Matt Hilton - Slash and burn

Our journey had taken us round Denton city limits and I had to concentrate on the roads while I picked up the spur that would take us along the northern edge of the city to the road up to Ray Roberts Lake. Imogen was silent, as though she'd explained everything. But there were still too many holes in her story.

'Aitken told me that Huffman paid Devaney off but he refused to back down. He told me that Devaney began to demand more money.'

Imogen stirred beside me. She straightened a little in her seat, but she still had the look of defeat. 'If he did, it was without my knowledge.'

'Tell me the truth, Imogen. Devaney went from being a cop to someone who saw a chance at getting rich. And you saw it as a way of getting revenge on Huffman.'

'OK, Joe, I'll admit to that. We did see it as an opportunity to take what was rightfully mine. I just wanted to make Huffman pay up. But, despite what you think, we were going to hand the money and the record of the deal over to the state police.'

'After you skimmed your cut off the top?'

'No,' Her face had become very hard. 'I was going to go through the proper channels. I'd already lodged a compensation claim against Huffman; I intended pushing that through court when Huffman and Wallace were on trial. I had more chance of winning my case for compensation at a criminal trial than I did via any other route.'

'So you set up the meeting with Huffman?' I angled the Windstar on to a turnpike, picking up the road to the north. 'Why in God's name did you do it all the way out in the woods?'

'We didn't have much time to prepare. Huffman was obviously nervous about meeting somewhere the handover could be observed. So we chose the woods above Great Well waterfall. I knew the area well; I knew all the good hiding places. I went ahead, set myself up so I could film the handover.'

'Except Huffman didn't turn up,' I said. 'Aitken and the Bolans came instead and that's when they murdered Devaney.'

'No, Joe. Huffman was there.'

'But I thought…'

'I don't think that the others knew, but I saw him. He came to watch and he looked like he loved every second of Will's death.'

'You got him on video?'

'Yes.'

'And you still have it?'

She touched the camera in her purse. 'Right here.'

'Have you made copies?'

'Of course I have.'

I nodded. 'Aitken said you didn't witness the murder.'

'Aitken couldn't lie straight in bed,' she said scornfully. 'He knows the truth. They murdered Will in front of the camera even though they knew I was there. They had men hiding in the woods and they expected to catch me. Against all odds I escaped them. I had to hide for a full day and night, but I managed to give them the slip.' She stopped and looked directly at me. 'Why do you think Huffman's so desperate to get his hands on me, Joe?'

'OK,' I acquiesced. 'So why Aitken's story that you then tried to blackmail them?'

'It was all I could think of to make them back off. Even if I took the evidence to the state police, it wouldn't have saved me. Huffman would've still had me murdered by one of his other men. I thought that I could buy my freedom back. I asked for an inordinate sum of money just to throw them, make them concentrate on that instead of on finding me.'

'Instead, you made things a million times more difficult for everyone. You should've confided in Kate. She's a police officer. She would've known what to do.'

'I know that now.' She couldn't suppress her frustration any longer and it came out as a series of deep racking sobs. For a second I genuinely felt sorry for her.

'You made some mistakes, but you're not the only one. From now on we start thinking ahead.'

'We go to the police with the evidence?'

'Not yet. That won't save Kate.'

'What do we do, then?'

'We end this.'

I pulled on to the shoulder of the road. Cars rocketed past, the displacement of air buffeting the Windstar.

'Are you prepared to do what must be done to get Kate back?' I asked. 'Even if it's very dangerous?'

'Anything. I'd give my life for her.'

'Good,' I said. 'Because that's exactly what you might have to do.'

'Sit down.'

'I need to use the bathroom.'

'Again?'

'Can't help it,' Kate said to her jailer. 'You keep giving me water; it has to come out some time.'

'Wait until Rourke gets back.'

'Why? Can't a big tough guy like you handle things on his own?'

Rourke was the man who'd been lewd towards her when Huffman had been in the room. After Huffman had left, Rourke had gone further. He had delighted in ripping off her blouse and bra and it was all that Kate could do to hold on to her jeans. Rourke had enjoyed her humiliation more than any titillation he'd gained from seeing her breasts exposed. She was glad he was out of the room. He'd gone off on an errand, leaving Nixon alone with her.

Nixon, for all he was a hired gun, didn't appear to be as cruel as Rourke, and it was he who had given her back her clothes after Rourke had attacked her. He was a big guy, with short sandy hair. His cheeks bore freckles and he had watery blue eyes that seemed large behind round spectacles. He had a wedding ring on his finger, which struck Kate as unusual among these kinds of men. She wondered if he had children, if he was a man whose conscience could be played upon.

'I can handle things pretty well,' Nixon told her. 'Now sit down.'

'I need to pee. Do you expect me to do it right here?'

'You do that and you'll damn well clean it up.'

'Wouldn't it just be easier if you let me go to the bathroom?'

'Jesus Christ!' Nixon stood up from the chair he'd placed by the door to the hallway. Coming over, he pulled out his gun. 'You go to the bathroom, but you're in and out, OK? Plus, I go with you.'

Kate nodded. Then she walked towards the bathroom with Nixon hovering behind her. During her incarceration at the ranch things had always been the same. Whenever she'd used the bathroom she'd been observed. Usually Rourke had been her chaperone, the sick bastard getting his kicks from watching her go through her very private moments. She'd gone beyond embarrassment after the second time. She'd realised that when she was up and moving it gave her an opportunity to escape. Plus, when last she'd been in the bathroom, she'd noticed something that neither of her jailers had recognised as a possible weapon. Thoughts of fighting back covered her shame at being ogled by a pervert.

'Can you undo my cuffs? I need both hands to do this.' Kate looked down at her buttoned jeans, then across at the toilet. 'Unless you intend doing it for me?'

A flush crept over Nixon's face. 'Lift your hands up.'

Nixon unlocked her cuffs, placing them on a credenza just outside the bathroom door. He nodded at the toilet bowl. 'Go on. Be quick.'

Kate worked her wrists, promoting the flow of blood into her weakened fingers. She reached for the door, about to push it to.

'No you don't.' Nixon caught the door with the side of his foot. 'The door stays open.'

Kate sighed, turning for the toilet and unbuttoning her jeans. 'OK,' she said. 'No problem.'

Nixon grunted something. Then, allowing the door to swing partly shut, he said, 'We're not all animals like Rourke. I only want to know what you're up to; I don't need the full details.'

'I didn't think you were a sicko like him. Thanks, Nixon.'

He exhaled sharply, turning his back. Kate watched him slip his gun back into its holster.

She allowed herself a smile.

Now, she thought, to get out of here.

She'd given Joe all the time she was prepared to. If he was going to rescue her, he'd have done it by now. It was down to her to extricate herself from this predicament. She wasn't some shrinking damsel from a Hollywood movie who would sit around looking pretty until the hero came charging in to save her. She was a NYPD cop, for Christ's sake! Time she started acting like one.