Why?
The only reason he could come up with was to silence Shelly and the gunman. Both obviously knew too much, but too much about what?
The information Shelly had given him had been garbled, to say the least. A group of families, stretching back God knows how many centuries, who controlled everything, even down to the global credit crunch that she insisted was coming this winter and would affect just about every country in the world. Dave certainly knew nothing about the so-called families. He only knew the tyrant who had ruled their lives, thinking of him as a cult leader.
Actually, the more Mike thought about it, the more frighteningly possible it did become.
'No,' he muttered, arguing with himself. 'Pure fiction.'
'Sorry?' Westwood said, giving Mike an odd look.
'Nothing, just thinking aloud.’
'He does it a lot,' Kristina snapped, walking in. 'So, can you tell us anything before you take him away?'
'There’s one thing I need to ask you.' Ignoring Kristina, she looked at Mike.
'Go ahead.'
'Is this body in the same position as you left it?'
Pretending not to notice the scowl on Kristina’s face, Mike answered. 'Near enough. He wasn’t going anywhere, and Shelly barely had the strength in her to move.'
'Then I’m pretty sure the murderer is left-handed.'
'You can tell that? How?' Kristina asked.
'The angle that the throats have been cut.' She used a slashing movement with her right hand to demonstrate. 'A right-handed person would slash from right to left, a left-handed person from left to right.'
'Tony is right-handed,' Mike said quietly.
'Tony who?' Westwood asked.
Before Mike could answer, Kristina asked. 'Why would he slit him open like that? I mean, he had to be in a hurry.'
Shrugging, Westwood looked down at the body, before giving Kristina a quick appraisal and saying, 'Heaven knows.'
'Because he’s taking the piss. He knew Shelly had spilled her guts, and he in his arrogance was going to spill hers. Only not enough time. But he’s left her a warning.' Mike gritted his teeth as he took out his mobile.
'Shit, no reception in here. Kristina, phone from outside and get an armed guard on Shelly, now.'
Nodding, Kristina hurried outside.
'This bastard thinks he’s invincible.' He looked at Westwood. 'Everything, I need everything you can get me, the smallest detail. OK?'
Westwood nodded. She pulled a white mask from her pocket. The smell in the confined space was becoming unbearable. Before putting the mask on, she said, 'I assure you, you will get everything I can possibly come up with to catch this renegade.'
Kristina came back in, and shot the pathologist an odd look, wondering at her strange choice of word for the murderer.
Before she could comment, Mike said, 'Come on, Kristina.' Turning, he left the room.
'What’s up?' she asked, catching up to him in the main corridor.
'I need to talk to Dave.'
'You mean, Brother David?'
Mike paused slightly, a breath of a movement, that no one who didn’t know him well would not have noticed. But Kristina knew that Mike had never really accepted the fact that Dave had chosen the holy life.
They reached the door where Brother David was being interviewed. Mike gave a single knock, and opened the door when he heard someone say, 'Come in.'
'Excuse me,' he said to the officer, a pale-faced young man with a huge gap in his front teeth. 'Can I have a few words?'
'Certainly, sir.' The young officer nodded at Brother David, who looked up at Mike, a question in his eyes.
'This Leader, is he left-handed or right-handed?'
'Left-handed,' Brother David replied without hesitation.
' Do any of his followers look like him?'
Again Brother David’s reply was quick. 'Actually, yes, and I know what you’re thinking. Once or twice… certain mannerisms have seemed strange, different, if you know what I mean. It wasn’t Tony, was it?' His last words were said with relief. He had prayed over the dead body, and could still see the horrific picture behind his eyes. He waited anxiously for Mike to say something.
Before Mike could reply, Kristina’s mobile rang. Fishing it out of her pocket, she said, 'Hello.' She listened for a moment then, her face grim, she switched it off. 'Mike, turn your phone on.'
Frowning, Mike took his mobile out. Message after message from Smiler. 'Shit. What the hell?' He listened to the latest frantic message.
Slowly he put his phone away. Staring at Brother David, he said, 'Aunt May is in Newcastle Hospital. She’s been hit on the head. It’s serious.'
When they got to the hospital, Mike spotted Smiler smoking outside the gate. Stopping the car, he jumped out. Kristina, climbing into the driver's seat, said sarcastically, 'I’ll park it.'
As she drove off, Brother David looked at Smiler, who was wiping his face, and staring at Mike with undisguised relief. Mike had told him as much as he knew about Smiler on the way over.
Mike held his hand out for a cigarette. 'So what the hell happened?' He puffed raggedly on the cigarette as Smiler told him how he and Tiny had found Aunt May.
Five minutes later, the four of them were around her bed.
Aunt May lay unmoving, wired up to various machines. Mike was about to look for a doctor, because Smiler had very little information as to her condition, when the doctor in charge walked in,
Knowing what questions would be asked, the doctor said, before any of them could speak, 'I’m afraid she is in a coma.'
'No!' Brother David said. Stepping closer, he took hold of her hand and began to pray.
'She’s had a massive trauma to the back of her head.'
'So when will she…' Mike looked hopefully at the doctor.
'I’m sorry, I really don’t know. It could be an hour from now, tomorrow, or----'
'Never.' Mike cut him off.
Kristina gripped his arm. 'She’ll come through this, Mike, you know how tough she is.'
'That’s always a help in these cases,' the doctor said. 'And he’s got the right idea.' He looked at Brother David, who was still praying.
Mike sighed, and chewed the inside of his bottom lip. He wanted to cry like everyone else, but tears would get him nowhere. He needed action.
'You stay with her, Dave.'
Brother David nodded, and made the sign of the cross as he said, 'You do what you have to do, Mike. I’ll be here waiting.'
Mike nodded at him. For a moment, their eyes locked. Then Mike turned away. 'Come with me,' he said to Kristina and Smiler.
An hour later, they were on Holy Island, walking through the cemetery towards the monastery. Smiler had been babbling the whole way here about the Lindisfarne Gospels, how they had been dropped overboard into the sea centuries ago, then found later completely intact. Knowing that it was his way of dealing with things, Mike had let him get it out.
Now, though, as they reached the spot where Smiler had found her, Mike held his hand up for Smiler to be quiet.
Silently, they gazed down at the spot. Mike guessed rightly that the brown marks trailing down the ancient walls were Aunt May’s blood. As he stared at the bloodstains, he vowed to capture the bastards responsible, no matter how long it took, or wherever it took him. He would search every nook and cranny of the world until he had the weasels in his hands. Then they would regret ever having been born.
'Someone’s been digging here.' Kristina knelt down. 'It’s pretty deep. Wonder if they found what they were looking for?'
Mike wasn’t listening. He was watching another helicopter, only this one was leaving the island from the field near to the castle. He watched until it was a speck in the sky, and smaller than the birds that had become airborne with it.
'Mike,' Kristina said, as she rose and pointed at the hole. 'Look.'
Mike looked down. He had seen the hole, but now that Kristina had moved and wasn’t casting a shadow over it, he not
iced a tiny glint of gold. He picked it up, and sighed heavily. The gold was a small Celtic cross. He, Tony and Dave had scraped together the cash that first year at Aunt May’s by doing as many jobs as they could – running errands for anyone, cleaning fish. Anything that they could do, they did, and bought it for Christmas for her. She never took it off.
Wrapping his fist around the cross, he again vowed silently to hunt down whoever was responsible for harming Aunt May, and God help the bastards when he caught them. It was obvious that the freak who had taken over the monastery was linked to this business.
And so was Tony.
His first stop was London, the first link was Tony. And he just better have the right answers.
Thorn In My Side Page 23