Enter The Dark

by Chris Thomas

  ‘I just felt as though I couldn’t let anything happen to the policeman. I knew he wanted revenge, but what good would that do for his little girl? She would just end up like me,’ replied Daisy, gazing out of the window as the fields flew past.

  ‘That’s no bad thing. You have a great deal of integrity, Daisy, which I admire. And I want to make sure that you receive as much help and as many resources as you need to be what you want to be. Because I think that you have the makings of an exceptional person.’

  She looked at him and smiled.

  ‘To Daisy,’ said Jarvis, as they clinked their glasses together. But she was already back to staring out of the car, head resting on the window as a tear rolled down her cheek.

  HARRIS SAT on a hay bale outside the farm building with his head in his hands. The place was swarming with activity now; uniformed officers, plain clothes officers, everyone. Across the yard at the entrance, a thin yellow line of tape held back the throngs of journalists, which had seemed to arrive within minutes, still shouting questions for the D.C.I. Harris glanced up to see white overall-clad scene of crime officers leaving, carrying a number of body bags. Even at this distance he could hear the multitude of clicks from the cameras with their enormous zoom lenses capturing the all-important action for the evening editions.

  A shiny pewter hipflask appeared in front of his face.

  ‘I think you might need some of this,’ said Smith.

  Harris looked up at him and pushed his hand away. As he got up to walk away he felt Smith’s hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Don’t feel bad, Pete, there’s nothing you could have done for any of these people,’ he said.

  Harris stopped in his tracks, laughed, and turned around. ‘I don’t care about these people. They’re welcome to kill each other. I could have died today. Olivia would have been left an orphan. But the worst part about it is that I couldn’t trust the people who were supposed to be on my side. You’re a part of it, aren’t you? That’s how they were always one step ahead. You could have had armed response here earlier, but they needed to get away. And you have the front to tell me not to feel bad.’

  ‘What are you talking about? I’m not part of anything,’ replied Smith, indignantly. ‘I’m the chief inspector of this department, and you would do well to remember that before you start making accusations. We will perform a thorough investigation into—’

  ‘Into what, exactly?’ interrupted Harris. ‘It’s utter bullshit and you know it.’

  ‘Sorry, Pete, but you have no conception of what’s been going on here. I’m not one of them, I haven’t been contacting them. If anything, I should have the credit for bringing this to an end. You probably don’t believe me but that’s your problem.’

  ‘You’re right, I don’t believe you,’ replied Harris, getting to his feet. ‘And no, it’s not my problem. Not anymore.’ He took his badge from his back pocket and threw it into the mud at Smith’s feet. ‘You’ll get my official resignation in due course.’

  ‘Pete …’ Smith began, hoping to make Harris understand as he turned away.

  But Harris just waved him off and continued his long walk through the crowd of people. They turned and looked at him as he passed, including a sorry-looking figure huddled under a brown blanket, sipping a cup of water.

  ‘Mister Henderson, how are you?’ he asked.

  ‘How do you fucking think? I could have been in one of those bags,’ replied Joe.

  ‘Well just be thankful that we didn’t arrest you on Saturday. At least now you have something that you use in your defence. Have a nice life, Mister Henderson. And if I can give you one piece of advice, stay away from the deep web.’

  Joe sniffed a sarcastic laugh and resumed gazing down at his feet.

  Harris walked to the squad car, where an officer was already holding the door open for him. He would be questioned for certain, but after that there was something that he needed to do.

  44

  ‘Here’s to Billy and his remarkable concrete-like head,’ said Joe, raising his pint of ale. Foam and beer splashed over the table as Rosco, Mike, and Billy all smashed their glasses against Joe’s. ‘I can’t explain how good it is to have you back, mate, it really is.’

  ‘Shut up,’ replied Billy, the red scars from his car crash still obvious across his face. ‘I’ll think you’ll want to start touching my arse or something.’

  ‘So, Joe,’ said Rosco, ‘glad to be free I bet? That was one close shave. Tell me again why an international criminal gang chose a little twat like you to kidnap.’

  ‘I think I was just unlucky,’ said Joe, checking to see if Billy was looking at him. ‘But luckily, the police seemed to be on my side, and because I was able to provide them with so much useful information, they let me go with a warning.’

  ‘But how the hell did you convince Ellie to come back, given that you managed to take the wedding of her dreams and royally fuck it up?’ asked Billy.

  ‘What’s he fucked up now? Budge up,’ said Ellie, as she barged Rosco along the bench.

  ‘Nothing, ignore them,’ said Joe. ‘Anyway, now that we’re all here, there’s something that I want to say.’

  ‘Great, another bloody sentimental speech. Is it going to take long, only I need a piss?’ moaned Mike.

  ‘No, not really. So, one thing that I never got around to before, when we were doing the wedding the first time round, if that makes sense, was to ask you three arseholes if you would do me the great honour of being my groomsmen.’

  ‘What, when you eventually get married? Of course, dickhead, it would be a pleasure,’ said Mike, now a little more excited as the other two nodded in agreement.

  ‘Billy, I would actually need you to do something a little more important. I need a best man.’

  Billy clinked the ring on his finger against the pint glass a few times before answering, ‘I’ll think about it.’

  Joe and Ellie looked at each other.

  ‘Of course I will,’ he said, finally, shaking Joe firmly by the hand.

  Ellie reached over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

  ‘And, finally, I have one last surprise for this beautiful woman here. Not only has she forgiven me for acting like the biggest idiot in the world, she has also helped me calm my parents down. For that I will be eternally grateful. So, firstly, I have here in my man-bag the actual real-life booking confirmation from the travel agent for our honeymoon. Two weeks, in a five star resort in the Maldives with first class return flights.’

  Ellie got up and wrapped her arms around him, squealing excitedly. ‘But how can you have booked the honeymoon? We don’t have a venue or a date.’

  ‘We do now,’ replied Joe, smugly. He reached into his bag and pulled out a glossy brochure which he handed to Ellie. ‘This came through the letterbox today.’

  ‘Wow, it looks amazing,’ she purred, as she flicked through the pages.

  ‘It is,’ said Rosco. ‘I went there once to do a plastering job. You’ll absolutely love it.’

  ‘But I’ve never heard of it,’ she said. ‘They were never at any of the wedding fairs.’

  ‘No, apparently they’ve only just opened up for functions. I rang them today and, luckily, they had our original date. And because they’re just starting out doing this, they’ll give us the works for a knockdown price, even throw in some photographs. I spoke to the head of the household, Gilbert I think he said his name was. There’s a beautiful stone gazebo out in the woods in the grounds of the house. That’s where we’ll be stood, right in the middle, there on that stone circle.’

  Ellie threw her arms around his neck.

  ‘Oh, Joe! It’s absolutely perfect.’

  45

  Harris watched from behind a tree in the distance as the imam threw three handfuls of soil into the grave. Apart from him, he could see only four other people present, two adults and two small children. The lady dressed in black stood next to the grave with her head bowed, whilst the smaller of the two boys swung from her h
and in boredom. Next to her, an older man placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. After the ground had been filled and the soil stamped down, the imam led a final prayer before wishing the lady well and leaving.

  After a few moments of contemplation at the graveside, the four of them walked back in Harris’ direction.

  ‘Mrs Anwar?’ Harris said, softly, as he stepped out into their path. The four of them stopped and Amanda looked at him.

  The older gentleman’s posture suddenly changed to one of protection.

  ‘Please, could I have a word?’ asked Harris.

  ‘Boys,’ replied Amanda, switching their hands from hers into her father’s, her gaze barely leaving Harris. ‘Go with Grandad, please. Dad, it’s fine, I promise.’

  Once the boys and their grandfather were far enough away, Harris begun to speak. ‘Mrs Anwar—’

  ‘Please, I’d prefer it if you called me Amanda,’ she replied. ‘I assume you’re here to tell me how glad you are that he’s dead?’

  Harris looked at his shoes. She was right, he was glad. But this wasn’t the time or place.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,’ Amanda quickly added. ‘It’s been a stressful last couple of weeks.’

  ‘It’s fine, you have no need to apologise. I wanted to tell you in person that I’m sorry I couldn’t save him. As much as it brought everything back, I would always have tried to be the bigger man. If I could have stopped it, I would have done, regardless of what he did to me.’

  Amanda looked him in the eye and a tear rolled down her face. Gently, she placed a hand on his cheek and caressed it with her thumb.

  ‘Mister Harris, words cannot express how sorry I am for the pain that my husband caused you and your daughter. Since the time that I met Saeed, I could not believe that he was this monster he’d been made out to be in the papers. Of course I knew what had happened, but he had a way of making it seem as though he was the victim. And I fell for it. But now I have those two to think of. Just as you have your daughter. I’m supposed to mourn him, but I will not. I only hope that my boys do not remember this day. When they’re older I will talk to them about him. But for now, my job is to undo the damage that he has done.’

  ‘I think we can both sleep a little easier now he’s gone. I’m just sorry it was in such circumstances,’ replied Harris.

  As he stared at her face, the black puffiness under her eyes, the remnants of cuts across her forehead, he could see that she was as much a victim of Anwar’s as he was. He had started to move on, but for her it would be a much more painful journey, with her two sons at her side. As much as they were her world, they were also his legacy, a constant reminder of the abuse she had suffered at his hand.

  ‘Thank you, Mister Harris, you are a good man,’ she replied, softly, as she took his hand, before they each went their separate ways.

  ‘HOW DID SHE TAKE IT?’ asked Grace, as she picked up the large glass of red wine from the coffee table. She sank back into Pete’s large leather sofa, tucking one leg under her body and resting the glass on the other.

  ‘I think it helped,’ replied Pete. ‘The man was clearly deranged and seemed to hurt everyone he came across. It certainly helped me. It sounds a little clichéd but the whole thing has provided me with a degree of closure.’

  ‘So what are you going to do? We miss you.’

  ‘I can’t go back, I just don’t have the energy to battle against it any more. It’s rotten, Smith’s rotten, and it’s like constantly having to fight with both hands tied behind your back. The whole thing stinks. Apart from you, of course.’

  ‘Well of course. So what’s the plan?’

  ‘I saw a guest house on the Isle of Wight up for sale. It’s right by the seaside, a nice little town. It’ll be perfect for Olivia and Mum to make a fresh start,’ Harris said, rubbing his finger around the top of his wine glass.

  ‘Are you sure? That doesn’t sound very you,’ replied Grace, slightly amused.

  ‘It’s not. That’s what makes it ideal. No more worrying about the corrupt internal politics of work. No more searching for shadows that are there one minute, gone the next. This whole Brotherhood of the Righteous thing just makes me realise that there are some fights you simply cannot win. Time to keep my head down and blend into dull normality. With maybe a little freelance work on the side …’

  Grace leant forward and placed her hand on his leg, before planting a kiss on his cheek. ‘I can’t let you just walk out of my life, Pete. I’ll be coming to stay whether you like it or not.’

  Pete smiled back and winked. ‘Of course, I’d be offended if you didn’t. I’d better just go and check on Olivia.’

  As he left the room, Grace waited a few seconds, until she heard the footsteps on the stairs finish and pulled out her phone. She quickly scanned through her contacts and stopped on Ally (private). Listening at the door, she could hear Pete reading a story in the bedroom.

  Eventually, the phone picked up.

  ‘Alistair, it’s me …’ she whispered, as loudly as she dared. ‘Yes, I’m with him now … No, of course not, he hasn’t got a clue … He’s moving away to the Isle of Wight … No way … No, please, Alistair, leave him alone … I’ll be visiting him regularly, so I’ll be able to keep an eye on him … No I know. Come on, look, you’re my brother and I love you, but please do this for me. He’s no threat I promise … Thank you.’ She hung up and placed the phone on the table.

  ‘Who was that?’ asked Harris, making her jump as he walked in through the other door, holding another bottle of red wine.

  ‘Oh, no-one, someone offering to recoup my payment protection insurance or something,’ she stumbled. ‘Come on then, are you going to pour that or what?’

  The End

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  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  A Note from Bloodhound Books:

  ; Chris Thomas, Enter The Dark