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

by Adam Nicholls

  ‘Yes, I was.’ A pause, and then, ‘I’m sorry, can I ask what this is about?’

  Evie took a sip of her scalding coffee, winced, and set it back down on the desk. ‘Sure. I’m an investigative journalist and I’m looking into the past of Calvin Durant. I’m sure you’ve heard the news about him.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Good. Well, is there anything you can tell me about them?’

  Rebecca hesitated for a moment, a heavy exhale audible even through the speaker. ‘I’m really not so sure I should be talking about this. It’s been dealt with, in a matter of speaking.’

  Whatever this was about, it sounded juicy. If Evie was being true to herself, she hadn’t expected much – if anything – from this call. Some new information, however, sounded most intriguing. ‘What is it, Rebecca? This can go public or remain confidential. It’s entirely up to you. Just tell me what you want to tell me.’

  ‘It’s just… John had a bit of a way about him. The way he spoke to women… He was always badgering them. There were a lot of sexual harassment complaints about him.’

  Evie shot up, searching madly for a pen amidst the towers of paperwork. ‘Sexual harassment, you say? And how was it handled, if you don’t mind my asking?’ She found the pen she’d been looking for. Click.

  ‘Mmm. He refused to admit to them, kicked up a real stink about it.’ Rebecca took a moment and came back with a clearer voice, as though her confidence had been restored. ‘We – my assistant manager and I – contacted the police.’

  ‘It would be on record then?’

  ‘Not a police record, I’m afraid.’

  Evie chewed on the end of her pen. ‘Why not?’

  ‘The policeman they sent, he was friends with Matthews. There was no getting by him, seeing as how he had the authority and all. In the end we just had to let go of the poor girls who felt threatened by him.’

  Christ. The plot thickens. Evie was relieved to be discovering hidden roots. If she could follow them, she might just find what she was looking for. ‘Do you have the name of this policeman, by any chance?’

  ‘Oh, uh… I forget,’ Rebecca stuttered. ‘Limp. No…’

  Evie felt her muscles seize up. She thought she knew exactly what was coming.

  ‘Detective Little! That was his name. I remember now, because he wasn’t little at all.’ She let out a nervous giggle. ‘His name was Detective Little, and he swept the whole thing under the rug.’

  32

  Evie waited until the opportune moment, when she could see Detective Little leave the police station. Clearly off-duty, he was loosening his tie as he walked to the underground parking lot. Hopefully he would go home now, and stay there until she’d done what she needed to do.

  Steeling herself for the coming confrontation, she crossed the road and entered through the front door of the station. At the main desk right in front of her, a lazy-eyed officer in a blue uniform guarded the swing-gate.

  Evie approached.

  ‘Excuse me, I’d like to report an abuse of authority.’

  Without giving her the slightest look, he reached down in front of his knees and then dropped a clipboard onto the desk. ‘Fill this out and come back when it’s done.’

  Evie ignored the clipboard. ‘I’m afraid it’s urgent. Can I speak to somebody now?’

  Now the officer turned to her, staring with his beady, deadpan eyes. ‘Fill-this-out-and-then-come-back,’ he said slowly, as if talking to an unintelligent child.

  I don’t have time for this.

  It would draw attention to her – she had known that before she’d done it – but Evie stormed past the swinging, knee-high doors that reminded her of saloons in those old spaghetti westerns.

  ‘Hey!’ the officer barked. ‘You can’t just go in there!’

  Evie drowned out the sound of his voice and kept walking. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was supposed to be going, she only hoped that if she walked far enough then the right policeman would stop to help her.

  But nothing of the sort happened.

  Multiple officers rose from their desks, some with their hands going straight to their gun holsters. It was bravado, of course, as she clearly wasn’t a threat to anyone. She was merely a citizen who wanted to be heard.

  ‘Relax,’ said a tired old voice from beside her.

  Evie noticed how quickly everyone obeyed that command, and turned to study the man. He was small, wearing an out-of-fashion beige suit. His skin was liver-spotted, and what little hair he had was greying. ‘You in charge?’

  ‘Apparently, you are.’ The man chuckled pleasantly. ‘But I’m the captain here. Now, what seems to be the problem?’

  ‘Could we do this privately?’

  Assessing her thoroughly, the captain edged away and showed her through to his office. It was surprisingly small, considering that he had the pick of the rooms. There was little space for his bowling trophies along the wall-length cabinet, and an old, faded picture of a pretty, middle-aged woman sat perfectly on his desk. ‘Now, how can I help you, Miss…’

  ‘Black. Evie Black,’ she told him, and offered a handshake. She filled him in on the details, careful not to leave anything out. This was probably her only chance to get what she needed, and she made damn sure not to screw it up.

  ‘I’m going to have to involve Internal Affairs,’ said the captain – whose badge read Captain Moore. He had been listening so intently that Evie hadn’t stopped for a moment to breathe. ‘In the meantime, try not to do anything silly.’

  ‘How long will this take?’

  ‘Could take a few days. They’d have to open up an investigation and–’

  Evie shook her head. ‘That’ll be too late.’ She stood and gave a fake smile – a simple gesture of gratitude. ‘Can I leave this in your capable hands? I have somewhere I need to be.’

  And time is running out, she thought as she went for the door.

  33

  As The City That Never Sleeps began to doze off, Evie sneakily made her way to John Matthews’ apartment. The lights were off when she got there, which either meant that John was in bed, or out.

  Hopefully the latter, Evie thought, peering through the window.

  Either way, time was running out – the trial was tomorrow, so she had to act fast. If she didn’t, Calvin Durant would be found guilty for sure. With that horrific image vivid in her mind, Evie dropped to a knee, slid the hairpin out of her hair, and used it to pick the lock.

  Thank you Internet. You’ve taught me so much.

  The door popped open with a creak, granting her access. Evie stepped right in, kept the lights off and closed the door. With the light from her cell phone, she searched around the place, careful not to make any noise.

  Rummaging through the drawers brought her no help whatsoever, and the perfectly tidy paperwork on John’s coffee table proved absolutely useless. But Evie was determined to find something inside. When her eyes shifted to the trashcan in the corner of the room, a tiny glimmer of hope filled her.

  She crossed the room, hoping to get a good look through the man’s belongings – or ex-belongings, if you chose to see it that way. If nothing the man kept was giving any clues, then what he’d decided to discard might do just that.

  Evie knelt, setting her phone on the floor and ready to reach an arm inside, when suddenly the living room light flickered on.

  ‘What the hell is this?’

  She turned to the source of the voice, where John Matthews stood wearing nothing but ugly red pyjama pants. His face was even redder, and a vein in his forehead looked just about ready to pop.

  ‘I…’ How on earth do I explain this?

  John Matthews walked towards her, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to her feet. ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing in my apartment? This is my home!’

  The game was up. There was no way to go but with the truth. ‘I know what you did, Matthews,’ Evie said, knocking his hand away and standing up to him. She hadn’t realise
d quite how tall he was before, especially in contrast to her petite frame. ‘I know you harassed a lot of women at the grocery store. I know Detective Little got you off the hook. Likely, you killed Sadie and Emma Durant, too. And better yet, the police know. So go ahead and hit me. We’ll see how long you last after that.’

  John stood staring at her, his eyes wide and his clenched fists shaking. He was about to strike her, she could feel it. But when he shoulder-smashed his way past her and opened the front door, Evie felt an overbearing sense of relief.

  ‘Get out,’ he said. ‘Get out right now, and never come back. I don’t want to hear your silly little conspiracy theories. Nobody does. So just go.’

  Evie felt a shudder as she passed him cautiously. A part of her felt that this might be a trap – that he would grab her at the last moment and beat her senseless. But when the door slammed shut behind her, a different thought occurred to her: why didn’t he call the police? Surely a normal person would have.

  Unless, Evie thought, that person didn’t want the police snooping around their apartment. And that in itself was enough to convince her that John Matthews had a larger part in this than he had let on.

  She just had to prove it.

  34

  The next morning, Evie awoke from her half-sleep to an urgent pounding on the door.

  ‘Who is it?’ she called, looking everywhere for a shirt to slide over her naked breasts.

  ‘It’s Captain Moore.’

  Moore? What the hell is he doing here? Internal Affairs couldn’t possibly have found some dirt on Detective Little already, and she’d been with John Matthews for only a small portion of last night. She checked her watch: eight o’clock. Too early for Durant to have been convicted. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Ideally,’ Moore muffled through the door, ‘I’d like you to open up.’

  Evie sighed, found something to wear, and pulled the door open.

  Captain Moore stood in his uniform, his briefcase tucked up under his arm. It looked as though he’d been on his way to the station to start a day’s work, but his mouth curved into an uncomfortable frown. ‘Bed hair, Miss Black.’

  Ashamed of her appearance, Evie let out an exasperated breath and waved him in while she found a brush. ‘So, what’s going on? I take it you’re not here to make small talk about my hair. Unless you want me to recommend a good stylist?’

  He laughed at that, if only for a second. ‘I need a favour, actually.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘We’ve just discovered that John Matthews has a flight to London at midday…’ Moore took a pair of glasses from his pocket, breathed on them, rubbed them clean and placed them on his nose. ‘It’s a one-way ticket.’

  That sneaky son of a bitch! Evie wanted to scream, but found herself only mumbling as she re-entered the room with a hairbrush gripped tightly in her hands. ‘Why are you here, then? Shouldn’t you be stopping him from leaving the country or something?’

  ‘That’s precisely why I am here. IA told us to keep our hands away from Matthews and Little. I can put in a request to have him stopped, but I doubt it would go through the system in time.’

  ‘What do you suggest?’ Evie asked, although she had a feeling she already knew.

  ‘It has to be you, Miss Black.’

  ‘I can’t. I have to be at Durant’s trial.’

  ‘To watch what you could be preventing? Listen to me,’ he placed his hand softly on her shoulder, gazing into her eyes, ‘if you can find a way to have him arrested, it would look like you’re just making false accusations. We can keep him overnight based on that and it would lead to nothing, but it would give you your window of opportunity, wouldn’t it?’

  Evie supposed he was right. She could stop him, and that would keep him in the country until after the trial. But it wouldn’t prove anything – not unless Internal Affairs managed to uncover something from Detective Little. ‘Fine,’ she said, grabbing her keys. ‘Which airport?’

  ‘JFK, Miss Black,’ said Captain Moore. ‘JFK.’

  35

  Airport security did nothing but dismiss her – with a curious look of suspicion on their faces that she would later identify as their thinking she was a crazy person. But she was nothing of the sort. At least she didn’t think so.

  Midday was coming close, and Evie had her eye on John Matthews. He was travelling alone, with only a small bag slung over his shoulder as he joined the line to check in. She wanted to approach him, to tell him that he was a bag of shit, and then make a citizen’s arrest. Did she even know how? She had an idea that she didn’t.

  The line shifted, and Matthews moved forward. There were only ten or so people in front of him now, some of them families and some of them friends. It wouldn’t be long before he handed over his ticket, and that would be the end of it – bye-bye John Matthews, and with him, the truth about Sadie and Emma Durant.

  ‘Excuse me, miss.’

  Evie turned to the deep, commanding voice, only to see another member of airport security. Although it probably made her look suspicious, she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off the gun on his hip. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Is there something I can help you with?’

  ‘No.’ Her eyes now wandered nervously all over the place. ‘Why do you ask?’

  The guard laughed and lowered his gaze. ‘Between you and me,’ he said, ‘the other guards have their eyes on you. And I couldn’t help but notice that you haven’t looked away from that man in over ten minutes.’ He was pointing, of course, at Matthews.

  But that gave her an idea.

  She tried to remember what Captain Moore had said – that she only needed him detained long enough for the trial. So if only a couple hours would be enough… ‘Yeah, something odd is going on there,’ she said, playing what was perhaps her only remaining card.

  ‘Something… odd?’

  ‘That man – I know him. Well, I know who he is. He’s been stalking my friend a lot lately. See, they were dating up til recently.’

  The guard crossed his arms, and his head dipped as he listened closely.

  ‘Every now and then he turns up at her house, telling her that if she doesn’t get back with him then he’s going to kill himself, and that he’ll take a lot of people with him. It was crazy talk.’ Evie licked her lips, wondering just how false this bullshit story of hers sounded. ‘I didn’t believe him until now, but you don’t suppose…’

  ‘Just so we’re clear,’ the guard said, lowering his hands to his hips, ‘you’re making an accusation that this man might have plans to sabotage the aircraft?’

  It sounded so threatening coming from his deep voice – so final. ‘Yes,’ Evie said. ‘I guess that is what I’m saying.’ She stepped back then, watching the guard squeeze through the crowd and head towards John Matthews.

  This could be good, she thought, watching, or it could get me in an awful lot of trouble.

  36

  There was only an hour until the murder trial when Evie turned up at the police station in a cab. Having phoned ahead, Captain Moore was waiting for her on the front steps, Starbucks cup in hand.

  ‘Well done,’ he said as he opened the door for her and paid the driver.

  ‘I just hope it’s enough.’

  ‘Oh, it should be. They’ve made a move on Detective Little.’

  Evie stopped, mouth open, staring. ‘I thought… I thought you said it was too soon.’

  ‘It was, but Internal Affairs picked up on his phone records.’

  ‘And?’

  Moore escorted Evie through the police station, stopping only when they reached his office door. ‘You were right. There were phone calls between Little and Matthews, so they definitely knew each other. There were even some text messages talking about “clearing up the mess.”’

  ‘From when?’

  ‘The night of the murders.’ Moore took a sip from his cup, hiding his smile badly.

  ‘Good,’ Evie said, looking around her. The adrenaline was flooding through her now.
It was making her restless. ‘What about Little? What’s the next step?’

  ‘Being interrogated as we speak.’

  ‘And his house is being searched for evidence?’

  Captain Moore shrugged. ‘We got an arrest warrant. The search warrant is pending. Problem is,’ he looked at his watch, ‘it might be too late by then. You might just have to take what you have and run it over to Durant’s attorney.’

  Evie took a deep breath, mulling over her choices. The captain was right – she could head into the trial and give what she had. But would it be enough? She doubted it, and that only left one option. ‘This time I need a favour from you.’

  Moore opened the door and waved her in, setting down his cup. ‘Go on.’

  ‘We have less than an hour until the trial. I can be in and out of Little’s home by then. I’ll need you to do two things: turn a blind eye while I obtain some evidence.’

  ‘You want me to let you break the law?’

  Evie leaned over his desk, giving him the courtesy of eye contact. ‘Yes.’

  Moore looked over her at the open door. ‘And the second thing?’

  ‘You’ll have to be at that courthouse. Any evidence brought in late probably won’t be admissible. If you’re there, Durant stands a much stronger chance at being heard.’ When Evie said this, it suddenly became clear to her that she believed Calvin Durant – she somehow knew that he was innocent. The final hurdle was to convince everyone else, and that was no walk in the park.

  For the first time since she’d first met him, the captain looked stressed. He sat back in his chair, interlaced his fingers and brought them down on his head, rubbing hard. With a sigh, he looked up at her and said…

  37

  ‘Yes, your Honour.’

  Judge Dupuis gave a stern look to Captain Moore. ‘Very well, then. Any further evidence must be submitted now, and not a moment later. A separate trial will be held for John Matthews and Detective Dennis Little. You can organise that in due course.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Moore came back to the defence table, joining Calvin Durant and Sam Fitzgerald. Evie was there, too, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing harder than she should have. It was only nerves, but they weren’t easing up.