So Giles would have his man, at last, and in return Maik would exact the price they needed; reduced charges for Angeren in return for information on the whereabouts of Ray Hayes, and sworn testimony that would eventually convict him. Giles wouldn’t be happy, but he and Maik shared a pragmatic view of justice, and knew the compromises you had to make to achieve it. In the end, Simon Giles would agree. But Maik’s victory would be a hollow one. Jejeune’s fingers went to the pocket of his jacket, to the delicate filigree bookmark in a signed, sealed envelope; the evidence he could not turn over. At this point, to everyone else, Hayes was only a suspect. The bookmark was a personal message to Jejeune that Hayes was guilty. But as soon as Jejeune revealed it, he would be forced to recuse himself from the case. His former conviction, his girlfriend the target; he would be too close to the case, too involved. Even Colleen Shepherd wouldn’t be able to save him. It was why Hayes had left the bookmark: the final taunt. I did it, and now you can’t even come after me yourself. Jejeune would be denied further access to the evidence once he’d been removed from the case. But what if there were other, unintended messages on the bookmark, other clues that might one day help him find Hayes and end all this? He couldn’t risk handing it over until he knew for sure.
The disembodied voice on the tannoy summoned him once again to the flight that would take him away from Lindy and his life here in Britain. With a final look at the space where he knew she would not be, he turned and began walking to the departure gate. He made his way down a long corridor, thinking about the British spring he had seen on his journey to the airport. It had arrived in its full regalia; flowers blooming, trees budding. The migratory birds were returning in numbers, too. He wondered if he would ever see any of them again. It would take time for Sikorski to get the information about one of Angeren’s clients, time for Simon Giles to get the deals approved, but it didn’t matter. This short-term leave of absence, Angeren’s future testimony against Hayes, it was all a fiction he had sold them to get everyone to buy into this plan. Danny Maik would never find Ray Hayes. Hayes had left Jejeune evidence that he had attempted to murder Lindy. He was facing life in prison if he was caught. So he wouldn’t be. The first thing anybody told you about Ray Hayes — arresting officers, prison officials, social workers — was that he was clever. He would go into hiding, stay out of trouble, assume a new identity. Ray Hayes would become invisible. Curtis Angeren would not know where to find him. Nor would Danny Maik. No one would. And Hayes would make sure it stayed that way.
As long as Hayes believed Jejeune and Lindy had split up permanently, she was safe. If they remained apart, Hayes would not hurt her. But there was one other thing they could tell you about Ray Hayes, these prison officials, these social workers. He never gave up. He would never stop watching. And if Jejeune returned to Lindy, because he couldn’t stand to be away from her any longer, Hayes would know. And then he would strike, swiftly, suddenly, lethally. Because Hayes would know then that harming Lindy was still the way of causing Domenic Jejeune more pain than he could bear.
The tannoy voice summoned him again, this time by name. The final boarding call for Domenic Jejeune.
After all the versions of the truth he had faced in the previous days, the facts and non-facts and half-facts, he entered the departure gate knowing the only truth that mattered: despite Danny Maik’s best efforts, Ray Hayes would remain free. And that meant he could never return. Domenic Jejeune’s exile from all the things he loved was about to begin.
THE EURASIAN MAGPIE
Few birds have a longer or more complex relationship with humans than the Eurasian Magpie Pica pica. At least ten subspecies are distributed throughout Europe and Asia, and together with their closely-related North American counterpart, the Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia, the Magpie’s range encompasses virtually the entire northern hemisphere. Their striking black-and-white plumage and ability to thrive in human environments have made Eurasian Magpies one of the most recognizable species in the world. But this familiarity has bred a considerable amount of contempt. For centuries, the birds have been the object of mistrust and suspicion, and have been associated with a long list of undesirable traits. In Scottish folklore, a Magpie near the window of the house was thought to portend death. In Norway, a Magpie is considered a cunning bird of the underworld, while in Sweden, it is associated with witchcraft. In the myths and legends of numerous other cultures, the Magpie has been branded as a bandit and a thief.
The Eurasian Magpie also attracts its share of critics in the real world, and thousands of birds are legally killed every year by landowners who consider the species to be a pest. There is a particular poignancy to this wanton killing, given that Magpies are known to engage in “funerals” when one of their number dies. Both Eurasian and Black-billed Magpies have been recorded as gathering in numbers around the corpse of a dead bird, laying sprigs of vegetation beside it and then observing a short, silent vigil before flying away.
These funerals are part of a pattern of behaviour which reveals extremely high levels of cognitive functioning. Eurasian Magpies are known to tear food into appropriately-sized portions to match the developmental stage of their young. In captivity, the birds regularly use tools to clean their own cages. The region of the Magpie’s brain responsible for higher cognitive tasks is approximately the same in relative size as that of chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans. The Eurasian Magpie is also the only non-mammal species in the world capable of recognizing itself in a mirror. Such data have led many researchers to conclude that the Eurasian Magpie is one of the most intelligent of all non-human species.
It is estimated that the U.K. population of Eurasian Magpies has more than doubled in the past few decades, and it is a testament to the bird’s resourcefulness and adaptability that their numbers continue to grow when the populations of so many other bird species are in decline. Noisy, bold, and abundant, the bird will likely never win over all its detractors. But few people would deny that its intelligence, personality, and striking plumage make the Eurasian Magpie one of the most charismatic species in the avian world.
A Point Blank Book
First published in Great Britain, the United States and Australia by Point Blank, an imprint of Oneworld Publications, 2018
This ebook published 2018
First published in English by Dundurn Press Limited, Canada. This edition published by Oneworld Publications in arrangement with Dundurn Press Limited
Copyright © 2018 Steve Burrows and Dundurn Press Limited
The moral right of Steve Burrows to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78607-438-6
ISBN 978-1-78607-439-3 (ebook)
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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A Tiding of Magpies Page 33