by Jack Gatland
‘So now we’re in Westminster in 1997. It’s all exciting. Sarah starts to visit her husband in the Labour offices and somehow meets Charles Baker from the room next door. They hit it off, and have a brief affair.’
‘That’s a lie!’ Charles exclaimed. Declan waved him down.
‘You’d have more chance with that denial if we hadn’t just proved by DNA that Sebastian Payne was your son.’
Charles looked to Francine. ‘Did you know this?’ he asked. Francine simply shrugged.
‘Doesn’t matter now,’ she said. ‘He’s dead. Andrew killed him.’
Charles fell against the side of the roof, his legs seemingly giving way. Declan looked to him and saw, at the entrance to Devington House the first of the approaching police vehicles. Unfortunately, it looked like Special Branch had gotten here first.
‘Whatever happened, it didn’t last long,’ he said. ‘Because soon, possibly even at the same time, Sarah met Shaun Donnal.’
Francine looked down at Shaun’s body. ‘She wouldn’t listen to me,’ she said. ‘She was the MP, while I was just the advisor. I knew that it wouldn’t last; I just had to bide my time.’
‘And you did that well,’ Declan replied. ‘You booked their illicit trips to Queen Anne’s Chamber and you ensured that Liam didn’t find out. Possibly even to the detriment to your own marriage. It was around here that you split with your own husband, right?’ With no response he continued.
‘But now a new problem appeared. Jet setting socialists Michael and Victoria Davies, spending Devington money like their own personal piggy bank.’ He looked to Susan. ‘That made you angry, right?’
‘I wasn’t around,’ Susan said, looking away. ‘I was already on the road protests by then.’
‘Of course you were,’ Declan replied. ‘Anyway, Michael and Victoria were now making a name for themselves in the party. Michael wanted to push against Labour and Blair; a bit of the old Socialist in him returning. Victoria meanwhile was finding that a house full of male MPs, far away from their families was an all-you-can-eat buffet. And that was fine, until she also met Shaun Donnal.’
‘I didn’t control who she met.’ Fran folded her arms, the gun still in her hand. In the distance there was shouting as Special Branch gathered outside the house, while an Armed Police Unit van was also driving down the drive. In the distance, a police helicopter could be heard approaching.
‘True,’ Declan continued. ‘And to be honest, you were probably happy for Victoria and Shaun to fall in love as it freed Sarah up to sort herself out and be an MP again. But she didn’t. She kept the child, lost her marriage and the scandal forced her to resign from Parliament. You both left.’
‘True.’
‘But Shaun didn’t follow. He was supposed to leave his wife, but he didn’t. He was happy with Victoria now.’ Declan looked down to Shaun. ‘At the Labour conference, Sarah turned up unannounced. People started to panic. Michael knew that Shaun was likely to be the father of this six month old baby. Having Sarah reveal it publicly was bad press.’ He looked to Charles.
‘The problem was, she wasn’t going to out Shaun. She was going to out you as the father. She actually gave Shaun advance warning to get out before the bomb went off. That’s why he didn’t stop Andy Mac from getting her drunk; he didn’t know he was doing that.’
‘Andy Mac killed Sarah,’ Susan said. Declan shook his head.
‘That’s not true and we all know it,’ he replied. ‘He was a coke head, true, but he wasn’t the one taking ketamine right then. Victoria Davies was. And it was Victoria Davies, thinking that she was helping her true love, who spiked Sarah’s drink.’
Tears started to form around Francine’s eyes. ‘Bitch didn’t even know what she was doing,’ she said. ‘I was told that she was so out of it, she had no idea what was going on.’
‘Michael told you this, didn’t he?’ Declan asked. ‘When you went to work for him?’
‘Yes,’ Francine replied. ‘I started at Devington shortly after Sarah died. Took my maiden name back. They’d all met me loads of times when I was with Sarah, but none of them recognised me. Nobody ever recognises the help.’ She pointed the gun at Shaun Donnal’s body. ‘Even that rat there.’
She looked to Charles Baker. ‘Only he knew who I was. He was the only one that saw me.’
‘So you started at Devington, and your plan at the time was to destroy Michael and Victoria’s relationship,’ Declan continued. ‘And at the time, Charles was looking for a way to remove Shaun as a rival for Labour Leader. You started an affair with Michael, convincing him to have a vasectomy. And then you schemed with Charles to pay Doctor Khai fifty grand to fake it. Now, Michael believed erroneously that he was sterile. You knew that if he got his wife pregnant, he’d instantly believe that she was unfaithful. They’d fall apart.’ He looked to Susan.
‘But then you got involved.’
Susan raised an eyebrow at this. ‘Can we just shoot him now?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Charles replied. ‘I want to hear this.’
‘You and Victoria never got on,’ Declan said. ‘And as a child she’d lock you in the priest holes for fun.’
‘Bloody Ratcliffe.’ Susan almost smiled. ‘I knew it was a mistake leaving him with you. I was hoping you’d join me instead.’
‘Yes, bloody Ratcliffe,’ Declan replied. ‘You were the studious one, the passionate one. The activist who did things while Victoria just played at it, using your family money. The company was collapsing, the board were on the point of selling out. In a year, Michael and Victoria had destroyed almost thirty years of Devington goodwill. You needed to stop them, but you knew you couldn’t unless Victoria was gone.’ He waved around the roof. ‘Which brings us to New Year’s Eve 2000.’
‘I was in a cell on New Year’s Eve,’ Susan forced a smile, but it was strained. Declan shook his head.
‘Whoever she was, she wasn’t you,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen the mugshot. I think you paid someone to create an alibi for you. And at this time, you’re already talking to Francine here. Maybe she’s brought you in on her crusade to destroy Michael and Victoria by this point. Either way, I think you left, doubled back and entered the house again through the same priest entrance that I used today. There you stayed until Victoria went to the roof, most likely guided up here by a text. All it took was for Francine to let you out at the right time.’
‘You’ve made an error there,’ Francine said. ‘If you read the statements, you’ll see that Michael told security to ban all guests.’
‘Oh no, I saw that,’ Declan smiled. ‘He said all guests. You were staff. You came up, let Susan out and then returned to the party. Susan meanwhile waited until Michael came back from the roof and then slipped up after him.’
He looked over the edge, now filled with police cars, their lights flashing.
‘All those years of anger, all that fury, you couldn’t help yourself,’ he said. ‘You pushed your own sister over the wall, while keeping the necklace that she wore.’ He looked to Francine. ‘meanwhile, you’d been busy spiking the drinks of Andy, Charles and Shaun. I’m not sure with what exactly, but it was enough to give them all complete amnesia for the night.’
‘Conspiracies.’ Francine raised the gun again.
‘Not so,’ Declan replied. ‘You brought in each of them; Charles, Andy, Shaun, into your office and showed them the necklace. You explained that they’d had it on them after the murder. They couldn’t remember anything; they were terrified that it was true. You promised to keep it quiet as long as they helped you out.’ He looked back to Susan. ‘You’d replaced the disgraced and convicted Michael as CEO by this point, but you needed a big win. There was an infrastructure deal following the 9/11 bombings. You used Francine’s three pet MPs to pass the bill that allowed you to bid.’
‘She did,’ Charles said finally. ‘She told me I’d killed Victoria and I believed her. I became paranoid that Shaun or Andy knew about this. It’s why we fell out, why I changed part
ies.’
‘Everything worked fine for fifteen years,’ Declan said. ‘You even funded Andy Mac in his new life as a preacher. But then Michael came back. He told Shaun that he had evidence, that he could prove some big things. Shaun, ever the loyal servant told you. And you had Michael killed.’
‘He was dying anyway,’ Francine snapped. ‘I just sped up the process.’
‘And then Shaun, scared for his own life went AWOL, hiding on the streets,’ Declan finished. ‘You found a way to convince him to be quiet, with these ‘payments from his daughter.’ He was a good boy. But he was still a liability. And then Charles pushes for Prime Minister. If he gets it, then you might find this all coming out. They’re a lot more fastidious in the vetting process, you see. And Prime Ministers can open security boxes of dead prisoners and find all your little secrets. You needed to bring him back down. Maybe the two of you had a falling out, I don’t know. All I do know is that a couple of weeks back you sent one of your crew into a Derby police station and ‘found’ this letter from twenty years ago. I think you hoped that it wouldn’t go anywhere, but would throw some shade on Charles to affect his leadership bid. The one thing I can’t explain is how you found the letter.’
‘She never sent it,’ Susan spoke now. ‘It was left in her drawer. I found it when I was cleaning the room out. I passed it to Francine just in case. You never know when such things can be useful.’
‘True,’ Declan said, looking to Francine. ‘So how did I do?’
‘Very well,’ Francine nodded. ‘You pretty much nailed everything. Such a shame you won’t be able to tell anyone.’
And with that, Francine Pearce aimed the gun at Declan Walsh for a second time and pulled the trigger, shooting him at point blank range.
30
The Dead Speak
The Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command were furious. They’d allowed Charles Baker this one request for several months now, a lone exercise time with nobody around, and now he’d taken it a step further, driving off on some joyride.
Then Pearce Associates had called, explaining that they had information that showed Baker to be a hostage, at the whim of a mad gunman that they’d been keeping tabs on. Immediately at alert, the PaDP had tracked Baker’s phone to Devington House, speeding to the destination as fast as they could while sending out for helicopter and armed assistance. They had no idea what to expect when they arrived; all they knew was that Charles Baker was never going to be allowed out of their sight again.
What they didn’t expect to see when they arrived at the drive to Devington House was two individuals; one an Indian female, the other a blond man in an expensive suit running at them, their hands raised, some kind of IDs in them.
‘Get down on the ground!’ the first car’s doors opened up and PS Matthews screamed out the order, pulling his Glock 17 pistol out and aiming it at the woman, purely because she seemed to be in command. The woman turned to him.
‘And I said stand down!’ she shouted back. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Anjli Kapoor of the City Police! This is Detective William Fitzwarren!’ She waved her hand. ‘These are our IDs!’
‘Where’s Baker?’ Matthews said, waving for his team to surround the two individuals, taking the IDs from them and examining them.
‘He’s on the roof,’ the male replied. ‘One of our team, DI Walsh is up there. There’s a gunman.’
‘Right then,’ Matthews nodded. ‘We’ll take over from here.’
‘You can’t!’ The woman exclaimed, blocking the way of the team as they moved to the door. ‘This is a vital moment in a murder enquiry!’
‘The only murder here is going to be you if you don’t get out of my way!’ Matthews shouted, but stopped as an SCO 19 truck screeched to a halt beside them. The door opened and three SCO 19 officers emerged, all aiming their weapons at the PaDP.
‘I suggest you lower your weapons,’ a white haired man exited the passenger side, walking over. ‘Before something even worse happens.’
‘And you are?’ Matthews’ gun lowered but he didn’t holster it.
‘DCI Monroe. City police. It’s my man on the roof, and he has a plan to not only save your missing MP, but also catch a killer.’
‘And if he fails?’ Matthews looked from the armed men aiming their assault rifles at him up to the roof.
‘Laddie, the only person who’s failed so far is you,’ Monroe said. ‘How the hell did you let your charge drive away for so long before you realised something was wrong?
Matthews went to snap back a reply, but the door to Devington House opened and an old man, bleeding from the skull emerged.
‘What the bloody hell is going on out here?’ Ratcliffe asked.
Monroe was about to reply when the gunshot was heard.
The gun fired; the noise was loud, echoing around the roof, but Declan just stood there.
‘Well that didn’t work,’ he said calmly. ‘Try again.’
Francine fired the gun a second time, the gunshot once more echoing in the morning air. She looked down at the gun in a mixture of silent realisation and horror as Declan walked over to the door, unbarring the handle and opening it up. In the distance steps could be heard; those of the police, running up the stairs.
‘I don’t think your gun works,’ he said as he did this. ‘Maybe that means that Shaun’s not dead either?’
Taking this as his cue and with a smile, Shaun Donnal climbed back to his feet, facing Francine as he revealed the phone in his hand.
Charles Baker’s phone.
Set to voice record.
‘I don’t understand,’ Charles said. ‘How did you know it was firing blanks?’
‘I didn’t,’ Declan replied honestly. ‘But even though Shaun’s not been the most rational of people recently, he did say one thing on the phone. He mentioned BFA. That’s shorthand for blank firing adaptor, something we spoke about last night. The moment he said that, I knew he’d done something to ensure the gun wouldn’t fire. And when Francine shot him, I knew it was blanks.’
Monroe, Billy and a PaDP officer all ran through the door at the same time.
‘You okay?’ Monroe asked.
‘I’m good,’ Declan said. ‘Francine admitted to everything on tape.’
‘How?’ Charles Baker asked now as Billy passed him to cuff Francine. ‘How did you know they were blanks?’
Declan pointed to the floor. ‘Two shots, close range, no blood.’ He looked back to Francine. ‘We’ve got Trix’s testimony too, so adding that to the taped confession you just made, oh and the attempted murder of a police officer, I’d say you’re not going to have a very good week.’ He turned to speak to Susan, to tell her that finally she’d be paying the price for her sister’s murder, but stopped.
Susan had moved behind Charles Baker, grabbing him by the throat as she backed towards the edge of the roof.
‘Don’t,’ Declan said. ‘It’s not worth it.’
Everyone paused on the roof, as if scared that a single movement would set her off, but Susan’s mind was already made. Now at the edge of the roof, only the parapet wall keeping her from falling, she smiled at Declan.
‘You really should have joined me,’ she said. ‘We could have had a lot of fun together.’
‘Please, Susan,’ Charles whimpered. ‘I don’t want to die.’
Susan was now crouching on the parapet, Charles still held close.
‘This is the same wall that I pushed my sister off,’ she said. ‘I never lost a moment’s sleep over it. Bitch deserved everything she got.’
‘That doesn’t mean you have to join her,’ Declan said, moving slowly towards Susan. ‘We can work something out.’
‘Oh honey, I don’t play well with others,’ Susan said as she pushed Charles to the side, sending him stumbling to the floor, launching herself backwards off the parapet, falling to the ground with a sickening crunch, five stories below.
Declan had moved forward at this, leaping out with his arms extended, but Monro
e had grabbed him, holding him back.
‘No point taking you with her,’ he said. ‘There was no way you could have stopped that.’
Declan walked to the edge, peering down. Susan Devington’s mangled body was sprawled on top of one of the PaDP vehicles, her eyes vacant and staring back up at him. Declan shuddered and turned back to the roof, where Charles Baker was being helped up by officers.
‘I’m a victim here!’ he exclaimed. ‘That madman brought me here by gunpoint! I have no recollection of any of this!’
Declan nodded. ‘he can go free,’ he said to the police officer. ‘He’s implicated in a lot of things, but he didn’t kill anyone.’
Charles nodded, straightening his jacket as if even in gym kit he could look Prime Ministerial.
‘There’ll be an inquest,’ Monroe said. ‘Questions will be asked. You might want to table your attempt for power right now, eh?’
Charles ignored him as, with his Protection Officers finally reunited with him, he followed the police escorting Francine through the door. Declan looked to Monroe.
‘You know, the worst thing about this is that he’ll come out of it smelling of roses,’ Monroe sighed. ‘He’ll turn this into some kind of narrative where he helped us.’
‘I’m not sure about that,’ Declan replied. ‘Francine will probably have some nice, juicy titbits put aside for when she needs to plea bargain. And there’s always Michael Davies’ treasure trove of lies and deals, wherever that is.’
‘Aye, that’s not the last we’ve heard of Baker to be sure,’ Monroe said, looking to Shaun, now being arrested himself by a policeman. ‘We’ll take him, laddie. You can take the cuffs off.’
‘But he had a gun—’
‘It was all part of a police sting,’ Monroe tapped his nose. ‘Be a good lad and go get that thug in the gym. He can join his boss.’
Now free from handcuffs, Shaun walked over to Declan and Monroe.
‘How do you feel?’ Declan asked. Shaun shrugged.