Chapter 58
The caller was Sandy Cooper.
‘Sandy! Don’t hang up!’ Kelly said. The phone was on speaker hands-free.
‘Why is my photo all over the internet?’
‘We need to talk to you. Tilda Dent is dead.’
‘What?’
‘Paul Burlington assaulted both her and Hank before he went missing. Tilda didn’t survive. He’s somewhere near here; you’re in danger. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come and get you.’
Sandy laughed. ‘I’m not scared of Paul.’
‘You should be; you have no idea what he’s capable of.’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Why don’t you tell me?’
‘You wouldn’t believe me.’
‘Try me.’
‘No thanks, I’ve got another idea,’ Sandy told her. Her voice was icy, final and far away. Kelly suddenly thought she might have left the country already.
‘Where are you?’ she asked her.
She clasped the steering wheel and Johnny glanced sideways at her.
‘Let me come and get you and we’ll talk this over.’
Kelly heard crackles on the other end of the phone, so she knew Sandy was still listening.
‘It’s too dangerous; you have no idea who you’re dealing with.’
‘I do. They came for me, Sandy. You’re not the only one. I need to find Paul, and I think I know where he’s gone. Was he the only one?’
‘The only what?’
‘Patient from the trials to survive? He’s hidden here in the Lake District, isn’t he?
That’s why the conference was here, to keep an eye on him?
He’s worth so much money that even Hank Hampton and Tilda Dent had to make the journey to come all this way to see him in action.
But it didn’t quite work out, did it? I’m heading over there now.
I know where he is, and I have the thing that you were so desperate to get from Angelina. She outsmarted you.’
‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Why did you send Joe Folly to meet me at the cave? Was it to see if he could piece together the code? From Angelina’s paintings?’
Johnny pointed up ahead. They were almost there. The tranquillity of Rydal greeted them, and Kelly felt peace spread across her body. They were almost at the house and Kelly would have missed the small turning into the lane had Johnny not tugged her arm. It was almost invisible from the road.
They both saw her at the same time and Kelly stopped the car.
Sandy was sitting on the side of the lane, almost hidden by the bushes, hunched on the floor, talking on her phone. When she saw them, she hung up.
Kelly cut the engine. They got out and slammed the doors.
They approached Sandy carefully.
‘Who’s he?’ Sandy asked suspiciously, nodding sourly at Johnny.
‘This is Johnny Frietze; he’s a specialist mountain rescue volunteer. He’s a colleague.’
Sandy eyed him and Johnny smiled warmly.
‘We’re not up a mountain.’
‘No, but Johnny has training in emergencies of all types. Is Paul in the house?’
‘I guess so. How did you work it out?’
‘Work what out?’
‘This address?’
‘I got your message from Joe Folly. You want this all over the same as we do.’
‘What message? I didn’t give Joe Folly anything.’
Kelly stared at her. ‘We met at the caves, and he gave me this address.’
Sandy shook her head. ‘He thought he was contacting me on Instagram, but he never was.’
‘Who was he talking to?’
‘The people in suits who listen to everything,’ Sandy said.
Kelly thought she’d lost her mind and been sucked into an espionage vortex. It was too outlandish. Too silly.
‘CIA?’ Johnny asked.
‘He gets it,’ Sandy replied.
‘What have you done?’ Kelly asked her.
‘Me?’
‘You allowed all this to happen.’
‘If it hadn’t had been me they would have found someone else.’
Sandy looked away from them towards the lake. They could see the twinkling of the water beyond the treeline.
‘Does Joe know he was tricked?’
‘You’ll have to ask him, though I think you might be too late. He uses a place in Ambleside. You should try there.’
‘Jesus, Sandy, you signed his death warrant? Who did you tell about his place in Ambleside?’
‘Like I said, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.’
‘Yes, I do. The military? They want a product to hide Neurohydroxy-14?’
Sandy began to laugh.
‘Now’s not the time for jollity, Sandy,’ Kelly said.
‘Why not? Things are too gloomy around here. You know I am retiring next week?’
‘Something tells me you might be otherwise detained,’ Kelly said.
She glanced beyond the trees and spotted a small house. It was hidden from the road. And Kelly had never known it was there all the years she’d been coming here running, walking and swimming. The Lake District was like that. It kept secrets from prying eyes behind private gates and thick trees.
‘How long has he lived here?’
‘He was monitored.’
It wasn’t an answer.
They heard sirens in the distance.
‘Stand up,’ Kelly demanded.
Sandy looked up at her, docile now, and Kelly felt impatience bubble up inside her. They were losing time.
‘Get up,’ she repeated firmly.
Sandy sighed and did as she was asked.
Kelly turned her around and slapped cable ties on her hands, then she read her rights, and marched her towards the house.
In her book, they were all guilty of beating Angelina close to death and also of killing her baby and pushing Jamie over the banister; whether they were bystanders or active players, they all deserved to rot.
But if this was the only one she could arrest, then so be it.
Sandy didn’t look the type to take to prison very well.
Kelly reckoned she’d do a deal in exchange for her knowledge.
She watched Johnny approach the house and peer up at the windows. There was no noise from inside, no vehicles close by and no sign that anyone was home.
‘Is he home?’ Kelly asked.
Sandy didn’t answer.
‘Jamie trusted you,’ she said to Sandy, pushing her forward, trying to find an entrance to the property.
‘No, he didn’t!’
‘Watch her.’ Kelly stopped at the back door and indicated to Johnny.
‘No way. Wait, they’ll be five minutes, max,’ Johnny pleaded with her.
Sandy laughed. ‘You’re going in there on your own, without a gun or a radio. Have you got your little taser or a truncheon in those pretty pants?’
Kelly grabbed Sandy and shoved her into the wall without thinking and Johnny winced.
Kelly let go of Sandy’s arm and looked towards the house then back at Johnny, working out what to do.
She knew he was right. She could delay for a few minutes.
After all, she had no idea what she’d find inside.
There was no harm in keeping a cool head, but every fibre of her body wanted to rush into the little cottage.
Her head filled with questions. What if Paul had killed again? What if Kevin Streeting was in there?
She made her way around the windows at the rear, but she was still in sight of Johnny and Sandy. She peered through and saw an empty kitchen.
‘How stable is Paul?’ she asked Sandy.
She shrugged.
‘How does it work?’
‘What?’
‘Don’t play games, Sandy. For fuck’s sake. Level with me. Who controls the nanotech?’ Kelly forced her to look into her eyes. ‘This isn’t a game,’ she said.
Sandy grinned. ‘Paul was taken off the programme months ago, but he was already addicted.’
‘To YouthBlast?’
Sandy laughed.
‘What am I missing?’ Kelly asked.
‘We couldn’t put something so powerful on the open market,’ Sandy said. She was serious now. ‘Mass distribution was designed to prep the population for incremental progress.’
Kelly stared at her, gobsmacked. ‘Incremental progress?’ It sounded so matter of fact. So emotionless.
The woman’s arrogance bypassed the deaths of thousands of people.
Her own narcissism trumped the morality of murder.
She wondered if Sandy had always been like this, or she’d been trained over time, like a circus cat, doing tricks for treats.
She saw that Sandy had no soul left. Zero humanity.
Like all killers, whether they got their hands dirty or not, she was an empty vessel, devoid of life itself.
Kelly glanced at Johnny.
‘You’re too late,’ Sandy said.
Johnny took Sandy’s tied hands and forced her to stand up straight.
‘That was the worst thing you could have said to her,’ he said.