The Catch (59 page)

‘Shit, look at you two ... This wouldn’t be connected to that suitcase Robbie gave me?’

Dan nodded. ‘Yeah. But it’s all done with now. And I want to apologise for how I’ve been over the past week.’

Louis shrugged, reluctant to discuss it in Cate’s presence. ‘Nah, I probably deserved it.’

Dan started to go past but Louis stopped him, digging in his pocket. ‘Oh. I ought to have mentioned this.’

He handed over a micro SD card. ‘Robbie asked me to keep it safe, along with the case. He swore me to secrecy, but ...’ He shrugged. ‘I figured there have been too many secrets round here.’

Dan stared at it for a second, then looked at Louis. ‘Is your laptop on?’

****

Cate stayed out on the landing while Dan fetched the computer from his brother’s bedroom, along with an adaptor for the memory card. Louis was clearly eager to see what the card contained, but Dan told him that they needed some time alone.

‘Okay. Cool.’ Louis made brief eye contact with Cate, a silent question:
Are you two together ...?

Cate looked away.

They went into Dan’s room and shut the door. Dan sat down on the bed, and Cate knew she would have to join him. It made perfect sense, if they were both to look at the laptop.

As she sat down the mattress compressed beneath her and for a moment their bodies touched. Cate didn’t think that she recoiled, certainly not so it was visible, but Dan shuffled an inch or two away from her.

‘I feel bad about this,’ he said, and she misunderstood until he added, ‘I should be finding you some spare clothes, so you can clean up and get changed.’

‘That can wait. I want to see what’s on here.’

‘Me too.’ He inserted the card, selected the folder-view option, and a window opened that contained about a dozen folders, with names like ‘Defence 0809’ and ‘Social Sec 00s’. Others were marked ‘Overseas’ and ‘Journal’ and ‘Templeton Vids’. And there was a folder called ‘Blakes’.

‘Is this what it was about?’ Cate asked.

‘I think so.’ He opened a folder at random, changed the view to Extra Large Icons and found dozens of scanned documents. ‘These are copies of all the paper evidence.’ Dan shut his eyes, his face briefly contorted as if in pain. ‘That’s why Robbie was so blasé about the handover.’

‘He had this as a backup.’ The discovery made Cate want to laugh and cry at the same time. ‘But if Jerry had had any idea that the memory card existed, he might have ...’

Killed me as retribution
.

Dan said, ‘Don’t forget, Jerry never intended to play it straight.’ A thoughtful silence. ‘But surely he’d have allowed for the possibility of an electronic copy?’

‘Unless he doesn’t much care either way. If his brief was to recover the paperwork, and he’s done that, the existence of a memory card isn’t his problem.’

At this, Dan brightened a little. ‘But it
will
be Templeton’s problem. With this, we can put a stop to the takeover.’

Cate wasn’t impressed. ‘Perhaps we can. But you’ll still have a lot of questions to answer.’

****

Dan kept quiet as Cate stood up and walked to the window. She needed space, he realised. Because of her recent captivity, the bedroom must have seemed horribly confined.

Or maybe it was his presence that was making her so edgy.

‘This is such a mess,’ he muttered, putting the laptop aside and pushing his hands through his hair. ‘You know what I’d like to do now?’

‘What?’ She sounded hesitant.

‘I’d like us both to have a shower, and something to eat, and then crawl under this duvet, and I’d like to hold you close and sleep for about three days with you in my arms.’

He paused, his stomach like a ball of lead. He sensed the effort it took for her to turn and face him. She had fresh tears in her eyes, but she made an effort to sound enthusiastic.

‘Sounds lovely.’

‘
But
.’ He raised a hand. ‘You don’t have to say it, really.’

‘No, but I will. I think we were destined to be best friends. Not lovers.’

He grinned sadly, feeling skewered by that last phrase.

‘I sort of hate myself for agreeing, but you’re right. So that’s what I’d
like
to do. But this is what I’m
going
to do.’

He took out his phone and held it up for her to see. After gazing at it for a moment, she returned to the bed and sat down.

‘Okay, Dan. As your best friend, will you think about what I’ve been saying? The memory card might screw up this man Templeton, but it doesn’t get you out of the mess you’re in.’

‘I know. Despite how I look, I’m in full possession of my faculties.’

‘Dan, I’m serious.’

‘So am I. Deadly serious. Now, DS Thomsett. Do you remember his number, or will I need to ring Sussex Police?’

He was braced for more objections, but instead she relented. ‘I think I know it.’ She took the phone from him, started keying in a number. ‘You definitely want to do this? And you’re happy to go wherever it takes you?’

‘I wouldn’t use the word “happy”. But certainly “prepared”. Because wherever I end up, I’ll be able to look myself in the eye once again.’

Cate handed the phone back, and as he put it to his ear Dan heard the final burr of the ring tone and then a male voice said: ‘Hello?’

‘Is that DS Thomsett? My name is Daniel Wade. I need to arrange an urgent meeting with you.’

A glance at Cate. He expected her to look away but she held his gaze, nodding her approval.

At the other end of the line, Thomsett said, ‘Can I ask what it’s about?’

Dan said, ‘Yes. I want to tell you who killed Hank O’Brien.’

Stemper returned to Kemptown, stopping only to make a brief transatlantic phone call. He didn’t speak to Mark Templeton himself, but to one of his key aides. Stemper assured him that the threat to the imminent merger had been nullified. The papers were to be deposited on Wednesday afternoon at an agreed location near Regents Park, while the balance of Stemper’s fee – two million in sterling – would be transferred to a UK trust account.

The deal had guaranteed them the return of the original documentation. It had crossed Stemper’s mind that O’Brien might have kept duplicates, or more likely electronic copies, but even if they existed it would be a simple matter for Templeton’s lawyers to challenge their provenance in court.

In any case, by that stage Stemper would be long gone. And he had ensured that he was untraceable.

****

Back at the guest house, he made it to his room without being seen. He took a shower, tended to the wound on his wrist where the woman had bitten him, then lay down for a short nap. His sleep was untroubled by doubts or fear. He woke in time to catch a late night news bulletin, which reported on the discovery of a man, believed to have been shot dead in his car in a small West Sussex town. ‘Police are at the scene,’ the newscaster told him, ‘and we hope to have more information for you very soon ...’

You can hope all you like
, Stemper thought. He pictured Cate and her accomplice hiding out somewhere, haunted by guilt, waiting for the knock at the door.

At one in the morning, with his bag packed and the room sanitised, Stemper put on a fresh pair of latex gloves and crept down to the proprietor’s private quarters. He tapped gently on the bedroom door, opened it and saw Quills lying beneath the covers, his eyes glittering with excitement.

Stemper said, ‘Stay where you are. I have a treat for you.’

****

He set a bath running. From a wide selection of bath lotions he chose one with green tea, rice milk and jasmine.

In the kitchen there was a bottle of Veuve Clicquot in the fridge. He poured two glasses and carried them into the bathroom, then he searched the cabinet above the sink and found a box of paracetamol. Two blister packs of twelve tablets each, with four missing.

Twenty tablets. That should be sufficient.

If it wasn’t, Stemper would suggest that he used a knife.

****

Quills was in a state of hyper-arousal when Stemper finally returned and told him it was time. Regrettably, a certain amount of physical contact was necessary, but Stemper closed his mind to it, as he was accustomed to doing, and before long he had Quills luxuriating in a steaming hot bath, playfully blowing bubbles across the bathroom floor.

Stemper, sitting just beyond reach on the toilet seat, feigned coquettish amusement while encouraging Quills to finish his champagne. He was pouring a refill when Quills noticed the gloves and snorted. ‘Kinky.’

Stemper nodded. ‘There are many such surprises in store for you.’

‘Mmm.’ Quills shut his eyes, resting his head back on the edge of the bath. The water lapped at his neck, the foam on his chin like a child’s approximation of a Santa Claus beard.

‘That’s good,’ Stemper murmured. ‘Now, just as we did before, I’m going to talk and I want you to listen. I want you to trust me, and let me guide you to the ultimate pleasure.’

From Quills, a long sigh of contentment.

‘Listen carefully, follow my instructions and after tonight, my dear man, you won’t ever be bored or lonely again. All your troubles will be soothed away and disappear to nothing. Because just as you’ve known all along, I have the answer, Bernard. I’m the solution to all your problems.’

Stemper leaned over and picked up the first pack of tablets.

‘Listen to me, and I’ll show you the way to pure bliss. To pure, pure oblivion.’

****

He departed an hour later. There were five other guests in residence that night, but no one saw him go. Later, during a cursory police investigation which swiftly ruled out foul play, none of them could recall if anyone else had been staying there. It turned out that the proprietor’s record-keeping was somewhat erratic, and a crucial bookings diary had been dropped into the same bath that had claimed the poor man’s life.

Stemper drove slowly through the night. He wanted to coordinate his arrival in Suffolk with the breakfast hour. Ideally he would let himself into the house in time to have a pot of tea ready when Debbie Winwood came downstairs.

Debbie, he knew, would be
overjoyed
to see him.

For help with research I am indebted to Traffic Officer PC Simon Dove of Sussex Police, and to Dan Rosling, Crew Manager, London Fire Brigade
–
though I must stress that responsibility for mistakes rests firmly with the author. Thanks also to my family, friends and first readers, in particular Stuart and Karen Marsom and Claire Burrell.

As ever, I owe a huge amount to my wife, Niki, and my children, James and Emily, for their love and support.

Finally, a special thanks to everyone who has bought, borrowed, read, reviewed or recommended one of my books. I wouldn’t be here without you, and I don’t take that for granted.

SKIN AND BONES

On a cold January morning, a nightmare awaits in a small Sussex village. A deranged young man goes on the rampage, shooting everyone in his path before taking his own life. It is a senseless, tragic event, but sadly not an unfamiliar one.

At least that's what everyone thinks.

Only Julia Trent – believed to be the sole survivor – knows that there was a second man involved. But after being shot and badly injured, her account of the massacre is ignored. Julia cannot let it rest there. Together with Craig Walker, the journalist son of one of the victims, she determines to find out the truth. As Julia and Craig peel back the layers of a dark and dangerous conspiracy, they discover the slaughter did not begin on that bitter day in January. And worst of all, it won't end there...

“This is a mystery and a thriller that is satisfying on every level.”

JON JORDAN, CRIMESPREE

“What truly sells SKIN AND BONES is Bale's almost cinematic storytelling style,

along the lines of what Lee Child does with his Jack Reacher series.”

JIM WINTER, JANUARY MAGAZINE

Introducing Joe Clayton:

TERROR’S REACH

A burning summer’s day explodes into violence. A murderous gang targets the exclusive south coast island of Terror’s Reach, home to rival business tycoons Robert Felton and Valentin Nasenko. The residents are facing annihilation, and only one man stands a chance of saving them.

Four years ago, after an undercover police operation went disastrously wrong, CID officer Joe Clayton lost his career and his family. Forced to adopt a new identity, he drifted from place to place and ended up on the Reach, working as a bodyguard to Nasenko’s wife, Cassie, and her children. Now he must draw upon all his experience and reserves of strength to keep them alive.

But nothing is as it seems on Terror’s Reach, and a long night of betrayal and murder

leaves Joe fighting for his own survival ...

“We didn't know how Tom Bale was going to top his debut novel, Skin and Bones, but

he has triumphed again with a nail-biting thriller. Great action, tense and gripping.”

LOVEREADING

“Bale has a very effective line in suspense. For readers of thrillers, this book should

tick most of the boxes. A thoroughly good read. Recommended.”