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award.

Also by Sean Slater

The Survivor

Snakes & Ladders

First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2013

A CBS company

Copyright © Sean Slater, 2013

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

No reproduction without permission.

® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

The right of Sean Slater to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

1st Floor

222 Gray’s Inn Road

London WC1X 8HB

www.simonandschuster.co.uk

Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-47110-136-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-47110-138-0

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

This book is dedicated to two people who shared my childhood and helped make it such a magical time.

To Billy,

who I gave an airplane ride into a tree.

I am sorry for that (not really).

And to Cindy,

whose Barbie dolls I drowned in the bathtub too many times to count.

I’m sorry for that, too (again, not really).

Contents

Part 1: Fuse

Wednesday: One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Part 2: Spark

Thursday: Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Forty-Six

Forty-Seven

Forty-Eight

Forty-Nine

Fifty

Fifty-One

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Four

Fifty-Five

Fifty-Six

Fifty-Seven

Fifty-Eight

Fifty-Nine

Sixty

Sixty-One

Sixty-Two

Sixty-Three

Sixty-Four

Sixty-Five

Sixty-Six

Sixty-Seven

Sixty-Eight

Sixty-Nine

Seventy

Seventy-One

Seventy-Two

Seventy-Three

Seventy-Four

Seventy-Five

Seventy-Six

Seventy-Seven

Seventy-Eight

Seventy-Nine

Eighty

Eighty-One

Eighty-Two

Eighty-Three

Eighty-Four

Eighty-Five

Eighty-Six

Eighty-Seven

Eighty-Eight

Eighty-Nine

Ninety

Ninety-One

Ninety-Two

Part 3: Detonation

Friday: Ninety-Three

Ninety-Four

Ninety-Five

Ninety-Six

Ninety-Seven

Ninety-Eight

Ninety-Nine

One Hundred

One Hundred and One

One Hundred and Two

One Hundred and Three

One Hundred and Four

One Hundred and Five

One Hundred and Six

One Hundred and Seven

One Hundred and Eight

One Hundred and Nine

One Hundred and Ten

One Hundred and Eleven

One Hundred and Twelve

One Hundred and Thirteen

One Hundred and Fourteen

One Hundred and Fifteen

One Hundred and Sixteen

One Hundred and Seventeen

One Hundred and Eighteen

One Hundred and Nineteen

One Hundred and Twenty

One Hundred and Twenty-One

One Hundred and Twenty-Two

One Hundred and Twenty-Three

One Hundred and Twenty-Four

One Hundred and Twenty-Five

One Hundred and Twenty-Six

One Hundred and Twenty-Seven

Part 4: Shockwave

Saturday: One Hundred and Twenty-Eight

One Hundred and Twenty-Nine

One Hundred and Thirty

One Hundred and Thirty-One

One Hundred and Thirty-Two

One Hundred and Thirty-Three

One Hundred and Thirty-Four

One Hundred and Thirty-Five

One Hundred and Thirty-Six

One Hundred and Thirty-Seven

One Hundred and Thirty-Eight

One Hundred and Thirty-Nine

One Hundred and Forty

One Hundred and Forty-One

One Hundred and Forty-Two

One Hundred and Forty-Three

One Hundred and Forty-Four

One Hundred and Forty-Five

One Hundred and Forty-Six

One Hundred and Forty-Seven

One Hundred and Forty-Eight

One Hundred and Forty-Nine

One Hundred and Fifty

One Hundred and Fifty-One

EPILOGUE: One

Two

Three

Acknowledgement Section

Part 1:

Fuse