Neil White - Beyond Evil

Dixon looked like she had been slapped when he said Gemma’s name.

She took a drink. ‘I protected my daughter, that’s all. Is that a crime?’

Sheldon nodded slowly. ‘You know that it is, the way you did it.’

Dixon paused at that, and then her lip trembled, her eyes glassy, tears brimming onto her eyelids. She swallowed and gritted her teeth as she tried to maintain some control.

He felt like he ought to go over to her, to offer some support, but he couldn’t get over the fact that people had died, due to her actions.

‘When did it start?’ he said.

‘Huh?’

‘How long have you known about Gemma and Billy Privett and Alice Kenyon?’

She took a deep breath. ‘I didn’t know. That was the problem. I still don’t. I just know that Gemma is with people she shouldn’t be with. But what can I do? She’s twenty now, although she doesn’t look it. I followed her a few times, and I found out they were hanging around with Billy Privett. They were having parties there, just a couple of weeks before Alice died. As soon as I heard about Alice, I feared the worst, I suppose.’

‘Did you interfere with any of the evidence?’

She smiled a watery smile. ‘Are you going to caution me? Take me to the station?’

Sheldon didn’t respond.

‘The answer is no,’ she said eventually.

‘But Ted was getting closer, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t let the media forget about Alice. So you found your own way to silence him. You set him up with Lucy Crane.’

She nodded slowly. ‘She was locked up for shoplifting. I knew who she was, one of Henry Mason’s little gang. I saw her when she was brought into the nick. I told her I could make the case go away if she helped me keep Ted quiet. She was happy to go along with it, because she was part of the group. The set-up was her idea. She tipped off a local press photographer, but I put it in motion.’

‘It almost worked.’

She put her head back. ‘That was the beginning of the end. I hadn’t planned it. I just saw it, and I had the idea, and so I went with it. But they thought they had me then.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Come on, Sheldon, what do you think? Henry’s gang. I had to tip them off about any drug searches, and the same with Billy Privett. Anything that might cause them problems, I had to pass it on. It was blackmail, but I was caught in it. Everything I had worked for was slipping away from me, and I couldn’t even hold on to my conscience. But what could I do?’

‘Why are you telling me all this? You know I’ll do something about it.’

‘Because I’ve been waiting for this day,’ she said. ‘I knew it would come. It’s almost like a release.’ She exhaled loudly. ‘I just wanted to protect my daughter, that’s all.’

‘People have died this week,’ Sheldon said. ‘Things might have been different if you had told me what you knew.’

‘I know that.’

‘How does that make you feel?’

Dixon looked at the glass, and then at the floor. ‘Like hell,’ she said.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

John whirled round as someone approached them across the field. ‘Who’s that?’

There were gasps as everyone followed his gaze. It was a man, striding purposefully, marching straight towards them.

Arni stepped away from the group, holding his hand out to keep them back, and picked up his cane which was propped against one of the stones. As the man got closer, he raised it, brandishing it like a baseball bat. ‘Big mistake, mister.’

The man stopped. ‘You know who I am,’ he said.

Arni tensed, the cane took a twitch.

‘Mr Kenyon,’ Henry said, and grinned, his eyes glaring. ‘Nice of you to call in. You know some of us, I believe. Lucy, say hello.’

Lucy curtsied, mocking him.

Ted flushed and scowled.

Arni looked back at Henry, and then back at Ted Kenyon. Then he started to smile. ‘You’re brave.’

‘Killing young women may be your thing, but I’m not going to let it happen,’ Ted said.

Arni looked at Dawn. ‘You’re too late,’ he said, his smile getting broader. ‘And you are on your own.’

‘Am I?’

John felt a jolt of panic as Ted looked towards him.

Arni looked around, trying to see into the trees. ‘Are you?’

‘John Abbott?’

Everyone looked towards John.

Ted followed their gaze and pointed at John. ‘I know who you are, John Abbott. Do your duty, for Christ’s sake.’

Arni looked at John. ‘What do you mean, “do your duty”?’

John was thinking of some way to bluff it out, but Ted spoke again. ‘I don’t know your real name, John Abbott, but remember your promise to serve the public. I’m relying on you now.’ Ted looked at Dawn. ‘Whatever you have done.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Gemma said, stepping forward.

‘He’s an undercover cop,’ Ted said, and nodded towards John.

There were murmurs amongst the group. People were looking at him, pulling away.

‘You’ve no choice now,’ Ted said. ‘So what’s it going to be? Do your duty, or be at the mercy of these people? You know what they can do. Don’t let another daughter die.’

John felt a churn in his gut, his hands slick with sweat. He looked at Gemma, who was backing away from him, her eyes angry, a tremble in his lip. He saw Dawn, naked and stretched out, the stone stained by her blood.

Then he heard Henry begin to laugh.

Everyone looked round.

Henry just laughed louder.

‘Henry, what is it?’ Gemma said.

‘Do you think I didn’t know?’ he said.

‘You knew?’ Gemma said.

‘Of course I did, I’ve known all along. Lucy, take a bow.’

Lucy bowed extravagantly.

Henry’s face straightened, and now there was a glimmer of anger in his eyes. ‘They think we are stupid, just misguided nobodies, but we are the people with the vision for a better life. We’ve talked about how the world is, how we want to change it. They know what we stand for, and then suddenly someone is in the paper for writing graffiti about wanting to be a free man , and when he says sorry in court, the lawyer does a long speech about how he is rich but lost, looking for a meaning.’ He shook his head and scowled at Ted. ‘John was just cheese in the mousetrap, waiting for me to spring forward. Except that it doesn’t work, if I can see the trap as well as the cheese. Am I wrong yet, John?’

John didn’t answer. He swallowed and licked his lips.

‘Lucy did well,’ Henry continued. ‘They put your address in the paper, but you knew that, John, because that’s how we were supposed to find you. Except that Lucy checked you out first, followed you around. She saw your little meets with your minders.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything, Henry?’ Gemma said, her voice filled with anger. ‘I slept with him. You told me to.’

‘Because it was a test of my message,’ Henry said. ‘What if my message was so strong that it could turn the mind of someone who came to us to betray us? And it worked. John is with us now, not against us. He proved that tonight.’

All eyes turned to John, who nodded, panting and scared. ‘I’m with you,’ he said.

‘So prove yourself,’ Henry barked, and pointed towards Ted. ‘You know what to do.’

Ted took a step back. ‘So Billy Privett was about your message, and my daughter, Alice?’

John stopped.

‘One of these people killed my daughter,’ Ted said, tears jumping into his eyes. ‘If he is your inspiration,’ and he pointed at Henry, ‘then I pity you, because he is just a murderer. And just as greedy as everyone else, because he hooked up with Billy Privett because of his money, nothing more.’

‘John, kill him,’ Henry said, his voice rising in pitch.