Double Visions
Page 34
“There’s a body at the end of the pier.” Danny pointed behind him. “You’ll find that he was the senior partner to Martin Kline, the mastermind behind the murders. This is the end to the case, the ribbon on top of the parcel that answers all questions.”
Barrett motioned for the officers around him to check out the claim. They left, leaving the three of them alone.
“I don’t know what half-assed claims you’re about to make, Meyers, but I can assure you that they won’t stand.”
Jane watched as Danny pulled out a small phone from his pocket. “It’s amazing what these little devices can do these days, Sir; the video quality is quite excellent. I recorded an interview with one of the men that you sent after me and Randall Zerneck, or was it just Randall?” Never mind, the important thing is that he was very helpful with who sent them - namely you, Commander.”
“Where is Randall?” Jane asked, suddenly scared.
“He’s dead,” Danny answered bluntly. “Barrett sent his attack dogs to tie up loose ends.”
Jane watched on as the senior officer stared hard at Danny, trying to decide what leverage the man had. “That’s not proof of anything,” he finally said.
“Doesn’t have to be proof; just the merest whiff of scandal and I’m guessing that your bosses will drop you in a heartbeat. Your job depends on secrecy and a clean reputation - anything else and you’re finished.”
“What is that you want?” Barrett demanded.
“Just to walk away,” Danny replied. “Both of us.”
“No!” Jane snapped quickly. “He has to pay for Randall.”
“Men like him don’t pay, Jane,“ Danny said shaking his head. “Men like him never pay.”
“I can’t save your badge, Inspector. Your fleeing custody and questionable orders put paid to that.”
“That doesn’t matter. I can’t be a cop anymore.”
“Danny?” Jane said quickly.
“I’m done. What happened at St Joseph’s meant an end to that. I made the call to take us in there and people died because of that.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Jane said.
“Yes it was,” Danny replied sadly. “I made the call; it was my responsibility.”
“So you’ll just disappear?” Barrett said incredulously.
“You call off the dogs and we’ll do just that. You can clean up this mess any way that you see fit. Use it to further your reputation as a hero or bury it, I don’t care.”
Barrett stared long and hard before eventually turning away and barking orders into the radio on his lapel. Once Danny had heard enough he threw the phone over the side of the railing and into the sea.
Jane took his arm and together they started to walk back down the boardwalk towards the road.
“Who was he?” Barrett asked, nodding towards Simon’s body at the end of the pier.
“I never knew him,” Jane answered honestly. “I never got the chance.”
“So you what? You took out the memory card from the phone?” she whispered, once they were back in the rental car parked on the road outside.
“Nope,” Danny answered.
“You can’t be serious? What the hell are you doing trusting Barrett’s word?”
“There was never anything on the phone. I just wanted to make sure that it was Barrett who sent the men to kill Randall.”
“Then we go after Barrett,” she snarled.
“I wasn’t kidding before, Jane; men like Barrett never answer for their crimes. Someone else always ends up footing the bill.”
“I don’t accept that.”
“Sorry, but I don’t think it much matters what you accept.”
“So what do we do now?”
“We get the hell out of here and hope that Barrett doesn’t decide to come after us; maybe he’ll call it quits,” Danny shrugged.
“You think so?”
“Honestly? No. At some point he’s going to figure that us running around is not a wise move and one day our car brakes are gonna fail.”
“He can’t just sweep all of this under the carpet - not even Barrett can do that,” she said firmly.
“This and bigger. I’d imagine that Randall and the two dirty cops that I left by the side of the road have already been taken care of. Randall will turn up soon, either dying in an accident or of natural causes, and Simon will just disappear.”
Jane looked out of the car window as they pulled away. Barrett was standing on the pavement outside the pier entrance. His shoulders were back and his chest was out as he watched them drive away. There were several people all rushing around him carrying out duties but it was the one man standing rock still behind him that caught her eye. The man wasn’t quite really there but the spirit looked full of rage as he floated in and out in sepia tones.
“The way I see it, Barrett walks away clean and smelling of roses,” Danny continued “There’s no one that can touch him.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Jane said as she nodded to Randall Zerneck through the window as the dead man gave her a small nod back.
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ASYLUM – 13 TALES OF TERROR
A US Horror Chart #5 best seller
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AFTER DARKNESS FALLS
VARIOUS VOLUMES
10 tales of terror & the macabre
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