Beyond Evil

Chapter Fifty-Eight

John whirled round as someone approached them across the field. ‘Who’s that?’

There were gasps as everyone followed his gaze. It was a man, striding purposefully, marching straight towards them.

Arni stepped away from the group, holding his hand out to keep them back, and picked up his cane which was propped against one of the stones. As the man got closer, he raised it, brandishing it like a baseball bat. ‘Big mistake, mister.’

The man stopped. ‘You know who I am,’ he said.

Arni tensed, the cane took a twitch.

‘Mr Kenyon,’ Henry said, and grinned, his eyes glaring. ‘Nice of you to call in. You know some of us, I believe. Lucy, say hello.’

Lucy curtsied, mocking him.

Ted flushed and scowled.

Arni looked back at Henry, and then back at Ted Kenyon. Then he started to smile. ‘You’re brave.’

‘Killing young women may be your thing, but I’m not going to let it happen,’ Ted said.

Arni looked at Dawn. ‘You’re too late,’ he said, his smile getting broader. ‘And you are on your own.’

‘Am I?’

John felt a jolt of panic as Ted looked towards him.

Arni looked around, trying to see into the trees. ‘Are you?’

‘John Abbott?’

Everyone looked towards John.

Ted followed their gaze and pointed at John. ‘I know who you are, John Abbott. Do your duty, for Christ’s sake.’

Arni looked at John. ‘What do you mean, “do your duty”?’

John was thinking of some way to bluff it out, but Ted spoke again. ‘I don’t know your real name, John Abbott, but remember your promise to serve the public. I’m relying on you now.’ Ted looked at Dawn. ‘Whatever you have done.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Gemma said, stepping forward.

‘He’s an undercover cop,’ Ted said, and nodded towards John.

There were murmurs amongst the group. People were looking at him, pulling away.

‘You’ve no choice now,’ Ted said. ‘So what’s it going to be? Do your duty, or be at the mercy of these people? You know what they can do. Don’t let another daughter die.’

John felt a churn in his gut, his hands slick with sweat. He looked at Gemma, who was backing away from him, her eyes angry, a tremble in his lip. He saw Dawn, naked and stretched out, the stone stained by her blood.

Then he heard Henry begin to laugh.

Everyone looked round.

Henry just laughed louder.

‘Henry, what is it?’ Gemma said.

‘Do you think I didn’t know?’ he said.

‘You knew?’ Gemma said.

‘Of course I did, I’ve known all along. Lucy, take a bow.’

Lucy bowed extravagantly.

Henry’s face straightened, and now there was a glimmer of anger in his eyes. ‘They think we are stupid, just misguided nobodies, but we are the people with the vision for a better life. We’ve talked about how the world is, how we want to change it. They know what we stand for, and then suddenly someone is in the paper for writing graffiti about wanting to be a free man, and when he says sorry in court, the lawyer does a long speech about how he is rich but lost, looking for a meaning.’ He shook his head and scowled at Ted. ‘John was just cheese in the mousetrap, waiting for me to spring forward. Except that it doesn’t work, if I can see the trap as well as the cheese. Am I wrong yet, John?’

John didn’t answer. He swallowed and licked his lips.

‘Lucy did well,’ Henry continued. ‘They put your address in the paper, but you knew that, John, because that’s how we were supposed to find you. Except that Lucy checked you out first, followed you around. She saw your little meets with your minders.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything, Henry?’ Gemma said, her voice filled with anger. ‘I slept with him. You told me to.’

‘Because it was a test of my message,’ Henry said. ‘What if my message was so strong that it could turn the mind of someone who came to us to betray us? And it worked. John is with us now, not against us. He proved that tonight.’

All eyes turned to John, who nodded, panting and scared. ‘I’m with you,’ he said.

‘So prove yourself,’ Henry barked, and pointed towards Ted. ‘You know what to do.’

Ted took a step back. ‘So Billy Privett was about your message, and my daughter, Alice?’

John stopped.

‘One of these people killed my daughter,’ Ted said, tears jumping into his eyes. ‘If he is your inspiration,’ and he pointed at Henry, ‘then I pity you, because he is just a murderer. And just as greedy as everyone else, because he hooked up with Billy Privett because of his money, nothing more.’

‘John, kill him,’ Henry said, his voice rising in pitch.

‘And then when Billy wanted to tell all, they silenced him. You know nothing of humanity. Who did you use as bait? Lucy?’

‘John!’

‘I know what happened to my daughter,’ Ted said. ‘And so will everyone else, because you didn’t get every copy of the video.’

Henry clenched his jaw and took a deep breath through his nostrils.

‘What happened, Henry?’ John said.

Henry pointed at Arni, and then grinned. ‘Tell him, Arni.’

Arni put his cane under Ted’s chin. When he spoke to John, his eyes never left Ted. ‘If the girl doesn’t want to join the party,’ he whispered, ‘sometimes it takes a little persuasion.’

Ted swallowed but didn’t move. A tear ran down his cheek. ‘You raped her, Mason,’ he said. ‘A sweet, intelligent, beautiful young woman.’ Then he snarled at Arni, ‘And you killed her, you cowardly bastard.’

Ted went to lunge at Arni, rage in his eyes, but Arni jabbed the tip of his cane into Ted’s neck and he stopped. His hands were balled into fists.

‘We drowned the evidence,’ Henry said. ‘We had to protect the group. No man is perfect, and Arni did wrong, but my humanity, my kindness, forgave him. You are just vengeance, nothing more. A little bundle of hate.’

‘I look at you and I see cowardice,’ Ted said.

‘John, kill him,’ Henry said.

John’s breaths were coming fast now. He looked at Henry and then at the knife that was next to Dawn’s sprawled body.

Ted was looking at him, shaking his head, eyes wide and imploring.

John looked towards Gemma, but she shook her head, her mouth set in anger. He cast his eyes to the sky and the stars seemed to swirl around him, some faded out by the moon, small wisps of cloud moving across it. Emotions welled up inside him as he was assailed by past memories. The thrill of his passing out parade, the early days in uniform. Arrests. Escapes. Deaths. The laughter of those who walked away. The tears of those who didn’t get justice. His first year undercover, living amongst the junkies and thieves, and how he came to like them, knowing that he could have ended up like that himself, just a few decisions in his life that went the right way. He had sat in judgement too much, and forgotten that everyone is the same, just people trying to make their way through life. He had ended up lost, not knowing why he was doing what he did. Going undercover had cost him a lot, he knew that. His marriage. His life. All the police had done was strip his life away. Henry hadn’t given him the answers, it was the group. The togetherness. The bond. It felt like he belonged somewhere.

John thought of Gemma. Her touch, her hair soft in his fingers. Her skin under his fingertips.

He looked round at the group again. Gemma had a tear in her eye. He had let her down, had kept secrets, but that was Henry’s way. They left their old life behind when they entered the group.

The knife was still sticky from Dawn’s blood as John picked it up. He pushed his way through the group and stood in front of Arni, who pressed on Ted’s shoulder with his cane, so that he went to his knees.

John took some deep breaths. He glanced back at Gemma, who was nodding slowly. Henry was grinning now.

John nodded to himself and moved towards Ted Kenyon.