Mason Black (The Complete Collection): 6 Gripping Crime Stories: The Complete Collection + BONUS Story

by Adam Nicholls

  20

  Marching into the police station, Evie Black was ready to kick ass and take names. Nothing got to her like liars did, and Calvin was no exception.

  At the door, Detective Little let out a told-you-so grin. ‘Well now, you look like you’re finally coming around to the truth. Catch up on the facts, did we?’

  ‘I want to see him.’

  ‘That’s not possible.’

  ‘It wasn’t a question.’ Evie pushed past him and through the swing-gate that led into the hall, where the authorities would work in privacy. As she stormed through and towards the interrogation room, officers tried to stop her. But she moved too fast.

  ‘Let her go,’ she heard Little say behind, as if she wasn’t any kind of a threat. He was right on her heel, close enough that she could smell his cologne.

  ‘I’ll decide for myself what I want to believe.’ Evie let herself into the room. The light flickered on automatically, and she took a seat where she had sat only two days ago. Before she had found out the harsh truth.

  Detective Little stood in the doorway, his usual intimidating aura having no effect.

  ‘I’m waiting.’

  Little sighed and rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. But if you barge in here again, I’ll arrest you.’

  Less than five minutes rolled by (Evie knew this because they hadn’t taken her things from her this time, and that included her wristwatch), and Calvin Durant was escorted into the room in handcuffs. His eyes lit up as he saw Evie, but she didn’t return the excitement.

  ‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘Now.’

  Furrowing his brow, he lowered himself into the chair. The door shut behind him, and he briefly looked over his shoulder, confirming for the sake of comfort that they were alone. ‘I’m glad you’re here. Have you found anything to–’

  ‘Cut the shit,’ Evie blurted.

  The look of Calvin’s surprise was priceless.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going through a divorce?’

  Calvin nodded slowly, finally understanding why she was so hostile. His head sank, his chin touching his chest. ‘It wasn’t official. It was just something we were talking about. I began sleeping downstairs, but we still held hands in the street.’

  ‘This is exactly the kind of thing that makes you look guilty!’ Evie rubbed her forehead. ‘What’s all this about? Why were you splitting up?’

  ‘It’s not…’ Calvin took a deep breath, let it out slowly. ‘If I tell you this, can you please keep it out of the article? Whether I’m convicted or not, I don’t want people to think any less of me. If I’m a killer, people will shake their heads. If I’m a killer and a cheater, there will be nothing left for me. Nobody on earth will think I’m innocent.’

  ‘You were having an affair?’

  ‘Of sorts. It was a once-or-twice thing.’

  ‘Well, what was it? Once or twice?’ Evie was losing patience with him, and fast. It wouldn’t take much more for her to abandon the case altogether. She supposed she could always move back to San Francisco, stay with Mason until she was on her feet.

  ‘It was… four times. I slept with her four times. Sadie…’ He took a breath and wiped his eye. It could have been genuine, or it could have been for effect. ‘Sadie found out about it, and she couldn’t find it within herself to forgive me. I don’t blame her, either.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Evie said bluntly. ‘You’re a scumbag. I despise cheaters.’

  ‘Now you’re just being unfair.’ Calvin raked his fingers through his hair. ‘I regret what I did, of course I do, but what’s done is done. I did something bad and now I’m paying the price.’

  But Evie wasn’t listening. Instead, she was rummaging through her purse until she found her notepad. She dumped it on the table, laid a pen on top of it, and shoved it towards Calvin.

  ‘What’s that for?’

  ‘This girl. I want you to write down her details. Name, address, whether she lives alone. Anything. Just put it all on there so I won’t have to talk to you anymore.’

  ‘You can’t be serious,’ Calvin said, already picking up the pen.

  ‘Believe me, I am.’

  He began to jot down the details. ‘Does this mean you won’t be helping me?’

  ‘Oh, I’ll still be helping. For now. But if I find out any more dirt on you, I’ll turn my back in an instant. I’ve been through way too much shit to be lied to by one more man I’m trying to do some good for.’ Evie leaned in and snatched the notepad from him. ‘If I’m going to convince the world that you’re innocent, you need to work with me, not against me.’

  21

  It had been a long, warm day, which Evie had spent in the shade of the bus stop, waiting. The moon was coming out now, and the sun was cowering behind the horizon, slowly fading away. Even a chill was creeping in.

  It felt like a lifetime later that she saw a tall, blonde woman enter Sarah Slightman’s house. Evie followed her and rapped upon the door.

  The same woman answered. She looked just as beautiful up close, and Evie could picture her with Calvin Durant – not as graphically as he perhaps did, but in a marital sense. Together, they would probably look like the poster children for a good marriage.

  ‘Sarah Slightman?’

  A worried cross of the eyebrows. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Calvin Durant sent me here.’

  There was a momentary pause in which they both stood only staring, Sarah searching for understanding, and Evie holding her breath. This could be difficult, or it could be easy. Whichever way was fine, but she would get her answers no matter what.

  ‘Oh,’ was all Sarah Slightman said.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m not a cop. I’m barely even a reporter.’ Evie stepped back, letting off some aggression. ‘I’m actually trying to get Calvin off the hook. If he’s innocent, at least.’

  ‘Yes, I heard what happened. Terrible.’ Sarah bit her lip, staring at the stone step.

  ‘May I ask what happened between you two?’

  ‘Not much really did happen. He was married – I knew that from the start – and we were having sex. Great sex, really. But it was just a fling. It’s just a shame it had to end so abruptly.’

  Evie nodded quietly, taking mental notes. ‘Abruptly? Do you mean… Was he violent?’

  ‘No.’ Sarah shook her head rapidly. ‘Not even a little bit. Calvin’s a sweet man. Kind, caring, and everything else a woman wants. Course, if he were loyal then he’d be a keeper. But no, never violent. We just argued about the marriage, that’s all.’

  ‘Right.’ Evie dug through her purse, searching for her notepad. ‘I’m no attorney, but would you testify to that in court? I know he could really use your help.’

  Sarah Slightman seemed to edge away at that, beginning to tuck her arm behind the door. ‘I’m really sorry, but I’m done with Calvin. I’ve had enough drama to last a lifetime. I’d rather not be involved any more than I have to.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘You’re welcome to use that information for your paper, though. Just don’t mention me by name.’ Sarah’s kind (yet forced) smile seemed to break as she looked over Evie’s shoulder. Something, whatever it was, had shaken her. She backed away, closing the door so quickly that Evie hardly had time to react. ‘I have to go.’

  And just like that, she shut the door.

  Evie, confused as ever, turned to look at the street. She understood immediately what had led Sarah Slightman to panic. Across the road, dressed from head to toe in black, was a slender man shying away from the streetlight. He was staring over at her as if he didn’t care that he’d been seen.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ Evie called, her echoes reaching out to him. Her confidence was fake, but she hoped it sounded genuine enough.

  The mysterious figure moved then, walking slowly into a nearby alleyway and disappearing into the darkness.

  Evie, shivers running up and down her spine like scurrying insects, zipped up her jacket and stepped away from the house. As she turned to look
back at the Slightman house, she saw the drapes move (Sarah had obviously been snooping) and then the light was blanked out.

  Something was askew, and Evie wasn’t about to hang around to find out who this odd man was. Keeping an eye over her shoulder, she hurried down the street in the other direction.

  22

  She moved away from the alley, not running but walking fast.

  Was it John Matthews? Had she struck a nerve when she’d intruded on his life at the care home? The figure had seemed about the right height, but it didn’t ease her any.

  Although shy to do so, Evie peered over her shoulder. There he was, out of the darkness of the alley and in steady pursuit. The man – assuming, of course, that it was a man – hung back enough to beg question as to whether this was mere paranoia.

  But it wasn’t.

  Somehow, Evie knew he was up to something.

  Two blocks on, she found herself in a quiet district. She hadn’t gone there intentionally – the worry had driven her into thoughtlessness and she had switched to autopilot. Her attention turned to her surroundings; steam rose from the grates, a bell rang from a shop doorway in the distance. Lights from high apartments leaned out across the street, but nobody was in sight.

  Evie, having paid more attention to her location than her follower, felt a sudden jolt. An arm was across her chest, pulling her towards a solid chest. She was about to scream, when a hand clapped over her mouth and she was dragged into a nearby alley. She kicked, wriggled and squirmed, but it was useless. The man was too strong.

  ‘Calm down,’ the man said. His voice was not comforting, causing the opposite effect to what he was demanding. ‘I said calm down.’

  Reluctantly, Evie did as she was told. As she stopped fighting, she felt the arm loosen. Her own arm began to reach downwards, as if by reflex. Once, she had carried a knife in a shin holster. It had been a gift from Mason, but it wasn’t there to save her anymore. Not since it had been confiscated as police evidence.

  ‘That’s better.’ The man let go entirely and stepped back.

  Evie, legs trembling and lip doing very much the same, slowly rotated her body. When she saw who had grabbed her and dragged her into this eerie back alley, she didn’t know whether to feel relieved or alarmed. ‘Troy?’

  ‘I thought this was easier.’ Artificial light from a nearby window lit up one side of his face. He had a deadpan look in his eye… and it wasn’t a look you could trust.

  ‘What’s easier? What the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘This,’ he looked around, holding out a hand as if to demonstrate the environment, ‘is easier than the expense of dating. There are no rules, we don’t have to pretend we’re people we’re not. We can just fuck, then go our separate ways.’

  At first, Evie thought that he was joking. But when he unhooked his belt and stepped forward, his intentions seemed a little more sinister. ‘I’m not going to have sex with you, Troy,’ she said calmly. She tried to move past him. His hand shot up at lightning-speed and shoved her to the ground like she was a piece of trash.

  ‘Just shut up and let’s get this over with.’

  Evie’s heart was pounding. Time seemed to slow down. The fall she had taken hurt only her knees, but the garbage she had landed in hurt her pride. One thing she swore, though, was that another man would never touch her without her permission.

  She shot out an arm, clutching a discarded bottle. As soon as it was in her grip, she swung around and smashed it on the side of a dumpster. The clash startled them both, it seemed, but now she had a weapon.

  ‘Trying to fight me?’ Troy asked, as if amused.

  Evie held out the broken bottle, the shards aimed at him. ‘Not trying. Touch me and I’ll cut your dick off.’ She backed away slowly, certain that he was going to attack. Sure, she had a weapon, but she wasn’t entirely sure that she could fight him off.

  ‘You’d better put that down,’ he said, the care-free tone gone from his voice. ‘You promised me a chance, Evie. Now give it to me or pay the price.’

  Before she had time to say anything in her defence, he ran at her. Although frozen with fear for a couple of seconds, her feet suddenly began to move. Evie turned, running for the end of the alley that they had entered only a minute ago.

  And then a stumble.

  Her foot hit a snag in the cobblestone. Evie crashed to the ground, the bottle sprawling out in front of her. Before she could collect herself, her hair was pulled back tight and she could hear the zipper of Troy’s pants come undone.

  ‘Hold still,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  Evie wanted to cry. She couldn’t – wouldn’t. This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she knew that giving him the satisfaction of her tears was the fastest way to being beaten. All she could do was give up and let whatever happen, happen.

  All she could think now, through a crowd of thoughts, was whether the sirens she could hear were real. If this was her imagination playing tricks on her, then it was a cruel joke.

  23

  Within an hour, Evie was back in her apartment, trying to make sense of all the statements. The alleyway incident – which had pissed her off on every personal level – had been pushed aside. Although she was grateful that Sarah Slightman had called the police (and that they had reached her before any real damage could be done), she had to focus on her work. Besides, Troy had been arrested before he’d managed to do anything serious, so it wasn’t as though justice hadn’t been served.

  Flicking through the paperwork, Evie sighed and tossed a handful of sheets aside. There was nothing conclusive to Calvin Durant’s case. At least not to vindicate him. Any evidence that John Matthews was the real killer was totally blown out of possibility. The entire case was, by all accounts, an utter disaster.

  On the desk in front of her, the phone lit up and jerked across the wood. It was Conan Reed, and Evie didn’t hesitate to answer. ‘Hey, Conan.’

  ‘Don’t “Hey, Conan” me. What’s all this about Troy?’

  Evie paused. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It seems a little convenient that he should be arrested while you’re looking for a job.’

  ‘Wait,’ Evie snapped. She couldn’t stop herself now, and shouldn’t have had to. ‘This feels an awful lot like an accusation. Is that what this is?’

  Conan breathed audibly into the phone. ‘It just feels like–’

  ‘I know what you’re thinking and I don’t appreciate it.’ Evie could feel her face flush a hot red. ‘Your precious Troy has been arrested for attempted rape. Never mind that I’ve not yet decided whether to press charges, or that he would have gotten away with it if a stranger hadn’t called the cops. And I’m fine, by the way. Thanks for fucking aski–’

  ‘Whoa, whoa. Okay. I’m sorry. You just… A lot of people cry rape these days. Usually it’s a plea for attention. It’s hard to separate those from the real cases, is all I’m saying.’

  What an absolute pig, Evie thought, cringing at his sickening take on society. ‘Well, you’re saying it to the wrong person. Troy is a disgusting creep, and he’ll be lucky to get away with this. Is there another reason you called? It’s getting late and I have work to do.’

  ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to say: that you don’t have work to do.’

  Evie felt her heart stop, if only for half a second. ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Evie. For as long as Troy Bukowski is an employee here, I can’t have you sitting across from him. Even if you shake hands and make up, this is a bad foundation to build a professional relationship on. I really am–’

  Evie ended the call right there and slammed her phone down on the desk. Huffing, she swept her papers to one side, creating a white tornado of wasted time. She wanted to scream, hit someone maybe. Perhaps even march down to Vision Magazine, slap Conan Reed around the cheeks and grill him in front of everyone. But as satisfying as these things would be, none of them would get her job back.

  It was over for her, and nothing had hurt h
er more.

  24

  ‘Plead guilty,’ said attorney-at-law Sam Fitzgerald. Sam was a dumpy man, considered dwarf-like by many. Others compared him to Danny DeVito, mostly on account of his husky voice and the waddle he gave when he walked.

  Calvin’s head hung low. ‘I’m not pleading guilty.’

  ‘Listen to me.’ Sam looked over his shoulder at the two-way mirror on the wall of the interrogation room, then leaned in closer. ‘You were found on the scene with the murder weapon in your hand. You’re going to be found guilty, whether you plead it or not. I’m begging you, Mr Durant, not just as your attorney but also as just one man to another; you have to plead guilty. It’s the only sensible option.’

  ‘What about my medical exams?’ Calvin watched carefully for a change of expression, but all he saw in Sam Fitzgerald was an attentive and sympathetic stare. ‘My blackouts are now proven by medical diagnosis. It’s on paper, Goddamnit.’

  ‘It only proves that you weren’t aware.’

  ‘Aware of what?’

  ‘For all they know,’ Sam pointed a thumb over his shoulder, ‘you killed your family but just didn’t know you were doing it. With that in mind, the medical exams don’t prove shit.’

  Calvin Durant took that blow with all the pride he could muster. It wasn’t easy to have his attorney – the person who his life was in the hands of – tell him that he was out of options. There was the reporter, too, but even that was looking bleak. Calvin suddenly found deep regret in keeping information from her. It was obvious that he had lost her confidence.

  ‘What?’ said Sam, looking at him with worried scepticism.

  ‘There’s a reporter.’

  Sam rolled his eyes. ‘This again.’

  ‘I trust her, Sam. I really do.’

  ‘But I don’t. Why hire me if you don’t want to listen to what I’m saying?’ He got out of his chair, collected his briefcase and patted Calvin on the shoulder. ‘Drop this whole journalist thing. It’s going to end in tears for everyone.’