by Ruby Loren
“Or, we could just say you assaulted us,” Rosalie said, proving that she hadn’t yet given up being a pain.
“You’re already going to be in some serious trouble for killing people and covering it up. We’re offering you the chance to hand yourselves in and a far lighter sentence. This was a crime that happened seven years ago, and if you tell the police what you told us, you’ll probably be out again in a few years. But if someone were to tell the police that it wasn’t all just some youthful misunderstanding, which resulted in the tragic deaths of the Abraham family - and be able to back that up with evidence that you tried to kill us twice in the last week - I don’t think the court’s decision will be quite as light,” I said, hating that we were essentially taking years off their sentences. But it was as Katya said, we couldn’t afford to get any deeper into ‘the company’s’ bad books.
“Okay, fine,” Matthew agreed.
“If you say anything, you know what will happen,” Katya reminded them. They both nodded. “If you don’t hand yourselves in, the same thing happens.” She dialled 999 and called an ambulance for Rosalie, who was looking worse by the second and was starting to breathe strangely. I felt bad about leaving the pair in this state, but I was also mindful of Katya’s words.
“Do you think they’ll run?” I asked her when we were on our way back down to Sussex.
She tilted her head from side to side. “Probably not. I messaged a contact. He’ll have anonymously tipped the police off as to who the couple are, and where they’re going. I’m not actually trusting them to hand themselves in when they’ve done a runner before.”
“What about us? Do you think they’ll say anything?”
“That’s more of a fifty-fifty toss up,” she said. “We’ll deal with it if it happens.”
I nodded seriously.
“Welcome to how your life is going to be from now on,” Katya said. I looked over but she wasn’t joking.
17
See you Soon
I’d love to be able to say that in the end things all worked out for the best, but I’m not so sure that they did. I’d wanted to figure out what happened to the Abraham family to give the surviving members (the sisters I’d thought both still lived) and those involved with them some closure. Instead, I’d found out that they were the ones responsible. The family had also been the topic of much local intrigue over the years. I’d been the one to end the wild theories of alien abduction with the (far worse, in my opinion) truth that it was just another case of violence between humans.
Officer Kelly had called me up to let me know that someone had told the Welsh police that two missing persons who were wanted in a murder investigation were currently at the Royal Gwent Hospital. “Imagine that?” she’d said, her voice heavy with implication.
“Mmm,” was all I’d said in response.
The papers loved covering the conclusion of the Abraham story, especially when the real tale came out the next day, as published by the police. Derek Hurst was all over it. I wondered if this time, covering the grand finale, his front page stories would end up on his living room wall.
Audrey Lane, who’d been living as Fiona Kendal, had been arrested, too. After denying everything when she’d been brought in, prior to our discovery of Matthew Abraham alive and well in Wales, she’d then admitted everything and even claimed it was all her big idea to get the money from the sale of the farm and the life insurance policy payout. I’m sure the police knew as well as I did that the elderly Mrs Kendal was trying to take the rap for something that had probably only happened because of a violent disagreement between Rosalie and Molly. After that, she was the one who’d done her best to make it so that it was kept quiet and they all benefited from the deaths. Even so, the police did acknowledge that Rosalie and Matthew had been young and made a mistake. The book was thrown at Mrs Kendal, but it seemed very likely that the then-young couple wouldn’t see a harsh sentence.
According to the police, they hadn’t displayed any sign of violent behaviour since the unfortunate deaths of the Abraham family. I hoped we’d done the right thing by cutting our deal not to tell the police the truth about that. The world was giving them a second chance. Perhaps they’d make the right choices this time around.
When I’d handed in my final review the next day to an uncaring Amanda, I’d come face to face with Lowell. Not wanting an argument, I’d tried to walk away, but he’d followed me across the hill.
“I need to tell you what happened at the publishing company. I don’t like this either, but it is my job, as part of the operation.”
“I thought the operation was over,” I’d replied, flippantly. The security team had disappeared from Mellon Zoo, and I wasn’t sure if anyone was actually running the place anymore. Zookeepers looked after their animals, but I could sense the growing worry amongst them that there was no captain at the helm.
“This one is over, but you need to be debriefed.”
I finally stopped walking and turned to face Lowell. The March breeze caught my curling blonde hair and tossed it back and forth across my glasses. The weather was lively and the smell of spring danced in the air.
“Okay,” I said, deciding that there was no use fighting anymore. It was better to get it out of the way.
All of a sudden, Lowell didn’t look quite so enthusiastic about sharing the news. His eyes moved from mine to the clouds, hanging suspended in the blue distance.
“It all went wrong,” he said after a moment.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Today was supposed to be my second day of grace to supposedly get over finding the bodies on the roof. I hadn’t heard anything from Jordan, or Rock and Roll Publishing, but then, I hadn’t expected to.
“We made our move early this morning, hoping to catch them all in bed.” He frowned at the distance. “There was no one there. They’d all gone.”
“What?” I was baffled. Did he really mean an entire publishing company and my literary agent had managed to vanish at precisely the right moment in time in order to avoid being caught?
“Someone must have told them,” I said, knowing I was stating the obvious.
“Well, sure, but who? The only people who knew enough about the publishing operation were Ms Borel, Mr Flannigan, me, and, to some extent, Katya - simply because she was supposed to be monitoring you and had to know enough to find out what you knew. The team we brought in to do the strike had no idea about the operation. We gave them the targets on the morning, and we monitored every form of communication. Katya hasn’t made any calls or communications either. There’s only one other person who knew enough to warn them.”
I realised Lowell was looking at me.
“Seriously? I didn’t even have my phone switched on all of yesterday, and I’m sure you monitored the call I did make to Jordan about me taking some time off.” Now that I thought back, I did remember hearing something different in Jordan’s voice when I’d called him. Had he known about the planned strike even then, or had I inadvertently given something away? I shook the thought away. If I’d done that, then I was sure I’d have heard all about it from Ms Borel and Flannigan.
“You aren’t under suspicion. I just wondered. I could understand why you might want to get revenge.”
“What’s the point? Everything bad has already happened. Getting even doesn’t help anyone. Who would be nuts enough to tip off a massive criminal organisation just to try to settle a score?” I shook my head.
The problem was… someone had done exactly that, or at least, something along those lines.
“Right. Well, the bottom line is, they’re gone. After an inquiry into what went wrong, which is probably going to find nothing at all, we’ll be regrouping and starting again when they start again.” He shrugged. “They must know we know their methods now, so they’ll probably change them. Perhaps they even had a clue we were onto them the last time they disappeared - back when we thought it had just happened by chance at the end of a job. They always like to use product sales,
but who knows what they’ll try this time? Maybe they’ll even set their own businesses up and sell on social media channels. Then we’ll have a really tough time getting close to them. You can’t easily infiltrate the life of an online seller in order to figure out who they really are. You can see why the government hates the internet.”
I raised my eyebrows at that sweeping statement but let it lie.
“Not to be self-centred,” I said, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice after everything that had been done, “but what happens to my comic books?”
Lowell shrugged. “No idea. I work for the service, not the publishing company.”
“Great,” I said, hugely unimpressed.
Lowell’s eyes moved away from the horizon to meet mine. “When I first met you, that was all real. You know I wasn’t on assignment then. I really was attracted to you.”
“Thanks, that’s such a huge compliment. Almost as good as when you told me you loved me to try to keep me with you when you noticed I was starting to figure some things out. Nothing like telling a girl you love her to try to convince her to stay, am I right?” I turned the full force of my death stare on him.
“Madi, I do have feelings for you. If things had been different, and there hadn’t been the operation to think of…”
“But they weren’t different. You used me as part of your operation. I’m not going to chase revenge. I’m not even going to yell at you. Now that this is all over, I just want to be left alone to live my life with someone who actually does love me.”
“It’s not as simple as that…” Lowell started to say, but I held up a hand to stop him.
“I think it probably is. What use am I to anyone you work with? The operation is over. Jordan probably knows I was just your bait. I bet he thinks I was either in on it from the start, or at least knew something. I reckon he gives me more credit for stuff like that than you do.”
“Are you saying you still like him?” Lowell’s dark eyes flashed.
I tossed my hair back and looked up at the sky in exasperation. “Is this some sort of competition to you? If you’re asking if I like him better than you, then of course I do! He was always nice and respectful to me. If you think about it, they actually helped artists and writers by publishing their work. They never stole anything from them.”
“Wait a second - I’d better tell the service to stop looking for them because they helped a few people out, which makes them the good guys really.”
I took a deep breath. “I said I wasn’t going to argue with you anymore. You’ve said your part and given me all the answers I’m allowed to know. I’ve just handed in my final review of the zoo, and now I’m leaving.” I struggled to find my words for a moment, wondering whether to wish him well, or luck in the next job. In the end I just settled for saying: “Goodbye, Lowell,” for what felt like the hundredth time. I mentally added on ‘I hope I never see you again’. I’d actually found myself hoping that ever since things started to become clear in Cornwall.
This time, I thought I may actually get my wish.
I walked down the hill towards my car and didn’t look back.
I spent the rest of the morning staring at my sketchbook. It was filled with storylines I’d written for the next book that I’d signed a contract for. Now I had no idea what to do with them. Did I ditch the lot and just carry on with my webcomic, or did I try to publish it myself? What even happened to the book that had been published and all of the things I was supposed to be scheduled to do? I’d glanced at the internet and had already seen whisperings about my absence from the media for two days, and my press cancellations. Those whisperings were only going to get louder if I sat around and did nothing. Perhaps it might even lead to a few people getting close to the truth - and surely the service wouldn’t want that to happen? I could see why the unexpected success of my comic had made life difficult for the criminals but even more dangerous for the people trying to catch them.
I was still looking at a blank page when my doorbell rang. I walked downstairs and opened the door to find a man holding a special delivery package. It was only after I’d signed for it and taken the thick envelope inside that I wondered if it might be dangerous. Jordan and Co. knew where I lived. It wouldn’t be hard for them to slip something deadly in the post to me… something like anthrax, or even a tiny bomb!
I gently placed the letter onto the kitchen table and wondered why it hadn’t been intercepted at the post office, or something. Wasn’t this quite an obvious way to attack someone? I thought back to the delivery man and realised he’d been in an unmarked van. Perhaps he wasn’t really a delivery man at all.
I wondered if I should call someone to check if it was safe, but the idea of asking them for help rubbed me the wrong way. I was still deliberating when Lucky jumped up onto the table and sniffed the envelope.
“No!” I said, horribly worried there was something wrong with it. My little cat made eye contact with me before kicking the envelope off onto the floor - where it didn’t explode - before batting it around the floor for a bit.
“Okay, message received. It’s probably safe,” I said, privately thinking there should be such a thing as sniffer cats. After all we’d been through together, I trusted Lucky’s judgement. He’d got his name for a good reason.
I picked the letter up from the floor and opened it. A bunch of official looking papers fell out along with a printed note. I read the note first.
Your rights are now your own. Find a publishing company and make sure they pay what you’re worth. Stick to the terms you want. You don’t need an agent any more. Check your bank account.
I always believed in your comics.
Goodbye.
A quick glance at the papers showed me that it was just as the note said - all of my book’s rights had reverted to me, as of today. “Looks like I’d better start calling up publishers,” I said to Lucky. The note made it sound simple, but even with my current success, would anyone want to take me on - especially when I wanted to keep doing my online comic for free? I didn’t know. I didn’t even know where to start looking for a publisher.
I turned on my laptop and went to check my bank account. There was a lot of money in there. The note by the payment was titled ‘royalties’, which must be what I was owed, having earned back my original advance and then sold even more preorders, and presumably a good number on launch day, too. I’d been strangely out of touch with it all, due to the secret service and my finding of the Abrahams. I clicked on the payment and found there was a description attached.
Some of us pay people what they're worth.
I’d never expected to feel empathy for a group of criminals, but here I was, thinking more highly of them than the supposed good guys. It was a strange old world.
On a whim, I opened up my email account to see if the onslaught of fan mail had died down. There were still hundreds of messages coming in that I realised I needed to hire someone to deal with. I assumed that my current virtual assistant (whom I’d hired on a recommendation) was probably some sort of criminal, too. Amongst the fan mail were several emails with titles along the lines of ‘Publishing rights’ and ‘Publishing contract offer’. I opened the first one out of curiosity and discovered that - somehow - word had got out that I was looking for a new publisher. There was certainly a lot of interest. I sat back at the kitchen table and stroked Lucky when he jumped up onto my lap. Jordan must have managed to share the news whilst also disappearing just at the right moment. I wondered if the service knew all of this. Probably. They did have access to my email, after all. I supposed it was just more evidence that they’d known about the plan to stop their operation in advance. All of this had been set up to go into motion.
It was surprisingly thoughtful and made me wonder even more about the shades of grey that exist between right and wrong.
I was still mulling it over when my phone rang and Tiff’s name flashed up on the screen.
“Madi, you’ve got to come to Avery Zoo right away! So
mething’s happened…” she said and hung up.
I stared at the phone and wondered if I should call back. Whatever it was, it sounded bad. Especially if Tiff was the only one who’d managed to call me. A horrible thought occurred to me. Had something happened to Auryn?
It was with my heart in my mouth that I ran outside and jumped into the car, only to find Lucky in the passenger seat. I looked at him for a moment and he meowed.
“Okay, fine! We’re in this together,” I said and drove off to find out what terrible thing had happened at Avery Zoo.
Everything was quiet when I pulled into the car park. There were a few cars dotted around the place, but so few it made me wonder if they’d had to evacuate the zoo of visitors. It was almost as if the whole place had been closed!
I got out of the car and Lucky jumped out after me. Together, we walked through the eerily empty reception. “Where is everyone?” I muttered.
Lucky meowed and walked ahead, as if leading me towards the answer to my question.
I followed him out across the open area of green grass, where the Winter Wonderland had been and visitors liked to picnic in the warmer months.
Empty.
It was all empty.
I pulled my phone out deciding it was time I tried to call Tiff again. I was about to press dial when the door of the shop swung open and someone walked out across the grass towards me.
It was Auryn, and he was alone.
“What’s happening? Where is everyone? Tiff said something had happened…”
“Something has happened,” Auryn said, his voice solemn. “But it’s something good.”