No Safe Place (Joe Hunter Thrillers Book 11) (22 page)

‘Amen to that,’ I agreed.

‘What the hell do you think you were doing?’ Bryony demanded, still confused by the scene she’d stumbled on.

‘Just clearing the air,’ I said.

‘Yup,’ agreed Clayton. ‘Just putting a few things to rights.’

‘And are we all sorted now?’ Bryony asked.

I looked at Clayton.

‘A draw?’ he asked.

‘Dream on.’

He shook his head, but it was with a laugh. He slapped me on my shoulder – the one he’d earlier tried his hardest to injure – but this time it was simply a clap of camaraderie. ‘OK,’ I acquiesced, ‘Let’s call it a draw.’

‘Thank the Lord for that,’ said Bryony. Then she aimed a beady eye at me. ‘What’s up, Joe? With Holker incapacitated you had to find someone else to piss off?’

‘We’re good now. Just had to clear up a few misunderstandings on both our parts. Clayton isn’t your man, Bryony.’

‘I know.’

Clayton squinted between us. ‘You guys actually believed I had something to do with my wife’s murder?’

‘We couldn’t discount you,’ Bryony explained.

‘Wasn’t him,’ I repeated.

‘And you know that how?’

I could have explained that if Clayton was a murderer, he would have fought like one, and not stuck to a moral code of conduct like the sportsman he was. But that would have meant little. Instead I stated a fact. ‘Because I think I know who was, and Andrew also knows.’

I was putting him on the spot, but there you go. I’d agreed our fight had ended in a draw, and now he owed me something in return.

He looked at the ground. Then slowly raised his head, his mouth pulled into a tight grimace. ‘The man you’re looking for is-’

Before he could complete his sentence Bryony finished it. ‘Royce Benson.’

I was secretly pleased she’d beaten me to the punch. She was the real detective after all, and it wouldn’t have been good for her career prospects if an amateur like me had solved the murder before she did.

Rink was unimpressed by my account of taking on Andrew Clayton
mano a mano
, suggesting
I’d have been better served convincing him that with Royce Benson still on the loose the necessity for a bodyguard still existed.

‘That’s exactly what our little scrap achieved,’ I reassured him. ‘It also won me some respect from the guy, and he’s now more inclined to work with me instead of putting up barriers.’

‘You did talk fees, right, brother? I know what you’re like when it comes to offering
pro bono
work.’

‘We agreed the same terms as before, Rink. I told him we’d send over an invoice at conclusion of the job.’

Rink nodded. Satisfied. He wasn’t greedy, but a business only survived when it had a healthy incoming cash flow. We were sitting in his office building, and the footfall of clients through the front door was slower than a glacier’s progress.  McTeer’s work for the soccer star down in Miami brought some kickbacks to Rington Investigations, but the work for Andrew Clayton was the only real money-spinner we’d had lately.

I dug the house keys I’d appropriated from my pocket. ‘Won’t need these now, I suppose.’ I’d planned on sneaking in, and conducting a thorough search of the house at my leisure. But that was when I was still looking for the missing wedding ring, and whatever it was I thought Clayton had used to dope the kid with, among other things – none of which I now expected to find there. I hadn’t shared my plan with Rink.

‘Spill,’ he said.

‘I thought Clayton was hiding something. He was, but not what I thought. The kid…Cole…he isn’t Andrew’s.’

Rink didn’t look too surprised. ‘Thought he looked more like Parker Quinn myself,’ he said.

‘That’s what I thought at first. But then I saw Tommy Benson and changed my opinion.’

‘The kid was Tommy’s?’

‘No. That’s where I was still wrong. Cole’s father is Tommy’s cousin, Royce Benson.’

‘This the frog-gigger who’s been causing all the bother?’

‘That’s the general consensus.’

After our mud fight, and righting the garden furniture, Clayton and me had sat down at the picnic table with Bryony. While wiping broken blades of grass from his spectacles, Clayton had come clean about the secret he’d been hiding from us. ‘Royce used to be Andrew’s best buddy,’ I explained. ‘Apparently they met on the underground fighting circuit. Andrew was already a name, and he took Royce under his wing, got him a few fights, helped with his training.’

‘He was managing him?’ Rink posed.

‘Yeah. But not in an official capacity. He was doing it through friendship, trying to help the guy out. Well, that’s the way Clayton makes it sound, but you ask me he was using the guy also. He would give Royce other jobs, the shitty stuff he didn’t want to deal with himself, and for a while Royce hung out with him like an extra member of the family, and was even involved when Clayton and Quinn partnered up to start their business. But he integrated into the family a little too closely, getting as close to Ella as he was to Andrew, probably closer. This was before they were married. Then Ella got pregnant, and Andrew popped the question. He’d no idea Cole wasn’t his and Ella wasn’t about to make him any the wiser until she had his ring on her finger.’

‘So what part of his millions attracted Ella to Clayton?’ Rink quipped in a world-weary fashion.

‘Once the boy was born the truth came out of course, but by then Ella was Clayton’s wife, and had a stake in the company, and in the home he’d purchased for them. If he’d kicked her out, he’d have been ruined. Instead Clayton knuckled down, accepted Ella’s infidelity and took the boy on as his own. Course, he wasn’t as forgiving of Royce. They came to blows. But that didn’t satisfy Clayton, he wanted to punish Royce for what he saw as a massive betrayal of his friendship, and his trust. He knew Royce was up to no good, cloning credit cards, forging cheques, pulling other scams, and he tipped off the police. To prove her fealty to her husband, Ella apparently helped him set Royce up. Royce became the subject of an investigation and because his crimes were judged as federal offenses he earned himself a ten-year stretch in Zephyrhills Correctional Institute for his trouble.’

‘With that in mind, I’m surprised the cops didn’t finger Royce for Ella’s murder first thing,’ said Rink.

‘Royce was clever and made the murder look like a bungled robbery. The cops were chasing their tails trying to catch the home invasion crew, and Royce had set things up to look like another of their jobs. You remember there was more than one gun used, and various footprints found at the house: well, Bryony now believes Royce set the scene to look as if there were a number of robbers. The way he tried to set the scene at Quinn’s place, making his murder look like a suicide.’

‘What was Tommy Benson’s part in it all?’

‘He was being used, but I don’t think Royce ever intended for him to be connected to the crime or especially killed. Tommy was helping Royce get his revenge on the Clayton’s, but only through smashing a window and that time he dumped the glove to point the blame at Parker Quinn. We thought at first that Tommy had been given the notes to copy so he could send the anonymous emails to the police claiming Clayton murdered his wife; but we now think Royce – the forger – was behind it. His fingerprints were lifted off bullet casings in a gun found concealed at Tommy’s place, showing Royce was the one who hid it in the crawl space, and I also heard from a mutual acquaintance that Royce has been staying with Tommy since he got out of prison. I only discovered Tommy through chance, and now that we’ve a better idea about when Quinn died, it was around the same time as Tommy ran to his death. So it had to be Royce.’

‘Why murder Quinn?’

I shrugged. ‘Royce wanted a fall guy, and Quinn being Clayton’s business partner, one who was in a current dispute over ownership, made him an ideal candidate. We’re guessing that Royce didn’t believe his home invasion scenario would stand up to deeper scrutiny, so instead tried to make it look as if Quinn was behind the set up. Don’t forget he knew Quinn from before his imprisonment and probably thought he was also involved in getting him arrested, seeing as Quinn had replaced him as Clayton’s new bosom buddy. He probably decided he could get two lots of revenge for the price of one in killing Quinn, and hurting Clayton again.’

‘What is it with these bozo criminals? They think they’re cleverer than they are. Why not just go after Clayton in the first place; a drive-by shooting or something and have done?’

‘That wouldn’t have been satisfying enough. He felt wronged, I guess. Particularly by the woman he loved, who’d chosen Clayton’s money over him, and even denied him his son by helping put him in prison. Bryony for one believes that Ella’s murder was a crime of passion; the rest is all about cold retribution. It’s why he stole Ella’s wedding band: he thought the ring she was wearing should’ve been his from the beginning.’

Rink pulled at his bottom lip, deep in contemplation. Alongside his index finger, a scar on his chin he wore from an encounter with a crazy knifeman turned white against his tawny skin. Coming to a conclusion he finally looked across at me. ‘Why’d Clayton cover for him though? He must’ve know Royce was behind everything, especially when he got a good look at him that time at the gate.’

‘Royce has been blackmailing him.’

‘Ah,’ said Rink. ‘Something to do with Cole?’

‘Yeah. But that’s only partly it. He warned that if Clayton breathed a word that he was around, then he’d snatch Cole and bury him out in a swamp. Clayton swore he didn’t think Royce was serious, but couldn’t take the chance: hence he agreed to hire me as a bodyguard for Cole. But that’s not what he was most afraid of. See, it appears that back in the day, it was Clayton who taught Royce everything he knew about fraud and deception, and that Royce was prepared to spill all to the police. If he did, then Andrew would be looking at a similar prison sentence Royce had already endured.’

‘Clayton’s an asshole,’ Rink said.

‘Yeah, he is. The way he tells things there was no real love lost between him and Ella since they first got married. In some respects Royce has helped him out, getting rid of both an unfaithful and loveless wife, and a troublesome business partner. I could tell Bryony wanted to arrest him, thinking maybe Clayton actually did put Royce up to the murders but that wasn’t it. He might be looking at a police obstruction or perverting the course of justice charge, or whatever it’s called here in the States, but as it stands it’s only hearsay at the moment. Everything was off the record, Bryony hadn’t read him the Miranda warning, and nothing is in writing, so everything he admitted to is inadmissible in court. Even if she pushed it, Clayton could easily lawyer-up and retract everything he’d said. Even if he is caught, Royce Benson’s testimony would be deemed unreliable.’

‘So Bryony let it go?’

‘She’s more interested in catching a killer than she is chasing Clayton for crimes more than a decade old, especially when there’s little hope of proving them.’

‘How’s your buddy?’ Rink asked, changing the subject.

‘Holker? He’s recovering. He’s tried to discharge himself from hospital, but even if he were to get out, he won’t be allowed back to work yet. Not on active duty at any rate – poor bugger is still cathetered up and pissing in a bag.’ I tried not to smile.

‘Is Bryony now lead on the investigation?’

‘It’s why her captain pulled her in. She thought she was in for a kicking, but it turned out to be the opposite. She was given primary detective duties on Ella and Quinn’s murders, the home invasion crew are now off her books, being looked after by other detectives from the task force seeing as they’ve been proved to be unrelated cases now.’

‘She deputise you, then?’

I snorted out a laugh. ‘She told me to concentrate on my bodyguard duties and leave the detective work to her in future.’

Rink also laughed. ‘What are the chances, eh?’

‘Have you heard the expression “in for a penny in for a pound”?’

‘It’s one of the less confusing sayings I’ve heard you use, brother. So what you got in mind?’

‘There’s a suggestion that an extra person has been added to Royce Benson’s hit list, namely yours truly. For all he was using Tommy, it doesn’t change the fact they were cousins, and he might blame me for Tommy’s death. I’m hoping to use his need for revenge to my – and Bryony’s - benefit.’

‘He’d be a fool to come within a mile of Clayton’s place now that the police are hunting him.’ Rink suddenly realised where he was being led. He shook his head at me. ‘He doesn’t know he’s a suspect yet?’

‘No. He can’t know what Clayton has told us, and probably doesn’t know the police got his prints from the gun – which by the way the ballistics reports prove was one used to shoot holes in the walls at the Claytons’ house. That time at the gate, Clayton was still protecting him, and actually told Royce to hit him and run when I approached, so he’s probably confident that Clayton’s still fearful of what will happen if he talks. But I’m with you: he won’t come to the house, but he will want to speak with Clayton again, and I think I know how that can be arranged.’

‘You’re planning on setting a trap?’

‘Yeah, and guess who’s going to be the bait?’

‘You’re nuts, brother. I ever tell you that?’

‘About ten times a day.’

Rink stood, glowered down at me with a look of reproof. He usually did that ten times a day too.

‘I’m going to need your help, of course,’ I told him.

‘Well, didn’t I just see that coming,’ he scolded, but he was secretly pleased. He was curling up inside at the lack of activity he’d been engaged in lately, despite his Zen-like cool about it all. ‘What do you want from me, brother?’

I laid out my plan as briefly as I could.

‘Shit, man,’ he said once I was done. ‘If this goes wrong you’ll be royally fucked. Actually, strike that:
We’ll
be royally fucked!’