Chapter 55
‘That way,’ Kelly said. She turned the car and headed to the manor estate, which was only a couple of miles along the road.
It was Johnny who saw the man running away from the grounds first.
‘Look,’ he shouted.
She pulled into a narrow layby off the road and from there they could just see through the woods to the house beyond. She recognised the size and gait of the man.
‘That’s Paul Burlington.’
Kelly shot out of the car and shouted at him but he didn’t hear her. He didn’t look back as he continued running. He looked like a crazed madman.
‘Damn.’
‘Is he one of the people you’re looking for?’ Johnny asked her.
‘He’s Jamie’s business partner. He looks like he’s lost his mind.’
‘He looks like he’s being chased,’ Johnny added.
Iron railings prevented them from giving chase themselves and Kelly tried to hoist herself up but they were too high. They watched Paul disappear then Kelly spotted Hank Hampton shuffling across the gardens in the same direction, closely followed by his bodyguards, who soon overtook him.
‘They’re after him,’ Johnny said.
‘The inmate has escaped the asylum,’ she said.
She felt helpless standing outside and rushed back to the car to call Eden House for back-up.
‘Get in.’
She drove the short distance to the main entrance, which was deserted.
In the distance, along the driveway they could make out several figures running towards the main house and they knew something was seriously wrong.
Her radio crackled again, and they heard medical assistance was on its way to the address.
Johnny jumped out and pulled at the gate, expecting it to be locked, but it opened.
She drove through it and Johnny jumped back in, then she sped up the drive, parking outside the grand house.
‘Jesus, look at this pad.’
They jumped out of the car and followed the screams. The front door was wide open and they had no time to stop to admire the beauty and craftsmanship of the house.
Kelly never thought her first visit to the famous house would be like this.
Inside, the screaming echoed off the walls and seemed to come from upstairs.
They took the stairs and Kelly ran her hand up the marble balustrade.
It felt cold, abandoned and unwelcoming.
She felt like an intruder and as though the house didn’t want them here. As if the screams were meant to remain here forever.
In the distance, through the countless open windows and doors, they heard the whine of sirens. The screams turned to sobbing and when they stopped at the room where all the noise was coming from, they saw why.
A figure was slumped on the floor and Kelly instantly recognised her as Tilda Dent and a housemaid sobbed over her.
But Tilda was lifeless.
Anybody could see that.
Nothing could be done. Her head was caved in and a large glass object covered in blood sat motionless but still potent somehow, as if it could hurt them too.
Kelly went to the body and pressed one finger to the woman’s neck but as she suspected there was nothing. She and Johnny backed away and agreed to check the rest of the house.
There was no sign of anyone else. So the killer had escaped.
Downstairs, they saw Hank returning from the garden nursing a wound on the side of his head.
He looked more stunned by her presence than his situation.
‘Why on earth are you here?’ he asked her.
‘Who did this?’ Kelly asked.
‘Will she live?’
Blood made repellent patterns on Hank’s cream jacket, like raspberry ripple ice cream.
Kevin Streeting appeared behind him, wary and alert.
‘I hope you’re not armed,’ Kelly said.
‘This is private property,’ Hank said.
‘On English soil,’ Johnny said.
‘Diplomatic immunity,’ Hank said.
‘Since when did you become an envoy to the USA?’ she asked him. ‘We’ve got an emergency situation here and you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.’
The Texan slipped back into his Christian, concerned and dutiful persona, and Kelly recognised the switch.
The ease with which he flipped made her question everything.
She studied him and decided to hold off on questions until she worked out what had happened.
The air in the imposing entrance hall was solid with pressure.
The sirens grew louder.
Hank muttered something inaudible under his breath.
‘What did you say?’ she asked him.
He stared at her.
Her radio crackled.
Kevin Streeting’s hand moved and she felt Johnny manoeuvre beside her.
‘Leave it,’ she whispered.
Streeting’s fingers on his right hand twitched and disappeared behind his back.
‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’ Kelly warned him.
Her heart raced and thumped in her chest. Her mouth was desert dry.
‘Don’t,’ she muttered under her breath to Johnny.
From somewhere outside, Kelly heard the sound of a crow, or at least she thought it was. Was there some kind of ancient tale about the significance of crows? Wasn’t a group of them called a murder? It was something to do with the scavengers gathering around carrion and being associated with death.
It cawed again.
Was it calling to its pals?
Her body felt taut with anxiety.
Then Hank raised his hand and Streeting relaxed.
Now perhaps wasn’t a good time to arrest him for the murder of Angelina Robbins but she was tempted.
It was the first time they’d come face to face properly and they eyed one another. She felt Johnny staring at her from the side and sensed his shift in alertness. In that moment she wanted to hug him for his chivalrous display of protection. He had no chance against a gun but that wasn’t the point.
They heard squad cars entering the property and scream up the driveway and officers and paramedics rushed into the main house.
But Kelly couldn’t allow herself to breathe just yet.
Two brawny six-foot uniforms looked to Kelly for a sitrep and she indicated towards Kevin Streeting.
‘He’s armed. How quickly can you get armed response here?’ she asked.
But as she turned to watch Streeting’s movements, she saw he’d disappeared.
She put her hand on one of the officers’ vests. ‘Don’t,’ she ordered. ‘Wait for the ART. It’s too much of a risk.’
Johnny was at her side and they walked together into the sunshine as the uniforms ushered everybody outside.
‘The only time I’ve ever witnessed anyone dying from a single blow to the head like that was in Cyprus when a squaddie punched a civvie in the head and he went down. He died the next day. That’s some weird strength there, Kel.’
‘I know. This drug, is it possible it’s being trialled for the military? Do you know anyone you could ask?’
‘That’s some serious shit, right there. I can ask, but whether anyone will tell me is another story. If the MOD is using something that changes a soldier’s strength to the extent where he can become a human weapon, well, that’s got to be worth a crazy amount of money, but…’
‘But?’
‘It’d be unethical.’
‘Since when is war ethical?’
‘There are rules of engagement, Kel. We have strict protocols.’
She stared at him oddly. ‘Protocols like that shit you took in Iraq that gave you vomiting and headaches for seven years?’
‘Fair point.’
‘How many did you lose to that?’
‘We’ll never know. It turned men crazy.’
‘Wasn’t that the point? Turn them into deranged killers? And who benefitted from that experiment?’
‘What are you asking me?’
‘Think about it. Who might gain from unleashing something so powerful that men are no longer scared to walk into battle and straight at the enemy?’
‘Are you serious?’
‘You saw what that man did. Paul isn’t a convict, nor is he a soldier. He’s a sales rep, for God’s sake.’
‘So, how…’
The penny dropped. Johnny looked back to the hotel, and then to Kelly.
‘What’s in this stuff?’
‘We don’t know yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I won’t get my hands anywhere near an investigation into it, which is why I need your help.
Nobody will own this. I have a lab report telling me that it induces rage, but I have no evidence that links it directly with lethality.
You know where this is going. Those people who threatened Emma, Ted and us – our daughter – these are the people who are protecting this stuff. ’
‘You need to leave this one alone, Kel.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You have to.’
Her phone buzzed and it was Emma back at Eden House.
They’d heard.
‘Boss, are you OK?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘We found Lee Lovett.’
‘What?’
‘He was in a road traffic accident. We think he was on his phone.’
Kelly’s mind whirred. ‘Is he OK?’
‘Unconscious. He was airlifted to the Penrith and Lakes.’
‘A bad smash then?’
‘We received an email from him around the time the folks on the ground estimate the RTA impact.’
‘He sent it when he was driving?’
‘Witnesses say he was being pursued at speed by another vehicle.’
‘Oh God, he must have panicked.’
‘Yes. It’s the CCTV from the back stairs at Heron Hall. I’m sending it to you now.’