Hellbound: The Tally Man (23 page)

‘Doubt, the essential preliminary of all improvement and discovery, must accompany the stages of man’s onward progress. The facility of doubting and questioning, without which those of comparison and judgment would be useless, is itself a divine prerogative of the reason.”

Albert Pike

Chapter Nineteen

October 4th
08:15

Fenit (An Fhianait)

County Kerry, Ireland

ALTRUISM and compassion are inexplicably linked to one another in an oddly subjective way. Viewed as part of a larger picture, compassion from someone who had never been altruistic in their life could lend itself to the question of whether the individual was being genuine. On the other hand, continued and sustained altruistic acts without any semblance of understanding as to the reasons behind them and what they mean to the recipient could be seen as motivated by a naive duty to the right thing.

Being altruistic is seen as the defining characteristic of many charities and organisations all over the world ran by people who believe their desires and wants are secondary to others, be it animal or human. To commit an act of kindness knowing that no one will ever know it was your actions that saved them, made them perform better or gave them something they had always wanted is hard. The motivation behind the act can be contentious, even ambiguous in nature, but ultimately they will be motivated by compassion. And it is that compassion that ends up forming the structure upon which altruistic acts are built. This structure must be maintained and cared for as with any structure. For if left alone, it can become weathered and weakened, leading to it becoming less than it was. If this were to occur, what began as a selfless act can soon become motivated purely by a personal motivation, hidden within an act of trying to do the right thing.

* * *

Joe rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, uncertain what had woken him. He hadn’t felt Vicky get out of bed and hadn’t heard her leave, so he put it down to his internal alarm clock.

The oppressive, musky smell of sex still hung in the air. Joe smiled, remembering how Vicky’s enthusiasm had taken him by surprise. His assumption had been her well-educated, buttoned-up demeanor would have inhibited her, despite her flirting with him the other night. On the contrary, she had been extremely adventurous, making their spontaneous night together memorable.

Climbing out of bed, Joe pulled on a t-shirt and some shorts and headed for the kitchen. He flicked the switch on the kettle, spotting the note which stood against the bread bin. Leaning back against the counter, he unfolded it.

Joe, Sorry I had to disappear. Really enjoyed last night. Will see you later. Vick x

The kettle clicked off. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat down on the settee, the note still in his hand. After everything that had happened yesterday, the night had certainly ended better than it had begun. Joe found himself smiling as he realised he could still smell her on him, provoking his body slightly. He only hoped it wouldn’t have too much of an effect on their work relationship. After all, he still had a book to finish and a few mysteries to solve, one of which included The Brethren.

His mind kept drifting back to her expression when he had mentioned them. Her face had momentarily betrayed she had either heard of the group or knew more than she had been willing to share. His gut told him The Brethren were significant.

Draining his cup, Joe placed it on the kitchen bench and headed upstairs to shower and change. He checked his bruised face in the mirror before heading back downstairs. He quickly spread some peanut butter on a slice of toast, locked the front door and made his way to the car. Sitting there eating with the engine idling, Joe considered his options. Last night he had wanted to start searching for anything on the man who had attacked him. This morning he wanted to start an earnest search for information on The Brethren. As he headed off the drive, Joe felt his skin momentarily chill at his suspicion that one investigation would lead into the other.

The drive to work was refreshingly uneventful. Joe belligerently parked his car in the same spot where he had been attacked and heading into the office, nodding knowingly at Paul as he passed by security. He felt a few intrusive gazes in his direction as people around the office noticed his face, their conspiratorial whispers floating through the air as they wondered who had beaten him up and why. He imagined a few of them wished they had been the ones to do it.

Dropping his bag on his chair, he grabbed his second cup of coffee of the morning and headed over to Alison’s desk. He knew she would know something, given that she had a proclivity for knowing something about everything. That was why her entertainment section of the paper was always so up to date; she seemed to always be in the loop for relevant news.

“Good morning gorgeous. How are you this morning?” He asked as he flopped into her chair.

“What do you want, Joe?” she replied with a courteous smile which rapidly disappeared when she saw his face. “Jesus, what happened to you?”

“It happened when I was changing a tire.”

“With what, your face?”

“Cute,” Joe replied. “But sidestepping that for a moment, what do know about The Brethren?”

“The Brethren?” Alison repeated. “You’re usually pursuing something a little more insidious than good-will organizations.”

“Is that what they are? Fighting for truth, justice…that sort of thing?”

“You could say that,” she responded cheerfully. “I think the Stark case was their biggest, certainly in regards to the publicity it got them. I know a lot of the victim’s families really appreciate the support they got from them. They did have an office in Kerry a few years ago,” she replied, moving round to the photocopier behind him. “But now I think they work out of Dublin. They gained a lot of funding from the Government that gave them the opportunity to expand. Bigger offices and all that.”

Joe frowned. “So, why had I never heard of them until a few days ago?”

“Been the victim of injustice recently?” Alison asked sarcastically.

“Aside from you turning down my offer of a date? No…fair point.”

“I know a few people who’ve used them before,” Alison continued. “Spoke really highly of them.”

Joe looked troubled. “I know more about Obadiah Stark than anyone in this place, and I had no idea they existed.”

“Because you know so many people whose lives have been affected by a serial killer?”

“I do at the moment,” Joe said wryly.

Alison turned and smiled at him. “They deal with abuse cases, sex crimes, that sort of thing. They aren’t a legal company, so much as a group of people who offer support to those who feel the legal system didn’t give them what they thought they deserved.”

Joe sighed. “I feel a little out of the loop. All the work I have been doing and this falls out of the blue into my investigation.”

“You’ve actually never told me what it is you’re working on?” Alison said.

“Let’s just say my work on Obadiah for the book has opened up other avenues of investigation I hadn’t considered, which include being beaten up,” Joe acknowledged. “This ‘Brethren’ have only been mentioned a couple of times, but the circumstances and reactions have been…unusual. I guess I’m a little disappointed that I might have missed something important not being aware of them.”

Alison turned away from the photocopier and moved to sit on the edge of her desk. “To be fair, you have only ever been looking at the case from a criminal perspective. Don’t take this the wrong way Joe, but prior to all the work you’ve been doing for your book, you were never really that concerned about altruism, only the truth. You always nail the truth aspect, as always. But sometimes a little justice feels good, too. And besides, if investigating them has resulted in you looking like Rocky Balboa’s punch bag, maybe you’re overstepping an invisible line in the sand.”

“Possibly,” he conceded knowingly. “You respect them?”

“They do noble work,” she replied, touching his arm protectively. “Just be certain about whatever it is you’re considering…”

“I’ll be tactful as always,” Joe interrupted, spinning playfully in her chair before standing up. He walked back to his desk and logged into Google’s Yellow Pages for The Brethren’s number, the advertisement and slogan appearing seconds later alongside a large picture of the CEO of the company identified as Gideon Archard.

When justice fails, we will succeed.

Grabbing a pen from his desk and chewing on it thoughtfully, Joe gazed out at the muted office as he ruminated the pros and cons of being so blatant in his curiosity. It was out of character for him to use such an intrusive tactic during an investigation, but the small part of him that was becoming frustrated with the mysteries stacking up around Obadiah Stark was pulling at his mind.

Retyping the Brethren’s name into Google, he clicked on the first link that took him to their official webpage, noting the grandstanding slogan emblazoned across the top of the screen. Returning to the results page, he accessed on a link further down which took him to some customer reviews. One detailed a sexual abuse case which had been thrown out of court for lack of evidence, with a girl named ‘Haley’, describing how they had helped her secure a law firm whose investigation had subsequently led to the offender receiving eighteen years.

Another covered a hit and run where the driver had received what the victim’s family considered a lenient sentence. The Brethren had apparently lobbied the Government for a review of the case, resulting in the driver being retried and prosecuted. Further stories all detailed success stories of the company and how they were paragons of virtue when it came to justice for the underdog.

Joe flicked through the pages of hits, giving cursory attention to them, finding it hard to believe that a company he had never heard of could have so little negative press about them. There were plenty of testimonials and platitudes regarding their almost philanthropic work in regards to the justice system, but nothing at all suggesting they were anything other than perfect. No company that big and powerful could be that clean, unless they had one hell of a PR representative.

Mel Gibson could have done worse than to hire them. He got shafted every step of the way, Joe thought.

Gingerly, Joe flicked down the links, scanning the various headlines and statements: BRETHREN SCORE ANOTHER LEGAL WIN FOR INJUSTICE…FAMILIES OF MURDER VICTIMS PRAISE BRETHREN FOR VERDICT…ARCHARD POSSIBILITY FOR HUMANITARIAN AWARD…FAMILIES OF TALLY MAN VICTIMS SEEN OUTSIDE BRETHREN OFFICE. Clicking on the link, Joe read with curiosity about how some of Stark’s victims’ relatives had been discussing in an interview how they wished to engage The Brethren regarding some sort of recompense for their suffering as they felt the justice system had failed them. It went on to describe their feelings on the death penalty and how his punishment had been quick whereas theirs was never-ending.

He once again found himself caught off-guard by discussion of The Brethren and their involvement in criminal justice. He had thought he knew every facet and fact surrounding Stark and his murders yet had never once caught wind of the fact that the relatives had been soliciting such attention. His arrogant assumption concerning his knowledge of Obadiah’s crimes was diminishing rapidly.

Joe pinched the skin between his eyebrows together and sighed. He was about to close down the browser when his attention was captured by a link that read ‘BRETHREN EMPLOYEE CLAIMS SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST HIM.’ The link took him to the front cover of a newspaper with the headline black and bold across the top. The photograph beneath showed an earnest looking middle-aged man who sat in what looked like a living room.

The article beneath detailed how the man identified as Lewis Dunwall had been in their employ for eight years only to find himself dismissed when he accused them of engaging in questionably ethical practices. Though Dunwall refused to state in the interview what exactly they had done, he alluded to the fact that their altruistic nature wasn’t entirely genuine and that they sometimes achieved results for their clients in a manner that contradicted the very notion of what people would consider justice. The article ended with details regarding an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum of money.

Joe printed off the page and scribbled Dunwall’s name on a piece of paper before briskly walked over to Ciaran’s office. He knocked and entered without waiting to be invited. “Just come right in,” Ciaran stated with irritation. “Shouldn’t you be at home resting?”

“I haven’t got time for that,” Joe replied curtly. “I was wondering if you remembered anything about this?” He placed the printout on the desk.

Ciaran looked down to the section Joe was pointing to and scanned it quickly. “Why? What’s this about?”

“Would you just tell me if you remember anything about it?”

Ciaran raised his eyebrows in response to Joe’s insolent tone. “Okay, I’m going to assume that your attitude is down to you having the remnants of a concussion, but aside from that, yes I remember it. The guy was employed by The Brethren, was sacked for a reason known only to them and the next thing he starts spouting off to anyone who will listen that the company occasionally gets results for its clients by less than above board means. What more do you want to know? He was just pissed at being fired and had a vendetta against them.”

Joe frowned. “Why didn’t they try to sue him for libel? Further down it says they settled out of court. Isn’t that a little funny for such a big company, whom I’ve never heard of by the way, to do? Paying him off smacks a little of buying his silence rather than recompensing him for lost earnings don’t you think?”

“I try not to think too much when it comes to you, Joe,” Ciaran said exasperatedly. “What are you angling for now? What has any of this got to do with Stark or your book? I’ve given you a lot of latitude with this project of yours. Don’t try my patience which is already fuckin’ wafer thin at this moment in time.”

“I think it has everything to do with Stark, I’m just not sure how.”