Find Them Dead

66 Thursday 16 May

7.30 p.m. and it felt as hot as mid-afternoon in the still air. Dozens of people were on the beach, soaking up the last of the day’s rays, and the tide was far out, exposing a vast area of mud. Closer in, just beyond the pebbles, two toddlers in sun hats, under the scrutiny of their parents, were busy digging with their plastic spades, creating a lopsided castle. A detectorist in a combat jacket and safari hat worked his way across the expanse, sweeping his scanner in arcs, occasionally stopping and digging with his trowel, and a short distance beyond the lazy surf, a paddleboarder moved serenely along. There was a tempting smell of barbecuing wafting in the air.

Alison and Meg found a quiet spot by a breakwater and settled down. Alison was someone who always seemed to Meg to be happy in her skin. She had a good marriage with Archie, a gentle giant of a man, a former bodybuilder who owned a couple of small health clubs in the city, and whom Meg liked a lot. Alison was a partner in a local advertising agency, a job she enjoyed, and she had the knack of always dressing appropriately for any occasion. This evening she wore a baseball cap over her long brown hair, fashionably large Dior sunnies, a short, floral smock and diamanté-studded sandals. She dug into her beach bag, produced a bottle of wine in a cool bag, a corkscrew and two large glasses.

‘I’ve got a spare in here, in case,’ she said, tapping the bag with a smile. She worked the cork out, then filled both glasses halfway and handed Meg one. ‘Cheers!’

‘Cheers.’ Meg was wearing a large straw hat and one of Nick’s shirts over a bikini, in case for some mad reason they went in for a swim, and flip-flops.

They clinked glasses and each sipped a little.

‘Right,’ Alison said. ‘So, talk to me.’

Further out to sea a jet-ski rasped along, trailed by a plume of spray. Meg sat in silence, staring at her glass, turning it round in her hands. She’d left the phone behind, deliberately, despite what they had told her, in case there was a listening device of some kind implanted in it by the bastards. She looked around, warily. Had anyone followed her here? Was anyone in earshot? The nearest people were two young canoodling lovers, a good fifty yards away. She took another sip; it tasted good, cold and crisp. Then another for courage.

‘God, Ali,’ she said, leaning forward and peering down into her glass again. Thinking. She’d recently watched an episode of an American spy drama where someone had used a directional mic to pick up a conversation hundreds of yards away. And another episode of the same series where two operatives held a conversation in a hotel washroom, where they ran a tap to muffle the sound and prevent any eavesdropping. ‘Want to go and paddle in the surf?’ she said.

Alison looked surprised. ‘OK, sure.’

‘We can take our glasses!’

Alison topped them both up. They walked across to the edge of the pebbles, kicked off their shoes and headed out towards the water, Meg enjoying the cooling sensation of the moist muddy sand. Making the pace, she led them knee-high into the icy surf then stopped and clinked glasses with her friend again. ‘Thanks for coming, Ali.’

They stood in silence for some moments. Meg watched the tall structures of the wind farm some way out to sea, then turned back, looking at the shore.

‘So, Megs, what is it, what’s going on?’

‘This may sound crazy, but I’m scared to tell you.’

Alison frowned. ‘What do you mean? Scared to tell me what?’

Meg desperately wanted to check across the beach and beyond, to see if she could spot the glint of binocular lenses. But that would be a giveaway, she thought. ‘I don’t want to put you in danger,’ she said, quietly, barely above a whisper.

‘Danger?’

‘Oh God, Ali, I’m living a nightmare. I went to hell and back after Nick and Will died and now I’m back in hell again.’

‘What do you mean? What is it, what on earth has happened?’

‘I’m scared to tell you. They — he — said they would kill anyone I told.’

‘I can look after myself, and anyhow, I’ve got Archie to protect me too, Megs. He’s been a bouncer and a bodyguard and in his teens he was once a bare-knuckle cage fighter — if you need someone sorting out, he’ll do it!’

Meg smiled and shook her head. ‘Thanks, but these people — I just have a feeling they are seriously dangerous. I don’t think their threats are idle.’

‘What people? Who are you talking about? Please tell me.’

‘Alison, listen to me carefully.’ Meg made and held eye contact with her, speaking quietly. ‘I’m being watched.’

‘What?’

‘Ssshhhh, I’m serious, don’t react. Mine and Laura’s lives depend on this. When I tell you what I’m about to, act as if we are just chatting normally, try not to give anything away with your body language, and don’t look around. It’s really, really important, OK?’

‘Yes, OK,’ she replied, dubiously.

Meg took a few further paces into the sea until the water was above the bottom of her shirt. No one was around. In addition to the breaking waves behind them, the jet-ski was buzzing back in the opposite direction. No one, she was sure, could eavesdrop on them here. She told her friend the full story.

‘Oh God, this is awful,’ Alison said when she had finished. ‘If you could find out who this bastard is, Archie would go and find him and break every bone in his body.’

‘I wish. But that’s not going to stop it, Ali, that’s not going to protect Laura. He’s probably just some hired gun. From all I’ve heard in court, this is a major and totally ruthless mob. Like — a kind of English Mafia.’

‘Megs, they might think they’re above the law but, ultimately, no one is.’

‘Maybe, but I can’t risk Laura’s life. If anything happened to her, I–I just—’ Her voice cracked.

‘Can I give you a hug?’

Meg nodded. Alison put an arm around her. ‘We’re not going to let anything happen to her, OK?’ She kissed her on the cheek.

Meg smiled then shook her head. ‘I don’t think there is anything you can do, Ali, I have to sort this out myself. I have to get the jury to deliver that “not guilty” verdict. Somehow.’

‘What, and let this guy go free?’

‘I don’t have a choice, Alison, I have to.’

‘Against all the damning evidence you’ve just told me? On the face of it, anyway, it sounds like these people are going to have to find something on the judge if you’re to have a hope in hell.’

Meg nodded, despondently. ‘That’s how it’s looking — after today, anyway.’

The pair stood in silence, watching the jet-skier whine back again, then turn in a wide arc, heeling over.

‘I know someone,’ Alison said, quietly. ‘Someone I’ve become friendly with through my Open University course. She’s married to a very high-up cop.’

Meg shook her head, alarmed. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone, please, for Laura’s sake and your own safety.’

‘Screw that, I’m not having these bastards get away with treating you like this.’

Meg touched her arm. ‘Ali, please. I’ve told you this in confidence, you mustn’t tell anyone. You mustn’t. Please. Promise me?’

Alison was quiet for a short while then she said, ‘Have you thought about it rationally, Meg — thought it through? OK, so they are blackmailing you to coerce the jury with threats to Laura. But let’s say it does end up with a “guilty” verdict — then it’s game over for them. What would be the point in them then going and killing Laura? It’s not going to change the verdict. Maybe it’s all just bluster?’

‘I’ve thought that through a thousand times, Ali. Maybe you’re right, but what if not?’

Alison shook her head. ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Not now, not in this day and age.’

‘It’s real,’ Meg replied, bleakly. ‘I don’t even know who I can trust on the jury and who I can’t.’

‘I’ve an idea,’ Alison said. ‘What about an anonymous phone call or note to the judge, telling him that two members of the jury have been nobbled, required to coerce the rest into a “not guilty” verdict? He would have to take that seriously.’

‘If he believed it.’

‘Could he afford not to?’

Meg’s mind went back to the phone call she’d had last night.

You do have a friend on the jury.

Friend, or someone else like me who you are threatening?

We are helping them just like we are helping you.

And she realized why he’d given her those details about the other juror, whoever it was. Both of them needed him. They weren’t going to be stupid enough to give the game away.

Her blackmailer would know, without any doubt, that any informant would have to be one of them.

She shook her head and explained her reasons.

‘I understand,’ Alison said. ‘God, what a predicament. You are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. But there has to be a way through this. There always is.’

‘Really? I’m all ears.’

Alison smiled. ‘Could you throw a sickie? Feign appendicitis or something and get taken off the jury? Have something happen that’s obviously not your doing?’

‘Like falling off my bike and ending up in hospital?’

Alison shrugged. ‘Well, maybe not so dramatic. And you don’t have a bike, do you?’

Meg smiled. ‘No, that’s a bit of a problem right there!’

Alison suddenly looked very serious. ‘There’s a whole other aspect to this I hope you’re aware of.’

‘Which is?’

‘What you are doing must be completely illegal. Influencing — coercing — your fellow jurors. Do you know what would happen if you were found out?’

Meg nodded. ‘I do.’

She was well aware that she was about to break the law, but until now she’d been pushing that knowledge aside. Confronted with it starkly, out in the open, by her best friend, the true enormity suddenly rose up, engulfing her in a cloud of fear. ‘I do know, Ali. But I don’t have any choice. What’s that quote?’

Alison frowned. ‘Quote?’

Meg nodded. ‘Something like, If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I’d have the courage to betray my country.’