Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  ‘It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’ll never get the opportunity again,’ Brewer lied. ‘I’m sure I’ll be fine once I settle into the routine.’

  ‘Ok.’ Marcus pursed his lips but didn’t press the matter further.

  They carried fresh beers and the bowl of half-eaten crisps through to the living room. The afternoon games were over and there was a Manchester derby coming on for the early evening game.

  ‘I’ve got an accumulator win riding on this game.’ Marcus rubbed his hands together. ‘Come on United. Daddy needs some new golf clubs!’

  Brewer laughed loudly and the noise sounded strange to his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d genuinely laughed at something – probably when Marcus and Trudy were over for his birthday dinner.

  Maybe Marcus being there was just what he needed. If he’d spent the evening alone he would have thought of nothing but Daniel and wallowed in the weight of his task. Marcus knew nothing of hikers and the pain they’d caused.

  Brewer glanced at the side of his friend’s face. He’d often thought about telling him over the years; finally coming clean about the darkest times of his life. Once, in Marcus’s office a few years ago, a case had reminded him of a hiker murder and he’d opened his mouth to tell Marcus about it, only something had stopped him. Would his friend understand what he’d been through? Would he even believe him? Would he then tell Trudy and other people? They might all think that he was crazy. They’d never look at him and Ellen the same if they knew everything they’d done to survive.

  He’d considered giving Marcus his journal so he could read about everything that had happened himself. His friend had met Georgie after all, and Ella had played with her. He deserved to know how brave she’d been. Especially after doubting her motives when he found out she was a prostitute. People should be told of Georgie’s heroic death.

  It just never felt like the right time. That period of his life was too painful. Sharing it would only confuse and panic people. Now was definitely not the right time either, not with Daniel still out there causing chaos. Maybe one day, when it was all finally over, he could sit Marcus down and reveal the secrets he’d been holding in for so long, but not today. Today he would switch off and try to forget about all that for a few hours. He deserved a break.

  Chapter 20

  Marcus left at 11am the next morning, after a breakfast of eggs and bacon to help cure their hangovers. They’d stayed up late the night before, playing poker and watching crap TV, until Marcus had fallen asleep on the sofa in a drunken haze. They’d polished off all the beers, the rest of the bottle of Jack Daniels and a couple of shots of questionable Port.

  Brewer had woken up with a dry mouth and pounding head but he felt better than he had done in weeks. Escaping for a night had been good for him. Even in his inebriated state, he’d kept quiet about Daniel and hadn’t even thought of the boy for a couple of hours.

  Marcus had been telling him stories about Ella’s tattooed new boyfriend and how the kid was terrified of him. Brewer had laughed and joked with him and felt human again. It was nice not to feel constantly on edge and afraid. Talking to Marcus about old cases and problems at the station had distracted him enough to put things into perspective when he woke up that morning.

  They were making good progress with their plan. He’d infiltrated a team in the PM’s home. The insulin was on its way to them from America. They were on track to successfully kill Daniel and get away with it. They just needed to work out the perfect plan to make that happen; even if they had to create the opportunity for the killing themselves. There would be a way so they could go back to their old lives without suspicion.

  Brewer’s positive mood lasted until lunchtime when his phone buzzed with a text message while he was slumped on the sofa. He assumed it would be from Ellen, letting him know that she would be home shortly; instead it was from Adders.

  The first line of his text was enough to send Brewer’s optimism plummeting and his heart leapt into his throat as he read the full message. ‘More drama at D.S! The kid’s tutor had a heart attack yesterday and died in the flat! Will fill you in tomorrow. P.S. Great win for United last night.’

  The kid’s tutor… Daniel’s teacher. Had the boy killed him? Adders had said ‘heart attack’ but Brewer didn’t believe that for a second. It was too much of a coincidence that it happened the day after the boy failed to kill anyone at the charity dinner. But why on earth would Daniel want to kill his tutor? Unless he’d simply lashed out at the closest person to him yesterday.

  Brewer’s hangover headache from that morning had faded yet now it was throbbing away at his temples again. He had a feeling that no amount of paracetamol was going to get rid of it this time. He was tempted to call Adders but he knew the man wouldn’t have much more to tell him – only gossip from staff members about the aftermath of the death. Brewer wanted to know the definitive cause and they wouldn’t be told that until after the post mortem. Everyone would just say it was a heart attack until then.

  The fact that Daniel had killed at Downing Street again was the most chilling part of all. If the teacher had been killed in the private flat then Daniel’s mother would have been nearby, as well as numerous other staff members. How had the boy managed to get away with it? If it was him who’d killed the man of course, and not an actual heart condition.

  Brewer had only seen the tutor once since he’d started the job. He remembered that his name was John and he’d been an older man in a tweed jacket but that was all. What had the man done to provoke Daniel into killing him?

  ‘Hello? I’m home!’

  Ellen’s voice echoed through the house and Brewer flinched on the sofa. He hadn’t heard a car pull up or the front door open.

  ‘In here,’ he managed to shout back.

  Ellen’s face was relaxed as she breezed into the room but it soon darkened when she saw Brewer’s pale cheeks and the phone clutched in his hand.

  ‘What’s happened?’ She dropped her overnight bag to the floor. ‘Is it Daniel?’

  Brewer nodded slowly. It was pointless trying to pretend that nothing had happened. ‘There’s been another death. This time Daniel’s tutor, in the Connors’ private flat.’

  Ellen’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘At Downing Street again? He must have no fear. But why his tutor?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ Brewer said. ‘Maybe he did something to anger Daniel, or he could just be acting out after the whole charity night debacle.’

  ‘How did he… was it anything like Davenport?’ she asked, sitting down beside him on the sofa.

  The police had successfully kept a lid on the actual cause of Davenport’s death so the media hadn’t printed anything, although the internet was rife with theories, ranging from hanging, to overdose, to slitting his wrists – which was fairly close to the truth. Ellen still didn’t know the true horror of it but she knew it had been brutal.

  ‘Adders said a heart attack so I’m not sure,’ Brewer shrugged.

  Ellen’s face softened instantly. ‘A heart attack? That might be just what it was and Daniel had no involvement at all,’ she said hopefully. ‘What makes you think it was anything more?’

  ‘Gut instinct,’ Brewer said. ‘He would have been angry after missing out on killing at the dinner.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Ellen said but Brewer could tell she wanted to cling onto the possibility that John’s death could have been natural.

  He took in his wife’s tired face and scraped back hair. She was wearing jeans and a light blue jumper, which only made her complexion seem paler. She was as hungover as he’d been.

  ‘Did you have a good night?’ he asked.

  Her eyes lit up again at the change in topic. ‘It was brilliant,’ she smiled. ‘We went for a really nice tapas meal then onto a bar that played a lot of seventies and eighties music. I can’t remember the last time I danced so much! My feet were killing me by the end and Trudy was even drunker than I was.’ She laughed loudly. ‘I think she go
t carried away with the shots and she was more hungover than her niece this morning!’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Brewer forced a smile.

  He’d needed a night off from everything and so had she. The strain would get too much if they didn’t blow off steam every now and again.

  ‘Marc came round last night and ended up staying,’ he said.

  ‘I know, I completely forgot until he called Trudy as he was pulling up here,’ she said. ‘It was too late to warn you then.’

  ‘I should have remembered myself, he did text me in the week but it slipped my mind.’ Brewer paused, not sure whether to tell Ellen how close they’d come to getting found out. ‘He got a bit of a surprise when he went into the dining room to find the poker set.’

  Ellen’s eyes widened as she realised what he meant. ‘The boards!’ she exclaimed. ‘All our research was laid out in there! Did he see it all?’

  ‘He did,’ Brewer nodded. ‘I managed to explain it away though.’

  ‘How? What did you say? I mean, there was so much of it!’

  ‘I told him that I’d wanted to be thorough before starting the job and we’d done lots of research on Connors and the security team,’ Brewer told her. ‘He seemed to buy it. Luckily he didn’t notice how much there was on Daniel. I swept it out of sight before he could see it in detail.’

  ‘Thank god,’ Ellen sighed. ‘Well done. That would have been a disaster if he’d managed to read any of the notes properly.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Brewer said. ‘I nearly had a heart attack of my own when he suddenly burst in there.’

  ‘Maybe one day we’ll tell them,’ Ellen said. ‘When Daniel is gone.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Brewer nodded.

  Ellen tucked her feet up on the sofa and snuggled into his side. He kissed her gently on the head and closed his eyes. His sleep had been disturbed by the alcohol and heavy curry and he needed some decent rest. The warmth of Ellen’s body beside him was comforting and he realised how long it had been since he’d held her.

  ‘How about an afternoon nap?’ he murmured into her hair.

  She smiled up at him. ‘Sounds perfect.’

  She took his hand and led him towards the stairs. Their escape from the stark reality of Daniel’s power could last for one more day.

  Chapter 21

  Brewer stared out of the huge glass windows and watched the people scurrying past. They were on their way to work or to meetings and carrying briefcases, coffees, and umbrellas to shield themselves from the light drizzle.

  He turned and walked slowly back along the length of the lobby. Connors had had an early radio interview so they’d sped off as soon as he’d reached Downing Street that morning. He hadn’t had time to ask Connors what had happened with the tutor, and none of the team had known anything more than Adders had said – John had died of a heart attack during a lesson.

  Connors had been prepping notes for his interview on the car journey over but Brewer intended to find out all he could on the way back to Downing Street. The PM looked less shaken than Brewer had expected, just tired and a little pale, but then he wouldn’t have really known the man. John would have spent more time with Marie and Daniel during lessons. It was Marie who Brewer could get more details from, only he had no plausible reason to go and see her, other than paying his respects for a man he hadn’t known. It would seem weird for him to go up to their flat for that.

  If Brewer had been in the building on Saturday, he would have known for certain. He would have heard Daniel whispering to John. He could only presume that the boy had made his tutor kill himself although he had no idea how. What method would have looked like a heart attack to everyone? Something internal perhaps, like an overdose or poison? It would have been a fast acting drug for John to die during their lesson. Daniel would have wanted to see John’s death close up, rather than risk him leaving and dying at home later.

  The coroner’s report would contain all the information he needed but he had no way of getting hold of it. Even Marcus couldn’t get that for him through his connections – not if there was no reason for suspicion. The post mortem wasn’t likely to be fast tracked either so it might not be available for a few days. Brewer wouldn’t know that anything had flagged up unless the police came calling on the Connors family for further questioning.

  Brewer sat down next to Richards on one of the black leather chairs. They were expected to wait in the lobby until Connors was finished with his interview upstairs. Only Seok had gone with him, as most people didn’t like having a full security team crowding in to their offices. Not when they looked as hard-faced as Richards. Adders was usually the one to sweet talk people into bringing them tea and coffee. At one of the banks last week he’d managed to score them a packet of biscuits too.

  Brewer tried to take his mind off Daniel and the tutor’s death by concentrating on the job he’d been hired to do. There weren’t many people in the lobby and it was a straight path for them to walk Connors back to the car.

  There were a couple of photographers loitering outside the building, who’d taken some pictures of Connors on his way inside, but no other crowds. He’d expected there to be a few groups of young girls, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favourite pop star. The station must not have been anticipating any A-list celebrities that day. Everything appeared quiet on the surface. It was underneath that tension was bubbling.

  The media had been filled with protests and riots up and down the country over the financial uncertainty. Davenport had made a lot of promises when he’d been elected as PM and none of them had been fulfilled. Despite Connors only just taking over, people were angry with him and his government. They wanted reassurance that the market wouldn’t crash and the country wouldn’t be plunged into yet another recession.

  Connors was doing his best to calm the situation and had numerous TV and radio interviews lined up for the week but Brewer didn’t think it would be enough. The country’s economy was balancing precariously and one more bank crumbling would tip them over the edge. Daniel had clearly had a hand in Lawsons demise and he could easily do it to another bank. The pound would continue to suffer globally and people would panic.

  Mortgage rates were slowly creeping up and the value of properties was decreasing – within months people could be priced out of their homes. Brewer didn’t have too much strain on his own finances as he and Ellen had bought their cottage outright with their combined money, although he knew plenty of people in their village who couldn’t afford for their property to go into negative equity.

  ‘Do you want another tea?’ Adders asked, standing up to stretch his legs.

  ‘No thanks.’ Brewer tried to shake the doom and gloom from his mind.

  ‘Connors will be done in a minute,’ Richards said. ‘There’s no point… unless you just want to chat up the pretty receptionist again?’

  Adders laughed. ‘Well, it passes the time doesn’t it?’ He stayed standing in front of them though.

  Connors emerged from the lift with Seok a few minutes later. Brewer wondered if anything interesting had been said during the interview. Seok’s face was typically unreadable but Connors looked exhausted. He’d only been in power for a month or so and it had already aged him. There were prominent bags under his eyes and he’d lost some weight around his face. He’d had time to go to the gym when he was Deputy PM but that luxury had disappeared and he’d lost muscle tone in his body, making him appear thinner. Another half-stone less and he would rival Brewer’s gangly frame.

  His short time in charge had been unbelievably stressful and Brewer could imagine the strain it was having on his home life… that was close to his own experience. Would Marie be feeling as low as Ellen with her husband pulling away from her?

  He and Ellen’s time together the day before had helped. For the first time in weeks, they’d had something other than Daniel to talk about. They’d shared a less morbid dinner at the dining table in the evening and even had sex that night. It was only when they’d woken up th
is morning that the weight of responsibility had settled firmly back onto his shoulders. He had to find out whether Daniel was accountable for John’s death.

  ‘Ready?’ Connors asked when he reached the team.

  They marched out to the waiting cars without incident. Connors pointedly ignored shouts from the photographers, and one woman who was asking him to clarify what he’d just been saying about child benefits on the radio. Brewer took the opportunity to get into the Jag with Connors and slid onto the backseat beside him. He waited for as long as he deemed appropriate before broaching the subject of John.

  ‘I’m sorry for your loss at the weekend,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Thank you, Scott.’ Connors rubbed wearily at his temples. ‘It was a shock for us all.’

  ‘I heard it was a heart attack?’ Brewer pressed subtly.

  ‘He’d had some heart problems in the past so that’s what the paramedics thought. It’s a terrible shame. He was only sixty-eight years old.’ Connors paused. ‘It’s Daniel I’m most concerned about at the moment.’

  Brewer tried not to react at the mention of the boy’s name.

  ‘He was the one in the room with John when it happened,’ Connors said. ‘Coming so soon after the violence at the Hunter’s dinner, it’s hit him hard. He barely came out of his room last night and he’s been awfully quiet.’

  Brewer was certain that it wasn’t the case. Daniel would be elated at John’s death and was merely hiding in his room to conceal it.

  ‘I’m sure he will be fine with you and Marie looking after him.’ Brewer wiped his clammy palms on his trousers. ‘Did he tell you what happened in there?’

  Connors nodded then was silent for a long moment before revealing it to him. ‘They were halfway through a maths lesson when John said that he felt hot. Daniel told me that he went over to open the window and on the way back, he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed. Daniel called for Marie to help but by the time she got into the room, John was already gone.’ Connors picked at an imaginary thread on his black jacket. ‘At least it was quick. Poor Daniel was terrified though. It’s as if our family is cursed lately.’