Chapter 56
Kelly watched the footage over and over again. Emma and Dan had isolated the range that concerned their inquiry. It was five minutes long.
It was all she needed.
Sandy and Paul sneaking along the corridor, past the old fridges, cupboards, storage boxes, piles of clothes and laundry bins. She felt the cool interior as if she was back there with Lee, as he showed her this way to the pool, that way to the guest bedrooms.
They came from the direction of the upstairs bedrooms.
The time said 5 p.m. exactly.
Then another figure emerged from the gloom.
Upright, purposeful, a little in a rush perhaps.
A man who got a little confused. A man who tied his dog up outside the hotel even before he heard a commotion.
Acorn had sat there for a good while before Jamie Robbins hit the atrium floor.
Because Melvin was already inside.
The time was 5.07 p.m. when Melvin lumbered through the dark corridor to make his way back to Acorn, and wait for an appropriate gap before he entered as a concerned civilian.
Suddenly Kelly felt her body betray her and she recognised the first signs of shock.
Her hands shook and she felt terribly thirsty as if she was about to suffer a migraine attack.
Flashing lights assaulted her peripheral vision and she sat down on the grass.
Johnny was there to catch her and prevent her from falling over.
He reached into his pocket and brought something out, unwrapping it and putting it into her mouth. She tasted sugar.
Images of Emma scared out of her wits, her dad falling in the street, alone and terrified, Jamie crashing into hard tile, Angelina terrified and abused by thugs, Lee run off the road and how many others rubbed out and haunted for the greed of the few?
She recovered slightly and smiled at Johnny.
‘You are invincible, Kelly Porter, but everyone needs a Murray Mint occasionally.’
She passed him her phone and told him to watch the footage.
‘Is that your colonel pal, Melvin Stone?’ she asked him.
His brow furrowed in bewilderment as he pressed play.
‘Colonel Stone, yes, that’s him,’ he said.
‘My God, they almost got you too,’ she said.
She scrambled up to her feet and marched towards where they’d left her car.
‘Kelly!’ he shouted after her.
‘Come on, let’s go.’
‘Where?’
‘This isn’t over,’ she said.
‘Think of Lizzie,’ he said.
She glared at him.
‘You’ve taken enough risks for one day.’
‘I don’t want my daughter to grow up thinking I walked away from justice because I was scared,’ she said.
‘Do you want to be here to see her grow up at all?’
It was a low blow, but Kelly admired his tenacity. He was trying everything. It made her admire and respect him. It was an equal fight.
She looked up at the Lion and the Lamb, as if for inspiration, but the mountain gave her none.
‘Just take a minute to calm down,’ he said.
She nodded and leant against a low wall as they watched an AR team arrive and get out of their response car, looking for Kelly to update them on the whereabouts of the armed man.
After she’d done so, she used some of her nervous energy to open emails from Eden House but the knowledge that Streeting had scarpered and was out there somewhere changed everything.
She sought out Hank Hampton but instead of finding him handcuffed and in the back of a squad car, he was walking around freely, talking on his phone. Johnny pulled her back.
She shrugged him off and walked right up to the American and confronted him. He had the temerity to grin at her.
‘I know you think you’ve won. I know you think you’re above the law. But I also know what you’re doing.’
‘Ma’am, I admire your enthusiasm, but I have a job to do. Excuse me,’ he said, pushing past her.
‘Sandy Cooper, the scientist. Your scientist,’ she said.
He stopped and stared back at her.
‘Any idea where she is? I know she was here with you, so where is she now?’
Hank stared past her as if longing for the opportunity to get into a car and disappear, but that luxury wasn’t something she was going to allow him just yet.
If he was going to be allowed to board a plane out of here, due to some kind of reciprocal love-in law with the US, then she wanted to get as much out of him beforehand as she could.
‘She left before Paul attacked us.’
‘What do you mean, she left?’
‘I don’t know; I heard her talking on the phone. They argued.’
‘Who argued?’
‘She and Paul, I don’t know. Perhaps they were lovers?’
‘That’s a convenient get-out clause, isn’t it? You all seem to be bed hopping when it most suits you. I don’t buy it.’
‘Ma’am, you seem to have a growing grudge against me, and I’m at a loss to understand why. As far as I can see, I’m the victim here, and my associate, Tilda Dent.’
Kelly stood her ground. He had some neck.
‘I’m just trying to work out, Hank, how many people fall for your charm.’
He grinned.
‘Exactly that. I wonder if that’s why Jamie was selling you out, because he saw through you. Was it you who arranged Angelina’s murder too?’
He shook his head. ‘Angelina was an angel indeed. Her work was exquisite. I bought a lot of it.’
‘I know. I’ve seen the pictures.’
‘You think you’re very clever don’t you, ma’am? Too clever for me.’
She leant in close, her nose almost touching his now cream and brown suit where the blood had dried. It was now more barista coffee than ice cream.
Bitter not sweet.
‘I have what you’ve been searching for,’ she whispered.
Then she walked away.
Johnny lingered behind her and Hank eyed him suspiciously.
‘Who is this guy?’ he shouted after her.