White Eyes

by Mark Z. Kammell

  Chapter 29.

  “Can I smell Chinese food?” Dredd asked Maker.

  Maker grunted and pointed at Nat. “This guy’s a slob. He spilt it all over his jeans.”

  Dredd looked at Nat with disgust. “Figures.”

  “Come on, let’s get this over with” Maker said.

  They both sat down opposite Nat. Nat looked at them, their unfriendly faces, their condescending air, and somehow regretted not having had accepted Strange’s offer. He looked at his arm, red marks where Maker had twisted it. He could never deal with pain.

  “Get what over with?” he asked.

  They were in a dark, tiny room, somewhere in the heart of the prison. Maker had dragged Nat for what seemed like miles, through the main prison corridors, back to the canteen (thankfully empty, except for someone who looked like he may possibly have been, in some distant past, a chef. He had been standing behind the food counter, in his dirty white robes, poking at something brown in a silver tray. It was a big lump of something, Nat thought, probably meat covered in some kind of sauce, but it looked completely inedible. Nat continued to stare at it as they stopped and Maker had asked for two cups of cappuccino, to go. The man behind the counter had grunted something, then disappeared through a small back door, returning moments later with two Styrofoam cups that seemed to be overflowing with a dirty, grey, frothy substance. He placed them on the counter top and turned to go.

  Maker had taken one, and had then said to Nat “You’ll have to take one.”

  “What?” Nat had asked. He was transfixed by the lump; he could have sworn that it was moving, ever so slightly.

  “I can’t carry two. You’ll have to take one.”

  “Oh, is it for me?” Nat had asked.

  “Fuck off” and Maker dragged him off, down a small corridor, deeper into the heart of the prison, as he struggled to balance the hot cup in his hand.

  Now he watched as both Dredd and Maker sipped from their cups, smoking cigarettes and staring at him.

  “Get what over with?” he asked again.

  The room really was small, only slightly bigger than the cell that he had occupied, and closed, dark, dank, with no windows and no ventilation. The only light came from a single bulb hanging from a wire in the centre of the room, over a single wooden table, painted white but scratched and dirty, with worrying looking red smears across it; empty except for a single manila folder in front of Maker. The table took most of the room, and with Nat and the two detectives sat around it, at opposite sides, it felt close and oppressive. In another stark contrast to the vast white room that he had been in, what, just a few hours ago, this one was warm, stifling even, and Nat could feel the sweat stick to his t-shirt and make him uncomfortable. Maker and Dredd, in contrast, sat in their black suits, white shirts and black ties, in what appeared to be comfort, with no reaction to the heat of the room.

  “Can I have a cigarette?” he asked, when they didn’t seem to want to answer his question.

  “That a formal request?” asked Dredd.

  Maker picked up the folder and pulled out a single sheet of paper, which he studied. “It says here that you don’t smoke, Nat.”

  “Another lie” Dredd said. “Why am I not surprised.”

  “I don’t really smoke” Nat said quickly, “it’s just been a stressful time.”

  “Stressful living with the guilt of murdering an innocent woman?” Maker asked.

  “What? No! I haven’t murdered anyone!”

  “No?” Dredd said. “Then how do you account for Terri Jenkins’ finger having your fingerprints on it?”

  Nat looked at Dredd, then back at Maker, then at Dredd. “Don’t I have the right to have a lawyer?”

  Maker smiled. “You have something to hide, then, Nat?”

  “No! I just want a lawyer.”

  “Look” Maker was calm, “we’re just three guys having a chat. Just trying to ascertain the facts. Why bring in a lawyer and complicate everything?”

  Nat glanced at Dredd, and was very slightly alarmed to see that he had a knife in his hand. Not just a small pocket or pen knife, but a black handled thing, with a large, shiny blade that looked extremely sharp. He was using it against his fingernails, as if he was sharpening them.

  “It doesn’t feel like we’re just having a chat. It feels like you want to interview me. Don’t you need to be recording this?” he asked, realizing that there was nothing remotely resembling recording equipment anywhere in the room.

  “Perhaps we are” Maker said.

  “Good listening for bedtime stories” Dredd said, not looking up from the knife.

  “So this is an interview?”

  “Why don’t you cut the crap and just tell us what you did with the body?” Dredd asked suddenly.

  “What body?”

  Maker laughed. “Very good. You hear that, Justin? What body? We have a real comedian here.”

  “He’ll be able to entertain the other inmates” Dredd mumbled.

  “No, I’m serious. I mean, you don’t even have a body, do you? All you have is what you claim to be my fingerprints on Terri’s finger, and nothing else.”

  “How do you know we don’t have a body?” Dredd asked sharply.

  “Well… that’s what I heard…”

  “Who from?” Dredd barked out the question. He was staring at Nat now; he had stopped sharpening his nails and was holding the knife on the table, twisting it into the wood.

  “Well… from, erm, no one?” Nat ended weakly, his voice trailing off.

  “Strange, of course.” Maker said, his hands knitted together in front of him. “The enigmatic Richard Strange.”

  He sighed. “Let me give you a piece of advice, my friend. Don’t put all of your faith into Richard Strange. He is not a man you can trust.”

  Nat laughed bitterly. “Everyone’s telling me not to trust anyone else.”

  Dredd nodded. “That is good advice.”

  “Except for us, of course” Maker said. “You can trust us. I take it no one told you not to trust us.”

  “Erm…”

  Dredd was carving a pattern into the desk now; it seemed to be a hangman’s noose. “I trust you weren’t advised not to trust us.”

  “I think he was, you know” Maker said to Dredd. “You know, Nat, it’s a sad day when people advise you not to trust the police. But you don’t need to worry, we’re on your side.”

  “So long as you admit to what you’ve done.”

  Maker raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “So long as you help us with our enquiries, I think Justin meant to say.”

  “No I didn’t” Dredd muttered.

  “But I don’t know anything!”

  “Well, now, Nat, that’s not entirely true, is it?”

  “Like” Dredd said, “you told us you didn’t know who Terri Jenkins was.” He had finished on the noose and was now carving the picture of a man’s head and shoulders, with the noose around its neck.

  “I didn’t!” Nat felt himself flush.

  “You also told us that you’d had a party the night before we paid you a little visit” Maker said, studying another sheet from the file.

  “Erm, well, I did…”

  “You see, Nathan” Maker smiled, “we’re trying to help you. But we become much less inclined to help you if we find out you’ve been lying to us.”

  “You see, we did a bit of research. Talked to your neighbours, if you understand me. It seems that two of them identified Miss Jenkins as having been seen entering your apartment on the night of Friday April eighteenth.”

  “Both kind of surprised that someone like her would be seen with someone like you” Dredd added, concentrating on the details of the face he was now carving.

  “Yes, well that’s as maybe. The fact is, she was seen entering your apartment.”

  “And never seen leaving” Dredd added.

  “Care to comment?” Maker asked.

  “Can I have a lawyer?” N
at asked weakly.

  “We also checked” Maker continued, “what your neighbours thought of you.”

  “Most of them thought you were a piece of shit” Dredd said.

  “Now, now, Justin, that’s not entirely true. Most of them, in fact, didn’t have an opinion. They tended to see very little of you. They said…” he scanned the page… “That you keep yourself to yourself and rarely socialize. They said…”

  “That you were a bit of a weirdo loner” Dredd added. “The kind that chops people up in their apartment.”

  “Well, they didn’t exactly say that” Maker said. “None of them remembered, however, you having had a party, that night, or any other night…”

  Nat was feeling himself going steadily whiter.

  “They do remember a loud commotion later in the evening of Friday 18th April, however” Maker added.

  “Seems like you woke the neighbours” Dredd said. The face in his carving was starting to look remarkably like Nat’s.

  “They said…” Maker continued, reading from his notes again, “they said it was like you were tearing the place up.”

  “Or dismembering a body and hiding it” Dredd added.

  “Possibly” Maker said, “but from my interpretation, and having seen your apartment, I would say that you had been looking for something.”

  “Or hiding something” Dredd added.

  Maker glanced at him.

  “Nat, what were you looking for?” he asked.

  “You’ve been through my flat, haven’t you?” Nat asked. “You didn’t find anything?”

  Maker and Dredd looked at each other.

  “Why did you lie about knowing Terri Jenkins?” Maker asked.

  “Lie?” Nat asked.

  Maker suddenly slapped the table, hard, with his left hand and Nat almost jumped. It even took Dredd a little bit by surprise, the knife twisting suddenly in his hand and scratching a deep line across the neck of the person in the carving.

  “Come on, Nat” Maker shouted. “Stop it. You met Terri, didn’t you. She came to your apartment, didn’t she? Then something happened. What happened, Nat? What happened to her in your apartment?”

  “Because no one has seen her since” Dredd said, “unless you count small parts of her body” he added, drily.

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

  Maker said nothing. Dredd said nothing. Nat could feel the air around him become closer.

  “Come on Nat” Maker said quietly. “Just tell us. Just get it off your chest. It’ll make you feel better.”

  “Like that monster in Alien” Dredd said.

  Nat looked helplessly at Maker. He could feel a tingling sensation in his fingers, spreading slowly into his hands, crawling up his arms. His arms felt so heavy, he wanted to shake the sensation off but he couldn’t, couldn’t move his arms, couldn’t do anything except stare at the empty space that existed there in the centre of the room.

  Dredd started tapping the centre of the image he had created with the knife, making small indentations across the face of the man being hanged. He kept glancing at Nat, then back down at his drawing. Eventually he stopped and looked at Nat for a minute. “A man cannot destroy the savage in him by denying its impulses. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

  Maker looked at him. “That’s pretty good.”

  Dredd shrugged. “It’s not mine. But it fits.” He drove the knife hard into the centre of the man’s face.

  “Here’s what I think happened” Maker looked at Nat. “You’re sitting in your flat, all alone, situation pretty normal. I don’t know, you’re watching TV, or playing on your phone, or hoping that someone will text…” he saw Nat’s reaction – “yes, hoping that you’ll get a text from someone, a friend, or even a girl, something like that. I’m right, aren’t I. You’re a bit of a loner, maybe the sort of person who never really made any friends. So suddenly you get a surprise visit, from someone you used to know, years ago, at school. The big guy, you know the one everyone looked up to, the one that you absolutely, absolutely wanted to be like. You’re a little surprised, a little scared but of course you say yes, of course you say come over. I bet you spend hours thinking about things, looking round that sad flat of yours and buying trendy things, cleaning up, wondering what music you’re going to play, I bet it obsesses you. And then you find out not only is he coming, but he is bringing someone with him, a girl! I bet you’ve never had a girl in your flat, have you? Am I right? Of course I am. The big day arrives, and you’re nervous. Probably have a few drinks before they turn up, take the edge off. I mean, it’s Joshua Reeves, after all, coming to your flat…”

  “Joshua, you know about him?” Nat asked suddenly. “Why aren’t you looking for him, I mean, it was him who…”

  “All in good time, all in good time” Maker said.

  “And he looks to blame others. Why am I not surprised” Dredd said. “I hate people who blame others. Narcissists should be dealt with. When The Dredd Laws are implemented, then…”

  “Maybe we’ll come back to those laws of yours at some other point, Justin?” Maker said, amiably.

  “But” Nat said, “I’m not trying to blame… I mean, Joshua, he’s at the centre of this. I mean, look, he was obsessed with her finger… Surely you can see...?”

  “As I said, Nat, all in good time.” Maker took another sheet out of the file and studied it for a few seconds. “Joshua Reeves is quite a fellow, wouldn’t you say? School Captain, went to university, oh, not bad, I bet he was captain of the rowing club or something like that, too. Don’t you hate people like this. I mean, life comes so easy to them, doesn’t it? Successful family, too, though …” he paused, looking at the page again, “it’s not entirely clear what his father did. Probably something quite dodgy, they don’t let us see that, do they, Justin, if you have wealthy people who do things that aren’t quite right?”

  Dredd made a non-committal noise.

  “Anyway, sorry, I’m getting diverted, where was I. Ah, yes, Mr. Justin Reeves turns up at your flat, and he has with him Miss Terri Jenkins. Am I correct so far?”

  Nat stayed silent.

  “Good” Maker said. “Now, I wonder if we can assume that Mr. Reeves and Miss Jenkins were, in fact an item?” He looked questioningly at Nat. “What do you think, Nat?”

  Nat sighed. “I don’t know.”

  Maker turned to Dredd. “He doesn’t know, apparently.”

  “Maybe we should refresh his memory” Dredd said. He brought the knife up suddenly, flicking it round so that it was pointing at Nat and swiping it with such speed and skill that Nat didn’t even realise he was doing it, until he looked down and saw a neat cut on his t-shirt. He put his hand over it and drew it back, looking at the blood on his fingers.

  “You cut me!” he shouted at Dredd.

  “Whoops.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “It’s only a scratch” Maker said.

  “It won’t be next time” Dredd said.

  “I want a fucking lawyer!” Nat shouted.

  “Oh!” Maker sat back in his chair. “That’s not called for.”

  Dredd pulled out a small, black leather covered pad from his left side pocket and wrote in it, speaking out the words “Abuse towards police officers”

  “All we’re asking, Nat, is for you to be a little more helpful. Surely you can see that’s a good idea.” He nodded his head, as if thinking of something. “I mean, if you carry on this way, we’re going to get the impression that you’re hiding something, and…”

  “Of course he’s hiding something.”

  “And then we would ask, what does he have to hide?”

  “Her body.”

  “How do you even know she’s dead?” Nat asked, his voice weak. He slumped back into his chair.

  “Well, possibly you could help us with that, Nat. I mean, Joshua and Terri were seen entering your flat at about seven thirty on Friday night. We have w
itnesses to that. We know that you left, and returned, around about eight o’clock. We also know that Joshua left, a few minutes after your return. But we have no record of Miss Jenkins leaving, none whatsoever. And furthermore…”

  “And furthermore, mother fucker” Dredd continued, leaning towards Nat, “it then sounded like you were dismembering a body in there. What did you do, eat her?”

  “And you’re right, Nat, we don’t have a body. However, let me tell you what we do have. We have her DNA, all over your flat. We have her finger, cut off, with your fingerprints on it. And we have evidence that you were alone with her in the flat, with some pretty weird things going on it there, that, if you remember, we witnessed ourselves.”

  “You’re screwed, Jones” said Dredd, with an evil grin on his face.

  “I believe my colleague here is correct” Maker said, with a satisfied smile on his face.

  “I’m not saying anything without a lawyer” Nat said. “I don’t care what you do to me.”

  Dredd cracked his knuckles. “This should be fun.”

  Maker stood up and stretched, you could hear the muscles in his arms snap into shape. Nat could have sworn he could see an evil glint in his eye.

  “OK then. Let’s see what we have to do to you.”

  “But...” Nat started. He got up and stepped backwards, almost losing his balance as he crashed into his own chair. Dredd laughed. “Looks like this may be easier than we thought.”

  He stepped forward.

  Nat shrank back.

  There was a noise behind them.

  Maker turned. Dredd ignored it. He swung his fist back. Nat closed his eyes.

  “Err, Justin” Maker said.

  “Not now.”

  “Justin, I think there’s someone trying to get in.”

  “Get rid of them.”

  “I’m not entirely sure that’s possible.”

  Dredd sighed and dropped his fist. “Just fix it, Phil. For God’s sake. I’m busy he…Oh.”

  Dredd had turned around and stood next to Maker, looking at, what at least had been, the door. The door itself seemed to have disappeared, actually disappeared, rather than just being ripped off its hinges, or burnt down, or something clearly physical; all that was left was the doorframe. Standing in its centre was Joshua Reeves, his tall frame taking up almost all of the available space, a large smile and a relaxed expression on his face. His face that still had smears of blood on it, colouring his beard; as did, still, his clothes, his jacket, shirt and trousers, still dirty, bloodstained and torn.

  “I did knock” he said amiably, “but no one seemed to answer. Sorry about your door.”

  “Joshua.” Nat’s voice was filled with awe.

  Joshua winked at him. “How you doing, Nathan?”

  Dredd pointed at him unsurely. “How…?”

  Joshua made a show of scratching his chin. “How did I get in here? Yeah… kind of hard to explain. To be honest with you” he leaned forward and dropped his voice, “I’m not entirely sure myself.”

  Maker was the first to recover his poise. “Well, good to see you, Joshua. We’re glad you could drop by, because we do have one or two questions to ask you. But we’re just in the process of interrogating Nat here, so if you wouldn’t mind waiting outside…”

  Joshua waved his finger at Maker, smiling. “You’re good. I like you. Thing is, though, I don’t think that’s going to happen.” He pulled his hands together and his face became almost contrite. “You see… look, if I’m really honest, it’s kind of my fault that Nathan’s in this mess. So, I figure that I do owe him one… And whilst it would be lovely to sit around and chat to you gentlemen, what I’m actually here for is to take my good friend Nathan and, well, just leave. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Not sure I do” Dredd said, a pistol in his hand, pointed at Joshua. Joshua ignored him. “Come on, Nat” he held his hand out.

  “But – he’s got a gun.”

  “Ah” Joshua sighed, then he did something with his hand and suddenly he was behind Dredd, the gun in his hand. Dredd spun round, astonished, but Joshua held out his hand and Dredd stopped. Joshua studied the gun. “You know what, I’m not sure it’s even loaded.” He pointed it at Maker’s chest and started to squeeze the trigger. Maker instinctively threw himself down towards the ground.

  “Ah, just kidding” Joshua laughed, throwing the gun over him. “Come on, Nathan” he walked around the table, grabbed him by the hand and led him out of the cell. Nat glanced nervously behind him, but then he stopped suddenly, turned around, looked in front of him, looked upwards, looked at Joshua. “What the…?”

  “Yeah” Joshua smiled, “weird, isn’t it? Come on” and he walked briskly down the wooded path to the edge of a main road.

  “But.” Nat started, “but…”

  Joshua glanced back. “Hurry up! There’s no time to lose!”

  Nat scampered after him, trying at the same time to get a grip on his surroundings, which seemed at the same time to be completely unreal and strangely familiar. A few trees, a path, a lawn, a hut at the edge, it was … but anyway Nat wasn’t entirely sure, as he caught up with Joshua, who was standing by a car parked at the edge of the large, quiet road.

  He took a second to get his breath back. Joshua said “Get in” and Nat obeyed, crouching down to step into the sleek, black sports car. He barely had time to collapse into the seat before he was jerked forward, slamming into the dashboard as Joshua put the car in gear and they lurched forward into the empty street.

  “Put your seatbelt on” Joshua grinned. Nat managed it, with difficulty, as Joshua pressed on the accelerator and they headed off, who knew where. Nat looked properly at Joshua for the first time, at his, what seemed to be, mad grin and wild, pale eyes.

  Joshua looked at Nat; Nat looked at Joshua.

  “You want to know what’s going on.”

  “Erm, yeah, I think I’ve completely lost the plot. I mean, two minutes ago, I was in prison for the murder of your girlfriend…”

  “She’s not been murdered. Well, I don’t think so at least. At least I hope not, not yet.”

  “Oh, right. But that still doesn’t…”

  “And she’s not my girlfriend. At least not anymore. I think she ditched me when she lost her finger at your flat.”

  “So it was you!” Nat looked at Joshua accusingly. Joshua glanced at him, looked back at the road, as they entered town and the traffic built up. “Hey!” Nat added, “I recognise this, we’re back at…”

  “Well, yeah, course we are, where did you think?”

  Nat shook his head in bewilderment. “Anyway, you cut Terri’s finger off… then why did you…?”

  Joshua glanced at him. His eyes definitely hadn’t been that colour before. “Why did I try and convince you it was you? Yeah, sorry about that. To be honest, I haven’t really been that fair to you… now, somewhere to park…” He seemed to be driving at the same speed as before.

  “Where are we going?” Nat looked out of the windows at the familiar landmarks.

  “Ah! There!” Joshua swung the car round into a parking place, still driving fast, and slammed on the brakes. “Come on” and he was up and out of the car, Nat struggling to follow, as he walked quickly down a street.

  “Where are we going?” Nat asked again as he ran down the pavement behind Joshua.

  “Ah!” Joshua exclaimed, “here we are!” He stepped into a coffee shop, a small, independent place, with a counter at the back crammed with cakes and pastries, and a large, steaming coffee machine behind it. There were two empty tables at the front and Joshua threw himself down into one, shouting to the girl who stood behind the counter, “Two large black coffees please, and a few cakes! Thank you! Come on Nathan, sit down, relax, you’re out of jail.”

  Nat sat down tentatively. “I though you said we had no time to lose?” He looked over at the girl who had started making coffee.

  “We don’t! I was hungry…. Ah, excellent” he smile
d as the girl put down a large plate filled with croissants in front of them. Joshua picked one up and started eating.

  Nat glanced at the girl and smiled thanks, then waited till she returned to the other side of the till.

  “Joshua… what is going on?” he whispered fiercely.

  “Well” Joshua answered, stuffing some more croissant into his mouth. “To be honest, we may be in a hurry, but I must admit I’m not sure.”

  “Please, Joshua…”

  “Have a croissant, they’re very good.”

  Nat looked at the fresh pastry. “I’m not hungry. Listen, when… I mean, how…” he threw his hands down by his side, “I mean, I don’t even know where to start…” He glanced back up at the girl who had come back over holding two large cups of coffee, the steam rising from them and condensing on the window. She placed them down carefully then glanced at Nat.

  “Are you ok?” she asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You just look... sad?” He looked at her properly for the first time, she was young, small, with a pretty face and long, dark hair, and she looked genuinely concerned about him.

  “He’s ok” Joshua said, “he’s just had a busy day, that’s all.”

  She glanced at Joshua, then back at Nat, uncertainly.

  “Yeah, I’m ok, thanks for asking” he said quietly, and she nodded, and went back to the other end of the shop.

  Joshua smiled at him. “I think you may have a chance there” he nodded towards the girl.

  “Joshua. For Christ’s sake. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Joshua sighed. “Fair enough.” He took a sip of coffee. “Ah, that’s really very good.”

  “Joshua!”

  “Okay, Okay. But I’m not really sure where to start.”

  “How about the bit about you cutting off Terri’s finger and framing me?”

  “Yeah. Okay. Yeah, maybe that’s a good place to start. Look, the thing is, the thing to remember is, I broke you out of jail. You know, I felt pretty bad about all the stuff back there, so I’m trying to pay you back…”

  “For framing me?”

  “Yes. Exactly. Look. I don’t pretend to understand all of this. But I got myself into some trouble. After I left uni, you know, some, shall we say, unsecured debt. The thing is, my dad, he always used to bail me out, but then he, well he died, and then suddenly I was in trouble. You remember my dad?”

  Joshua had a look of genuine remorse on his face. Nat wasn’t sure why. He did remember Joshua’s dad, back from school days, loud, brash, unfriendly. He remembered Joshua, the same in his own way, but in a late teen, slightly subdued version, but carrying all the swagger and confidence that came with it. But he hated his dad. Nat remembered one afternoon, sat in the canteen, having found a space at the edge of the group, sat half a chair behind. Half in, but mostly out, trying not to draw attention to himself. But no one cared, because no one was looking at him. “I’m going to kill him” Joshua was saying, “someday, I’m going to kill him” and that was the last thing Nat had remembered before waking up the following morning, in his bed at home. It had been the fourth of his blackouts, and the time he realised that he had a problem. The following day he had sought Joshua out, approached him on that rare occasion that he had been alone, sitting at his desk, finishing something off. This Nat remembered vividly, walking timidly up to him, and Joshua glancing up with interest and then looking back down at his notes when he saw who it was. It had started as an innocent conversation, Nat trying to find out, as subtly as possible, what had happened that afternoon. Without intending it, Nat had found himself confessing the whole thing to Joshua, his losses and fears, and Joshua had stopped writing, and listened, rapt, a mixture of excitement and fear on his face. He had begged Joshua not to tell anyone, fearing the cruelty of adolescents, especially to someone like him, already an outsider, and fearing the cruelty of science, of invasive procedures and the horror of medicine. But Joshua had only looked at him with pity and said something like “But it’s for your own good, Nathan.”

  “Nathan?”

  “What?”

  “Nathan? You still with me? You remember my dad?”

  Nat put his hands around the cup of coffee, felt its warmth. “Yeah, well, vaguely.”

  “Yeah. Anyway…”

  “How did he die?” Nat asked suddenly.

  Joshua made a dismissive gesture. “Ah. He was into all kinds of stuff. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Anyway. It was sudden, and, to be frank, I was fucked. Suddenly there were some serious people who wanted some serious money back from me.”

  “Yeah, I kind of gathered that.”

  Joshua looked at him with interest. “Did you? How, may I ask?”

  Nat shrugged his shoulders. “Dark Angel. Remember her? She told me a few things.”

  Joshua smiled. “Yeah, she was all right. I didn’t know her, but I had heard of her. She escape those mad policemen OK?”

  “They shot her. She died.”

  “Oh.” Joshua fell silent. “That’s a shame. Still, can’t be helped.”

  “Can’t be helped?” Nat asked.

  Joshua shrugged. “She was into the game. She knew the risks. Shame, though. I saw you too together. Seemed like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

  Nat gulped, and glanced nervously at the girl, but she had disappeared. He wondered for a moment where she may have gone.

  When Nat didn’t answer, Joshua laughed. “Don’t worry, my friend. I’m only pulling your leg. Anyway. Back to business. She filled you in on a few things….”

  “Only that you owed a lot of money, and that a lot of people were…”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Dull, isn’t it. Lots of people were after me. I defaulted on my debt. They sent the big guns over to find me. Same old story, right. But this is where mine gets interesting. Though…” he paused and turned his hand over so he was looking at his palm. Nat followed his gaze and caught his breath; it was as if the blood in Joshua’s veins was shimmering. “What…” Nat asked?

  Joshua put his hands on the table and smiled. He swallowed the rest of his coffee. “My story keeps getting more interesting, doesn’t it?” He cupped his hand around one of the croissants that remained in the bowl in front of them, and they both watched as it started to change complexion, and then to steam. Nat reached out and touched it, and pulled his finger back quickly. “Ouch! That’s burning!”

  “Clever, isn’t it? I didn’t actually realise until now I could do that. Croissants are better hot, in any case.” He picked it up and stuffed half of it into his mouth. “Mmmm, not bad.”

  “Anyway. Let me start at the beginning. I already did that, sorry. So, yeah, my dad died, and I was in trouble, so, well, I did a few stupid things. My dad had a lot of contacts, and so I borrowed more money to pay people, kept it balanced. The thing was, I wasn’t really that worried, not at first, because I thought I was going to inherit a lot, so all I had to do was keep it going for a few weeks. My dad, well, he was rich, and there was only me. Ah…” he looked at Nat, “it’s the same story you hear a million times, you know, the one where the naïve young man turns up at the solicitor’s office expecting to walk away with a cheque for a couple of million pounds, and he finds out that actually, there’s nothing. Worse, he finds out that there’s money owed, a lot of money owed. Imagine this poor guy sitting in the solicitor’s plush office. The solicitor is telling him sorry, clearly you weren’t aware, but legally of course your father’s creditors can’t hold you liable for his debts. This young man, knowing something of his father’s business, is thinking, for these guys, the concept of legality isn’t really relevant, and they are going to want their money back. You see what I’m saying?”

  “Your dad was broke?”

  Joshua gave an ironic little chuckle. “Completely. Broke and unfixable.”

  “But…”

  “But you thought he was rich.” Joshua nodded. “Me too. And he was. But you know, in the worl
d he lived in, riches, they can come and go in a heartbeat.”

  They were silent for a few moments, Joshua staring out of the window, as if lost in memories. “Anyway, no tears lost over him, he was a complete bastard, and it turned out he was in death as well as life. But I was completely screwed.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t go back home, that’s for sure. I had been living in this little flat, been sharing it with a girl for, what, probably a few months. She was lovely, actually, completely different to me,” he chuckled, “but no way could I go back there now. I mean, news like this, it travels fast, and I thought they’d probably already been waiting for me there…”

  “Who’d be waiting for you?”

  “Who do you think? People to break my legs. And that’s just to start with. Yeah, I feel bad about Sarah, to be honest…”

  “Sarah?”

  “She was, you know, the girl I was with. They didn’t finish her off, at least, though I think she’s still in hospital.”

  Nat shook his head in wonderment. “God, you really do screw people around don’t you?”

  Joshua looked questioningly at Nat. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, let me see… there’s this girl Sarah, then there’s Terri, then there’s Dark Angel. Yeah, and of course there’s me…”

  “I did break you out of jail, though.”

  “Yeah, cheers for that” Nat laughed sarcastically. “Life of a fugitive.”

  “Ah, don’t worry, it’ll all turn out fine. It always does.”

  “Like that girl of yours in hospital?”

  Joshua stopped and stared at Nat, then broke into a big grin. “She’ll be fine. I need something else to drink, don’t you?”

  “Erm… I’m fine, to be honest” but Joshua was looking around at the empty shop. The girl appeared suddenly, coming over and smiling. “Another drink” she asked.

  “Perfect!” Joshua said. “You have any wine?”

  “Yes, we have red wine, and we have white wine.”

  “Excellent. A bottle of each, please, and two glasses.”

  The girl gave a small smile, and went to fetch the wine, returning quickly and setting down two opened bottles, and two large glasses. “Red or white?”

  “White please, to start” and she poured the whole bottle into the two glasses, mouthed “Enjoy” and, Nat could have sworn, gave him a wink.

  “Aah” Joshua sighed contentedly, leaning back into his chair and sipping on the wine. “That’s better.”

  Nat tentatively took a sip of his glass of wine. He had lost track of time, he realised; he wasn’t sure anymore which day it was, whether it was morning or evening, when he had last slept. His head was buzzing, maybe from the caffeine, and he really wasn’t sure whether drinking wine now was a good idea. He closed his eyes and took a gulp. What could it really matter now, in any case.

  “That’s the spirit” said Joshua. “Now, where was I?”

  “You wouldn’t go back to your flat, you were scared people were going to kill you.”

  “Yes! Of course, and for good reason, too. Scared for good reason, I mean. Clearly my murder would not have been for good reason. In any case, I thanked the good lawyer, checked into a bar, and tried to figure out what I was going to do next. There were no good strategies, believe me. And so, I decided on, at least what I believed at the time, to be the easiest.”

  “Which was?”

  “Which was,” Joshua finished his wine and eyed the bottle of red, “of course, going to see my dad’s lover.”

  “Of course. How stupid of me.”

  “Yes, well, can’t be helped. I don’t think that she knew that I knew, if you see what I mean. He only told me by mistake, I think. We were drinking together one evening, not long before, well, you know, before he died. And anyway, to be honest, I think he was trying to show off. I mean, he’d just met Sheila, and…”

  “Sheila?” Interrupted Nat.

  “Yes, Sheila, you know, the girl I was with. Keep up.”

  “Erm, I thought you said she was called Sarah?”

  Joshua smiled. “Of course. Sarah. My mistake. Sarah was quite, I mean, very, good looking, and you know, I really do think he was a little jealous. He started to boast how good looking his girlfriend was.”

  “You’re not saying Terri was his girlfriend?”

  Joshua had filled his glass to the brim with red wine and it was half way to his lips when he stopped and stared at Nat, before he broke into a big smile, and then started laughing, so much that he had to put the glass down not to spill it. “Terri? My dad’s lover? Brilliant. God, I’m so glad she wasn’t, I would have never heard the end of it! Terri, his lover? Ha! I’ve never heard anything so funny.” And he laughed until tears ran down his eyes and he had to hold his sides, whilst Nat sat there, feeling uncomfortable and ashamed.

  “But actually” Joshua wiped the tears from his eyes “it’s not that far off the truth.”

  “It’s not?” Nat asked, confused.

  “Ha ha, no it’s not. Listen. What I realised whilst I was sitting there, by myself, is that I knew who this woman was and that I knew she was rich, and I also knew she was married. I thought she was, at least. What I figured was a quick trip round to her house, have a conversation with her, and come to an arrangement. I thought she could help me with my outstanding debts.”

  “You were going to blackmail her?”

  Joshua shrugged. “Blackmail, it’s such an emotive word. I prefer to think about a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

  Nat laughed sarcastically. “And how was it beneficial for her, exactly?”

  Joshua opened his mouth to answer, but fell silent as there was a noise behind Nat and the door to the café swung open. Nat followed Joshua’s gaze to see two people, a young man and young woman, walk in. Both clean looking, both good looking, chatting amiably. The woman glanced in their direction and led her companion by the hand to the one other table, just a few feet away. They settled themselves down.

  Nat looked questioningly at Joshua, but Joshua just smiled. “Better keep our voices down.”

  “You looked like you knew them?”

  “Did I?” Joshua looked innocently at Nat. He glanced over as if to prove a point, caught the eye of the woman, who looked away quickly. “No. Never seen them before.”

  He shrugged. “Now, where was I? I went to see this lady. Ada Frost-Jenkins, I mean, the name rings of money, doesn’t it? I…”

  “Ada Frost-Jenkins?” Nat interrupted, loudly, and the people at the other table both glanced over.

  “Quiet!” Joshua hissed.

  “Sorry. It’s just that… she’s Terri’s mum, right?” Nat whispered.

  “Clever boy. May I ask how you know, or was it just a random guess?”

  Nat shook his head. “A guy called Strange. He was my cell mate. He started to help me out, it came up.”

  Joshua studied him. “Interesting. We may need to return to this Mr. Strange. In any case, yes, you’re correct, although I didn’t know it at the time. In fact, I didn’t even know that Terri existed. In any case, I thought I would phone her, it wasn’t the most comfortable conversation, as you can imagine, at least not for her. But she did agree to meet me.”

  “You know who she is, right. She is…”

  “I know exactly who she is. I do now, at least. Although I must admit I hadn’t really done my homework in advance. Perhaps I should have done, though I’m not sure it would have made any difference. Anyway, it was a strange night. I turned up at her house, which was something in itself. I mean, I’m talking about a country estate right in the middle of the city. I mean, it was incredible. I got to the driveway in front of the house, it must have taken me half an hour to walk there, and it felt like I was in a car showroom. I mean the number of Bentleys, Jags, Rollers, you know, it was mad. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am a man with, shall we say, good taste. I do draw the line at some point, though.”

  “You mean, they all
belonged to her?”

  “Well, that is exactly what I thought. I was wrong, though, it transpired that she was having a party. Not the kind of party that you would be used to, or indeed the kind of party I remember from my student days, but a lavish, overstated party, that I found myself walking into. My first thought was to leave – I had wanted to talk to her alone, and I thought that this may have been a way to deflect that, to catch me in a position where she may be able to take advantage of me, if you understand my meaning. But then I looked around, at the sheer size and scale of the place – and I decided I had to stay. It was – it’s almost impossible to describe, the party was like a throwback to another area. I was ushered into this huge ballroom – I almost thought I was going to be announced at the top of the stairs, you know, like you see in those old films – “Joshua adopted a deep voice, “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Mr. Joshua Reeves” – he winked – “you know, that kind of thing, but fortunately I was spared that. I imagine she didn’t want everyone knowing who I was – you can imagine me being introduced – oh yes, this is Joshua, he is my ex-lover’s son… my lover – dead, you know. Shot through the heart. Yes, it was tragic. Yes, I know, thank you, but I will adopt Joshua as my own – he’s an orphan now, you know.”

  Nat was staring at him, entranced, as he fell into his memories, as he laughed, and he felt himself getting carried away by it too, leaning forward, the rapt audience for Joshua to flaunt his ego, his story telling, and Joshua loved it, like everything else.

  “Oh yes, that would have been quite a picture. Didn’t happen like that, you know, not at all, I’m afraid, otherwise, of course, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now. In fact, I am pretty sure she had made a mistake, I think she had wanted me to be daunted by it all and scamper off, or be so meek by the time she deigned to talk to me that she would have found me easy prey. It’s the preserve of the rich, you know. Of the powerful. They have a kind of in built entitlement, don’t they, that makes them feel that they are above everything.” He winked at Nat again. “Yes, I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking I’m the same, and, granted, there is an element of truth to that. But there’s also such an arrogance amongst those people – no, they’re not my people – those people, that they believe that wealth can overcome, can overshadow, can humble you. I still wonder what my dad would have said to her about me – nothing good, I expect, and I probably deserve that – but if he’d told her anything about me, she’d have known that wouldn’t work on me. I just wonder” he looked at Nat seriously – “I just wonder if he actually knew me well enough to be able to say anything about me. I really don’t know” he shook his head.

  And then more brightly – “Anyway, you don’t want to hear about father son complications do you, I’m sure you’ve got all of your own to worry about. The point is, she barely glanced at me when I entered. She knew who I was – one of her servants went straight over to her and whispered in her ear, and she gave me this quick, hostile look. I smiled back and gave a small bow. I must admit, I can see what dad saw in her – I mean, she was old, so I wouldn’t say she was gorgeous, but man, she was. You know what I mean? Of course you do. Anyway, I helped myself to a glass or two of champagne and some canapes and chatted to a few people. They were mainly old, and dull. They just wanted to talk about work, wondered what I did, whether I was in the city or in business, you know. I did half think about making a little bit of a nuisance of myself, just to see what would happen, but then, well, I just didn’t really see how it could play to my advantage, so I dropped that idea.

  “I did wonder what to do, actually. Maybe steal a car, or find out where she kept her jewels, or some such. Maybe wander around the rooms of the vast mansion for a few minutes, or a few hours. Maybe find a rock star or two lost amongst the vast corridors. Maybe an indoor swimming pool? Maybe a tiger, or a lion, maybe an entire zoo.

  “I had ended up stuck in a conversation with an old couple, the dinner party set, as dad used to call them, people with no ideas or imagination further than the closeted, privileged world in which they lived. That’s another thing about rich people, I’ve concluded. Being rich, being born rich at least, or, to be more precise, being born into an expectation, lends those people an assertion that their world is the only one that matters, the only one that truly exists. And as such they lose the ability to comprehend anything outside of that sphere, and it necessarily becomes smaller and smaller, more and more defined. They expected to know dad, these people, they expected him to be somewhere in their atrocious little network, and so I tried them out by saying “Yes, my father died, suddenly. He was shot in the heart. Most people thought it was a gangland hit because he was a key figure in the underworld, but to be honest I’m not sure. I have to fight now to try and take his place before they execute me. I’m here recruiting for people who want to get involved, I don’t suppose you’re interested?” They didn’t take the bait though, they both just laughed and told me I was naughty for pulling their legs. A shame, though. It would have been interesting, don’t you think? I mean, they would have bored people to death, wouldn’t they? Much more of a threat than any bullets.

  “Anyway, true to form, they disappeared quite quickly after that. Probably had me down as some weirdo. And I can’t blame them, really. I mean, I looked totally out of place, I sounded totally out of place and they must have come to talk to me, feeling sorry for me, thinking I was desperately trying to fit in and would lap up their wisdom. I actually saw the man go off and have a quiet word with Ada, so I figured it was probably best for me to disappear for a little while, otherwise I may lose my opportunity. I remember just slipping behind a pillar just as she turned and scanned the room, I peeked out as if we were playing hide and seek, until she was looking the other way, and then I walked casually across the ballroom to the entrance hall. I didn’t try any of the double doors that led directly out, I was sure they would have been locked and there didn’t seem any point drawing attention to myself. But I had figured, correctly as it turned out, that there would be a way into the heart of the mansion, a side passage, just inside the main doorway, that was probably easier to get into.

  “It was like a secret…” Joshua stopped suddenly, swung wildly to one side, then another, then looked at the door. “Shit”

  “What?”

  “Someone’s coming. We better get moving.”

  “Who’s coming?”

  “I’m not sure. But we need to move. Quickly.” He sprung up and hurried towards the door.

  “But…” Nat started.

  “Come on” shouted Joshua, and headed outside.

  Nat followed quickly as Joshua got back into the car, and they reversed out of the space, narrowly missing a car that had to slam on its brakes to avoid crashing into them. Nat just caught sight of the girl from the café running outside, gesticulating wildly at them as they accelerated into the busy street.

  “Shit.”

  “What?” Joshua looked at him.

  “We forgot to pay.”

  “We… forgot to pay?” Joshua laughed. “We forgot to pay? You’ve broken out of prison, you’re wanted for homicide, and you’re worried that you didn’t pay?”

  “Err, but I didn’t break out… watch out!” he shouted and Joshua looked back at the road, and swung the wheel violently to avoid a truck.

  “Right. I’ve got to concentrate.” He accelerated again, as they got to the outskirts of town and headed onto the open road. “We need to get there.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Joshua took a deep breath. “We’re going to find Terri.”