Neil White - Beyond Evil

Once the whisky had filtered down to where it would do most good, Charlie got a good look at Sheldon, and was surprised by his appearance. His clothes hung from him and there was a film of sweat on his forehead.

‘Can we talk openly?’ Charlie said to Sheldon, glancing towards Ted Kenyon, unsure about what he could discuss in front of him. When Ted didn’t leave the room, and Sheldon let him stay, Charlie guessed that there was no problem.

‘You sounded scared on the phone,’ Sheldon said.

‘My business partner is dead.’

‘Not your friend?’ Sheldon said.

Charlie’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You worked together. Even if you didn’t socialise, she must have been your friend too.’

‘Why the hell does that matter?’ Charlie said, getting impatient.

Sheldon shrugged. ‘I just thought it might matter to her, to be missed.’

‘Whatever I call her, she is dead, and we both know that whoever killed her also murdered Billy Privett.’ Charlie looked up at Ted. ‘I’m sorry for being drunk last night, but I meant what I said, that I’ve never heard anything from Amelia that Billy admitted killing Alice.’

‘So what information have you got?’ Ted said, not giving away his emotions.

Charlie pulled out the John Abbott file from under his jacket.

‘Two days before Billy died, he made a video. I think whoever killed Billy did so because of the video, because the person who made the video with him, Amelia, has been killed too. They came into my office and took all the copies of the disc.’

‘How do you know this?’ Sheldon said.

‘Because Amelia sent copies of the footage to the police, to the press, and also to Mr Kenyon here.’ Charlie turned to him. ‘Did you get a copy?’

Ted shook his head.

‘No, I didn’t think so. There had been a burglary the night before, and so my secretary was late sorting out all the post. I think they stole the lot of them. They got lucky.’

‘So what was on it?’ Sheldon said.

‘My guess is it’s Billy telling his story. The instructions to Amelia were to post it out if he died.’

‘So what’s that?’ Sheldon said, and pointed at the file in Charlie’s hand.

‘Part of the puzzle, but you can provide this part.’ Charlie held up the file. ‘Amelia made three calls to the same number after that video was made, and she billed this file for the calls. There were another three calls made on this file after Billy had been found.’

‘So that makes a connection, does it?’ Sheldon said.

‘It does in my mind, because this file finished four months ago. Why would Amelia start calling someone in connection with this file after Billy has made a video?’

Sheldon held out his hand for the file.

‘I’ve not finished,’ Charlie said. He reached in and pulled out the bill. ‘This file is a criminal file. So why has she sent the bill to the police?’ He passed over the piece of paper and let him take in its contents. ‘Why were the police settling bills for petty criminals? I’ve never heard of that before.’

Sheldon eased out a crick in his neck as he took in the bill, and Charlie could tell that he didn’t know the answer.

‘What is the file about?’ Ted said.

‘Some wannabe anarchist,’ Charlie said. ‘His mother died and left him money and a house, and so he got a conscience about all the poor people in the world and painted slogans on buildings in the town centre. Political rants. So why were the police so interested in him that they would settle his legal bills for him?’

Sheldon looked at Charlie, and then at the piece of paper again. ‘I don’t know,’ he said.

‘Why don’t you go find out?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘There’s the file,’ Charlie said. ‘Take it. And find out who are the two men in suits who visited Amelia at the office and who broke into my apartment.’

Sheldon reached out for the file and then turned it over in his hand, as if he could find out the answers without opening it.

‘What about you?’ Sheldon said eventually.

‘I’ll wait for you to come back,’ Charlie said. When Sheldon glanced at Ted, as if to seek his approval, Charlie added, ‘I’ve had a rough day. I just need to have a rest.’

Ted nodded at Sheldon, who returned a thank you and headed for the door.

As the sound of Sheldon’s engine grew faint along the street, Ted said, ‘What’s really going on?’

Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out the video camera, the connection leads hanging from it.

‘I don’t know how much time I’ve got, because I’m a target now, and I’m worried about a young woman who came to the firm this week. I don’t know if she is on the killer’s side, but I know that I wanted to help you last night, and I still do.’ He held up the camera. ‘This is the tape.’

Ted looked at the camera, and then at Charlie, his eyes wide. ‘What about confidentiality?’ Ted said. ‘It was a big thing for you last night, when you were in the pub.’

‘I don’t care anymore,’ Charlie said. ‘Amelia is dead. All it would cost me is my career, and right now, that doesn’t bother me.’

Ted didn’t hesitate. He pulled out the television and plugged in the wires from the camera, taking a few moments to work out how to get the camera onto the right setting. As the screen flickered into life, Ted sat next to Charlie, sitting forward, his fists clenched.

Charlie had only watched a few seconds of the footage when he had found the camera. It seemed more real now that it was on the big screen. Billy Privett was sitting on a high-backed chair, fidgeting, looking nervous. He glanced towards someone off-camera, Charlie presumed it was Amelia, and then Billy cleared his throat.

‘My name is Billy Privett, and I’m going to tell you what happened on the night Alice Kenyon died.’

As those words came out of the television Ted’s hand went to his eye. Charlie caught the shimmer of a tear, glistening in the light from the screen.

Chapter Forty-Three

John heard the van before he saw it. He was still standing in the doorway, looking down the field and towards the road, the shotgun cradled in his arm. The night had slipped into darkness and so all he could see were the outlines of the hill opposite against the light from the moon.

He looked back into the living room, where Dawn was tied up below the window, a strip of cloth binding her hands, Gemma in front of her, glaring at her. There was blood from a cut on her lip. Gemma had lost patience with Dawn once already.

Gemma caught him looking and so she gave him an impish wave. It was all a game to her. He waved back without thinking. It felt like events were spinning out of his control, and he didn’t know how to deal with things anymore. What they were doing was wrong, he knew that, but every time he got a smile from Gemma, he felt that skip of new love.

He stepped outside to wait for Henry’s arrival, to warn them about the traps. As John stood in the glare of the headlights, the van rolled and bounced along the farm track, the engine straining, until it came to a stop in a cloud of dust.

Arni jumped out of the driver’s seat, Henry following.

John pointed towards the window. ‘I’ve done my best,’ he said. ‘Barbed wire on the inside. We’ve got petrol bombs, and those,’ and he gestured with the shotgun towards the dark shadow of an animal trap. ‘Watch your step.’

Henry grinned as he got closer, the whites of his eyes catching whatever shreds of light there were. ‘You’ve done well,’ he said, and then laughed. ‘We’ve gone one better though.’

‘What do you mean?’

Then John heard the shouts. Shrieks and then cries of fear, mixed in with anger. Lucy appeared from the back of the van, pulling on someone. It was a woman, young and skinny and dark.