One of Us Is Dead

89 Tuesday 18 October 2022

She was on the phone again exactly one hour after she had hung up. She hadn’t exactly endeared herself to Roy Grace. He had a place in his heart where he kept a special loathing for people who had the arrogance to think they could hold the police to ransom.

But he was well aware she was one of the few live lines of enquiry he had at this moment. ‘This is Detective Superintendent Grace,’ he said, doing his best to sound calm and patient.

There was just silence. It went on so long, Grace, still puzzling how this young woman knew they were looking for Paul Anthony, worried she had hung up again.

Then, after a good ten seconds, she said, ‘So immunity from prosecution. What can you offer me?’

‘Can you give me your name?’ he asked.

She was silent.

Grace continued. ‘Once I know who I’m talking to, there are a number of avenues I can follow with the Crown Prosecution Service and the judge in any future trial. The more help you give me now to apprehend Paul Anthony, the greater credit you will get for your assistance and this, I promise, will help you very much. If you can show that your actions now save someone’s life, that will also be a massive benefit for you. But, tell me first, what are you concerned about? What do you think you are going to be prosecuted for — if anything?’

‘Possibly accessory to murder, but I was being coerced,’ she replied.

Roy Grace had been thinking hard during this past hour, about how she could know what she claimed to know about Paul Anthony. The only possible way, he had concluded, was that she had been in some kind of relationship with him. And had been involved in the evacuation and clearing out of his Arundel Terrace apartment. Had she been living there with him? And now they’d had a falling-out? And her loyalty had changed?

‘OK, I’ll put my trust in you. I hope I’m making the right decision. My name’s Shannon.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Paul is a control-freak, and he has been threatening me with his coercive behaviour and making me do things I would never have done before I met him. I am petrified of him, and I need to do something to stop him. He is at Brighton City airport. He’s gone there to kill a pilot called James Taylor.’

‘How is he planning to kill him, Shannon?’ Grace asked, still keeping his voice calm.

‘I don’t know — I don’t know. I think a bomb. A bomb on his plane. Or something.’