Crossfire

by Malorie Blackman

  ‘That’s what I said.’

  The look Tobey was giving me held a blatant challenge that I chose to ignore. He was dressed in a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt with no tie. His dark brown hair fell almost down to his collar. Most Noughts in politics kept their hair short, but everything about Tobey proclaimed his difference from the norm and he revelled in it. From the moment he walked into my office, I felt like I was standing on shifting sand. His appearance, his voice, everything about Tobey made me strangely self-aware. And, from the moment he sat down, he kept giving me knowing looks, like he knew exactly what effect he was having on me. But now it was his words that had my full attention. I regarded Tobey, not even bothering to try and disguise the frown clouding my face. ‘What the hell was Mum doing in Dan Jeavons’ apartment?’

  Tobey shrugged. ‘You’d need to ask her that, not me. You wanted me to recount what happened on the night Dan died. That’s what I’m doing.’

  Tobey, Jon and I were seated in my office, and every other sentence Tobey uttered just emphasized how little I knew about him now. To defend him, I needed all the facts, but Tobey was hitting me with some I could never have anticipated.

  ‘How does Mum even know someone like Dan Jeavons?’

  ‘I refer you to my previous answer,’ said Tobey wryly.

  ‘Was Mum present when the body was found?’ I asked.

  ‘Your mum left during dessert. Dan’s body was found after coffee and liqueurs,’ he said. ‘As far as I know, the police eliminated her from their enquiries. I wasn’t so fortunate.’

  Detective Chief Inspector Dabo was in charge of the Dan Jeavons murder investigation and I knew him well. DCI Dabo hadn’t said one word about my mum being involved and her name hadn’t been mentioned in any of the crime reports I’d read. I didn’t like hearing about it from Tobey. I should’ve been forewarned.

  Mum had been at Dan’s apartment?

  I was still trying to wrap my head round that one. Was that the dinner party she’d been talking about? The one she really didn’t want to attend? It had to be. Jon tapped my arm and showed me his tablet. He’d drawn out a sketch based on Tobey’s account of the evening Dan was murdered. I nodded in Tobey’s direction. He’d need to confirm the seating arrangements, not me. Jon scrolled down to show Tobey his sketch, but none of the accompanying notes above it.

  ‘Is this an accurate representation of where everyone was sitting?’ he asked.

  Tobey reached out for the tablet. Jon pulled back slightly, making it clear that he could look, but touching was not an option. With a quirk of his eyebrow, Tobey turned his full attention to the sketch.

  ‘Yes, that’s accurate – as far as I remember,’ Tobey confirmed.

  I took another look at Jon’s diagram. ‘So my mum was sitting between Patrix and Owen Dowd, who she’d had an argument with earlier that same evening? Whose idea was that?’

  Tobey shrugged. ‘Dan and his games.’

  My frown deepened. Just what did Dan think he was playing at? Had he deliberately set out to make his guests feel as uncomfortable as possible, or just my mum?

  ‘Why was Patrix Ellerman there? How does he know Dan?’ I asked.

  Tobey rolled his eyes. ‘Jesus, Callie, how would I know? You seem to be more interested in the motivations of every other guest present that night rather than in my own situation. I’ve been in office less than a week. It’s only thanks to the super-injunction you took out that the press isn’t crawling all over this. Can you imagine the fallout if my arrest is made public? I want you to make this disappear. I didn’t do it. Prove it so I can get back to my job, where I can do some good. The country needs me. I’m the only one who can unite it after the fiasco that was the last government.’

  ‘It’s not that simple, Tobey. The police wouldn’t have charged you if they didn’t believe they had incontrovertible proof of your guilt.’

  ‘I was handling the knife they claim is the murder weapon earlier in the evening. Both George the butler and Jarvis, Dan’s deputy, saw me. Your mum left early and Dan was dead when I entered his study after everyone else that night. Those are the facts.’

  ‘When did Dan leave the dinner table?’ asked Jon.

  ‘After the first course. He said he had some important personal phone calls to make, and off he went to his study, closing the door behind him,’ said Tobey.

  ‘Who apart from you went into the study?’ Jon leaped in before I could.

  Tobey shrugged. ‘Most of us at one time or another.’

  ‘Do you remember in what order?’

  ‘Not really.’ Tobey’s eyebrows drew together as he attempted to recall. ‘I think Kellan Bruemann went in to see Dan first, followed by Patrix, then Tom, Dan’s brother. Then it was Owen, Sephy and Eva. Or was it Eva first? I can’t remember. Jarvis and Bella didn’t go into the study – at least not that I saw. I was the last to enter while we were still dining. By that time, Sephy had already gone home and Dan was still alive. We all moved to the living room and played cards and chatted for an hour or so. Patrix was the first to leave after dinner and Dan still hadn’t put in an appearance. After that, others started leaving. I went into the study to tell Dan that I was going home, and that’s when I found him slumped in his chair with a knife in his back.’

  ‘Was his body facing you when you entered the room or did he have his back to the door when you found him?’ asked Jon.

  Tobey thought for a moment. ‘He was slumped over his desk but facing the door.’

  ‘More proof that he was stabbed by someone he knew,’ said Jon. ‘No way would Dan Jeavons let a stranger get behind him, knife in hand.’

  Tobey nodded, acknowledging the truth of his words.

  ‘Why did the knife have your fingerprints on it?’ Jon asked.

  ‘It was an ornamental knife Dan kept on his desk. I’d been admiring it earlier in the evening. I never denied handling it, but I didn’t use it to kill anyone.’

  ‘The fingerprints weren’t smudged or obscured,’ I informed him. ‘It looks like you were the last to use it.’

  ‘Obviously not, as the killer handled it after me,’ Tobey shot back. He paused. ‘It’s not looking good for me, is it?’

  ‘To be honest, no.’

  ‘Are you telling me that this case may actually come to trial?’

  ‘If we can’t come up with some way to prove your innocence, I’d say that was entirely likely,’ said Jon.

  ‘I didn’t do it,’ Tobey insisted.

  ‘That’s what they all say,’ said Jon evenly.

  Tobey looked him up and down. ‘Callie tells me you’re an investigator. Are you any good?’

  ‘I’m the best,’ Jon stated evenly.

  Tobey raised an eyebrow.

  I smiled. ‘He really is as good as he thinks he is. If he can’t exonerate you, then you did it.’

  ‘Then I guess my fate lies in both your hands,’ said Tobey. ‘Because I’ll tell you this: if this case does go to court, I shall plead not guilty and defend myself vigorously. I have no intention of going down for something I didn’t do.’

  ‘I believe in you, Tobey,’ I told him. ‘I know you didn’t do it.’

  He looked at Jon, waiting for a similar assertion from him. He didn’t get it. Instead, Jon regarded him steadily without saying a word.

  ‘Reserving judgement?’ asked Tobey.

  ‘Not really,’ said Jon. ‘You see, I think you’re guilty.’

  sixty-three. Troy

  * * *

  The room is too warm, too small, too dim. The walls are beginning to echo again, to breathe. Out. In. I watch their subtle movement. Slowly and slightly bulging towards me, only to draw in again, just as carefully. Their movement is only noticeable if you watch and wait for it. Only if you sit absolutely still and—

  ‘Troy? Troy, snap out of it. What’re you doing?’ Libby’s voice breaks the silence.

  The walls stop moving.

  I turn to her, just in time to catch the concern in her eye
s.

  ‘I’m not doing anything.’

  Libby shakes her head. ‘You’re staring at the walls like you’ve never seen them before. You’re not freaking out, are you? Because I’ll lose it completely if you do.’

  I glance back at the stationary walls. ‘No, I’m not freaking out. How much water do we have left?’ I ask.

  ‘Half a bottle each, if that. We should go easy on it. Conserve it until we get out of here. So what d’you think of my plan?’ says Libby hopefully.

  ‘I think it’s bollocks,’ I tell her straight. ‘Go through with it and it’s suicide for at least one and probably both of us.’

  Libby had the perky idea of feigning illness again until they brought both of us out of the basement and into the hall, and she would launch herself at the heavies, taking a hail of bullets if necessary for the greater good, while I made a run for it. I mean, damn!

  Libby scowls. ‘Have you got a better idea?’

  ‘Yeah. If I know my sister, she’s already working on rescuing us. I say we sit tight and wait to be found.’

  ‘That was my plan at the beginning of all this and you hated it,’ Libby reminds me.

  ‘Well, maybe I’ve come round to your way of thinking.’

  ‘You don’t want to do that,’ she says softly. ‘My way of thinking has brought me nothing but misery and a stone in my heart.’

  Silence.

  ‘It’s just that I hate doing nothing,’ Libby admits. ‘It’s like accepting our fate. Consenting to it even.’

  On that at least we agree.

  ‘Have you got someone at home to report you missing to the police?’ I look around at the walls, which are holding their breath.

  ‘The only person who might’ve reported me missing kidnapped me in the first place, so I’m afraid I won’t be much help in getting us out of here, but your family will report you missing. That’s right, isn’t it? You’ve got someone who cares about you? Right?’

  I nod, careful to keep my expression neutral. Libby is gabbling, talking fast to keep me with her. I realize with a start that she’s scared I’ll slip so far down into my own thoughts that she won’t be able to reach in and pull me back up.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. The police are probably already looking for us,’ I agree, though I have no way of knowing. ‘Did you recognize any of those three men upstairs?’

  Libby shakes her head.

  ‘But you said you didn’t recognize our original kidnappers and they turned out to be your mum and her friends,’ I point out.

  ‘They had masks on,’ she protests. ‘Mum was the driver in the fox mask so I never got a good look at her. And besides they let Pete’s brother do most of the talking. I’d never met him before so how was I supposed to recognize his voice?’

  Is that the truth? I eye Libby, who meets my gaze without looking away or flinching.

  ‘Troy, I’m not lying,’ she says quietly. ‘I didn’t know what my mum had planned and I certainly don’t know who this new lot are working for. If I knew, I promise I’d tell you.’

  ‘OK.’ I believe her. Almost.

  But not quite.

  sixty-four. Callie

  * * *

  ‘Callie, have you lost your entire mind?’

  I sighed inwardly. I’d been expecting this, but that didn’t make it pleasant. Solomon, the head of my chambers, was scowling at me like it had just come into fashion. I’d been at work for less than five minutes and had barely got my chair warm when Stacy, my PA, told me that Sol wanted to see me. His scowl greeted me the moment I set foot in his office. He was sitting behind his behemoth of a desk, and not happy didn’t even come close to describing his face right now.

  I started to speak as I shut the door behind me, feeling it prudent to get in first. ‘Sol, if you’d just let me explain—’

  ‘Go on then,’ he challenged. ‘Explain to me how you took on an unwinnable case without consulting me first. A case that will bring us swathes of bad publicity and God knows what else. And now, to top it all off, this chambers has started receiving death threats. Explain yourself.’

  I sighed. Sol was ready to exhale napalm and I was right in the line of fire.

  ‘Solomon, I’ve already apologized for not clearing it with you first, but Tobey came to me directly as a friend and asked for my help, and time was of the essence if I was going to suppress his arrest. I couldn’t turn him down. I’ve had a super-injunction slapped on this case so the press can’t say a word about Tobey in connection with Dan’s murder until the trial starts – if it starts. They can’t even say there’s an injunction stopping them from giving out more data on the case. And why’re you assuming this case is unwinnable?’

  Sol’s eyes widened to their limit. ‘Callie Rose, are you deliberately trying to wind me up? Tobias Durbridge is as dodgy and dirty as they come—’

  ‘That’s not true,’ I interrupted, adding reluctantly, ‘He might’ve bent the rules a couple of times during his election campaign, but he’s not dirty.’

  ‘Grow up, Callie. How d’you think he won in the first place? Because of his dimples and gleaming smile?’ Sol scoffed.

  ‘He doesn’t have dimples,’ I murmured.

  ‘Callie, he’s no good. Who d’you think bankrolled his political campaigns? Dan Jeavons, that’s who. And it’s an open secret how Jeavons made his money. He flooded the whole country with Prop and he has kids transporting and selling the drug up and down the country. If there’s a hell, he’ll surely be roasting in it. That’s who your friend Tobey crawled into bed with.’

  I forced myself to count to ten. It was only just enough.

  ‘Sol, be fair. Daniel Jeavons and Tobey aren’t one and the same person. Why hold Tobey accountable for Dan’s actions? This case isn’t about drugs. It isn’t about politics either. Tobey has been arrested for murder and that’s my focus. A murder he didn’t commit, I might add.’

  ‘Says who?’

  ‘Says Tobey – and I believe him.’

  ‘And I own a bridge across the Zambezi I’d be more than happy to sell to you.’ Sol gave me the full force of his famous, patented narrow-eyed courtroom stare that had many a person in the witness box sweating bullets into buckets. ‘Callie, are you sleeping with him?’

  What? Say what? ‘Of course not.’

  If anything, Sol’s eyes narrowed further.

  ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ I said, exasperated. ‘We went to school together. He’s an old friend, though I haven’t seen him in a number of years. He came to me and asked for my help and I said yes. That’s all there is to it.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, really.’ What a disappointment. I’d never had Sol down as one of those guys who found it impossible to believe men and women could be friends without sex rearing its head.

  ‘Callie, if – and it’s a big if – you take this case, you’re going to open yourself up to all kinds of accusations, recriminations and general shit-stormery.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘Do you? Have you seriously thought about this?’ said Sol. ‘You’re going to make enemies just by taking this case. It’s not too late to back out.’

  ‘Tobey’s my friend. I can’t desert him when he needs me most.’

  Sol sighed. ‘You are making a huge mistake. If you’re determined to take this case, just make sure you disclose any and everything of relevance to me before the trial. I won’t have these chambers exposed to any kind of censure or clapback. Do I make myself clear?’

  I frowned. Since when did I hold anything back from my head of chambers? I’d never done so in the past. Why would I start now? I didn’t care for the implication.

  ‘That’s not my style, Sol,’ I replied. ‘I thought you knew that.’

  I made sure not to look away from Sol, who was still scrutinizing me. A sense of unease began to creep along my spine.

  ‘What’re you not telling me?’

  ‘Callie, I’ve heard things,’ Sol began reluctantly.

  ‘Wh
at kind of things?’

  ‘Listen, I understand he’s your friend, and believe me he’s going to need all the friends he can get in the next few weeks,’ said Sol. ‘But I’ve heard some things about Tobias Durbridge, about some of the methods he employed to become Mayor of Meadowview and during his ministerial campaign. He’s not above fighting down and dirty.’

  ‘Is any politician?’ I asked.

  ‘True. But there’s dirty and then there’s what Tobey and his cohorts indulge in.’

  ‘Such as? Come on, Sol, stop beating about the bush. Have you got actual proof of what you’re saying or have you been listening to gossip and innuendo?’

  ‘Callie, your friend isn’t into politics to bring people together. He’s into looking out for number one – and what’s more, he’s good at it.’

  I shook my head, not recognizing the man Sol was describing.

  ‘You’re wrong. I know for a fact that Tobey was left a ton of money when he was younger and he used it to set up an addiction treatment clinic. He would’ve kept the money for himself if he was only out for what he could get.’

  ‘People change,’ said Sol quietly.

  ‘Not Tobey. Not that much. I know him. He wouldn’t lie to me.’

  Sol shook his head. ‘Callie, you’re not thinking straight. I know you hope to be a judge one day. Take this case and there will be repercussions. Like it or not, times have changed. Judges are now political appointments. Take this case and you can kiss any prospect of becoming a judge goodbye.’

  And there it was. Sol had brought out into the open my biggest concern about this case. Political trials had political consequences. This case had ‘career scuppering’ written all over it. Had Tobey really made so many political enemies that defending him meant abandoning my career aspirations? It would appear so. It was my dream to become a judge. Every professional move I’d made over the last ten years had been with that goal in mind. Was I really prepared to lose it all over one case? I already knew the answer.

  ‘Sol, Tobey needs my help. I’m not going to turn my back on him.’