Robert Goddard - Sight Unseen

'It didn't work, did it? In the end, there were too many hatches to batten down. Jeremy's death has made them doubt my reliability. I just don't have enough to lose any more. But I'm untouchable. I've wrapped up their investments so tightly they know they can't unravel them without me. If I went without putting matters in order, most of their money would go with me. They had me where they wanted me. Now they're not so sure. I was a problem solved. Now I'm a problem all over again.

'I'm glad to be paying them back in some small measure for the hell they've forced me to live through these past twenty-three years. I didn't deserve to be treated as they've treated me. Recently, I've discovered that it was even worse than I thought. I never doubted Marilyn was a gold-digger. I was happy to overlook mat for the fun she brought back into my life. But now I realize she was one of them all along, steered into my path after Jane and I split up to give them early warning of any backsliding on my part.

'How can I be sure of that, Umber? Her possession of the Junius letters proves it. That's how. She was there when they grabbed Griffin. They'd have wanted a woman on hand to look after Tamsin. That must have been Marilyn's role. She took the books from Griffin's car and hid them. Why? As ammunition to use against the consortium if the need ever arose. That would be my guess. When Jeremy started pressurizing her, she panicked and tried to get rid of them. But she kept the fly-leaves. That was a big mistake. She should have destroyed them. She really should.

'I found them, you see. I don't think she realizes yet they're not where she hid them, but she soon will. I spoke to Tamsin on the telephone earlier today. Chantelle, I should say. But she'll always be Tamsin to me. She sounded desperate. Well, she must have been, mustn't she, to phone me of all people? We agreed to meet tomorrow morning. She told me the truth about the letters. And I agreed to tell her the truth about her life.

'I've had Sharp on to me as well. He hasn't worked everything out yet, but he's getting close. Enforced idleness in La Moye has given him time to think a lot through. He believes he might be in a position to squeeze the truth out of me, or at least some of it. He might be right. I fixed his release on bail, just to show Smith and his friends they couldn't always have things their own way. I didn't tell Sharp that, of course. Nor did I disabuse him of the notion he seems to have got into his head that you've been nobbled.

'I'm supposed to be meeting Sharp tomorrow as well as Tamsin. It promises to be a busy day. The burial of a son. The resurrection of a daughter. And then… the sky falls in.

'That's what it would mean, Umber. Be in no doubt. If Tamsin returns to life, twenty-three years' worth of lies collapses around her and the truth emerges. Then Smith would need a firebreak between the consortium and me. To create it, he'd have to kill me. And Tamsin too.

'Plus you, of course. I mention that in case you need an incentive to do what I'm going to ask you to do. It truly is a matter of life and death.

'I have the fly-leaves with me. Match them to the books Tamsin has and you've got evidence linking Marilyn with Griffin's murder. If anyone's been buried in this forest for twenty-three years, it's him. I want you to meet Tamsin tomorrow morning and tell her what's happened. I want you to persuade her to turn her back on all this. I want you to take her away. I have a letter for you to deliver to a man called Ives. He has an office in Zurich. Ives has access to funds held on my behalf and can arrange new identities for both of you. With his help, you can disappear. Go wherever you want, as long as it's far from here. It's an escape route I devised for my own use a long time ago. But now I realize escape is simply not possible for me. The consortium would come after me. They'd never stop looking, because they couldn't afford to. In the end, they'd hunt me down.

'Different considerations apply to you and Tamsin. They'll decide, however reluctantly, to let you go, because in the wake of all this they'll need to lie low. They'll have their money, after all. I've seen to that. Smith must already be worried that they've shown their hand once too often. Sharp's continued probing will force him to be careful. And the suspicion that I've passed the missing fly-leaves on to you will prompt Marilyn to urge caution. You'll be in the clear. My guess is that they'll arrange for the case against Sharp to be dropped. Maybe the case against Wisby as well, though that will be more difficult to pull off. They'll want everything dropped.

'This is the deal, Umber. Tamsin says she'll be at Pewsey railway station when the seven twenty-four for London leaves tomorrow morning. Does she mean she'll be on the train when it pulls in or waiting on the platform? I'm not sure. There'll be quite a few commuters at the station. Maybe she wants witnesses to our reunion. Maybe she doesn't trust me. I could hardly blame her if she didn't. I used to catch the first train up to London from Pewsey every weekday, you know. When we were one big happy uncomplicated family, in those halcyon days I can hardly remember now, before the twenty-seventh of July, 1981. She's hardly likely to know that, of course. But I think of it a lot.

'I've booked the pair of you on a noon flight from Heathrow to Zurich. Be sure you're on it. And be sure Tamsin understands why you have to be. If I met her tomorrow, I wouldn't have the strength of mind to go through with this. That's why I mustn't meet her. Because this is her only hope. And she's the only child I have left.

'Take this envelope. The tickets to Zurich are inside. It also contains the letter to Ives and the Junius fly-leaves. You'll find the inscriptions on them very interesting. It's small wonder Griffin wanted to show them to you. I imagine you might have made quite a splash in the historical world with such information twenty-three years ago. Not now, though. It'll have to be your secret.

'This is the only way out, Umber. The only certain way. I have a gun under my seat. When you've gone, I'll put it to my head and pull the trigger. Suicide, the night before my son's funeral, in the forest where Radd's thought to have buried Tamsin's body. I've got a note in my pocket to leave on the dashboard. It'll make the coroner's job very easy, very straightforward. "Took his own life while the balance of his mind", et cetera, et cetera. You follow? Smith and his friends won't have to worry about me any more. And that means they won't have to worry about Tamsin. Or you. Provided you're never heard of again.

'I'm giving you a fresh start. Tamsin too. For her sake, naturally, not yours. But take advantage of it, there's a good fellow. I don't know what she's planning tomorrow. A graveside confrontation with her mother, perhaps? It mustn't happen. Talk her out of it. Talk her onto that plane. She trusts you. She'll go with you when you tell her why she has to.

'What does the future hold? For me, nothing. For you and Tamsin, who knows? She's young enough to be your daughter. And she is a kind of orphan. Take her in out of the storm, Umber. Do that for me. And for yourself. End this. Tomorrow.

'It's time you left. I've said enough. There's no need for you to say anything. Just take the envelope and go. It's the only assent I need from you. Wait along the track until you hear the shot. You won't have to wait long. I can promise you that.'

There was a score or more of London-bound passengers waiting on the up platform at Pewsey railway station next morning as the minutes ticked round till the arrival of the 7.24 to Paddington. It was on time, according to the information screen. Some people were already glancing down the track for a sight of it approaching. But as yet there was nothing to see beyond the illusory convergence of the silvery-grey lines of rail in the misty distance.