Page 2 of Nothing But the Night (Basic Instincts 2)

She had given voice to the words he had only dared to think.

“He’s been dead three months,” he managed to say. “Why your sudden interest?”

Nadine edged closer. “There’s nothing sudden about it. I was researching a story that involved Theo before he died. When his death appeared to be an accident, I thought I had lost my lead. I was wrong.”

“What are talking about?” Marc made no effort to hide the contempt in his voice. As well as stoking the rage of the Alt-right, Nadine’s podcast was big on conspiracy theories. He doubted she believed most of the shit she shared, but she wouldn’t let something as trivial as her personal beliefs get in the way of her rising profile.

“Your brother was involved with some important people. You know that much, right? He was a sex worker. A popular one, by all accounts.”

And there it was. The true reason for her interest. A salacious sex scandal. Agaysex scandal at that. He could already hear the indignant tone of her broadcast. The moral outrage her reports would stir up. “Leave,” he snapped, jabbing his finger towards the road.

“Theo was killed because of what he knew. Because ofwhomhe knew. I know you don’t like me, Marc, but you must care about seeing justice done. For the sake of your little brother. C’mon, surely you can put our differences aside to get to the truth.”

“Theo was killed in a hit-and-run. It was an accident.”

“And the driver has never been traced. The car was stolen and burnt without a scrap of evidence remaining. I don’t believe you’re satisfied with that conclusion. Not when your brother was providing sexual services to a Tory back-bencher.”

He raised his hand. “Enough…” Anxiety wrapped its suffocating tendrils around his chest. His breath was fast and shallow. He closed his eyes and fought against it, disgusted with himself for allowing her to see that she had got to him.

“I’m not looking to trash Theo’s memory. I promise that. Theo was a small part of a bigger story. Animportant part. I believe he lost his life because of it. We can put that right and expose the people behind it.”

Theo Glass had been no saint. Marc was aware of that. He didn’t know the details of everything his brother had been involved in, but he knew enough. Theo had taken delight in shocking him, bragging about his online content. About how many followers he had on social media, how many paid subscribers there were for his sexual site. Marc had seen how far Theo went with the images and videos he posted on his open X profile. He didn’t want to know what he was doing behind the paywall of Hot-4-Fans and other subscription sites. There was escorting too. Like a lot of younger people, Theo believed he was from the first generation to embrace sex and pleasure. He thought he could provoke his older brother with the details of his life. Theo hadn’t realised that Marc wasn’t shocked. The truth was he just wasn’t interested. He had bigger problems than worrying about his brother selling his arse to wealthy older men. All that mattered was that Theo didn’t tell their parents what he was doing.

If Nadine went ahead with this muck-raking article, there would no way of keeping it from them. They had a copy ofThe Blyham Chronicledelivered each morning. Their hearts hadn’t recovered from the death of their youngest son. The shock of how he’d earnt a living might finish them off.

“Please, Nadine, don’t do this. The police are still investigating his death. Leave it to them.”

“Blyham police,” she sneered. “They don’t give a shit. The case remains open in name only. There’s not a single officer actively investigating. C’mon, wake up. Your brother was fucking the Member of Parliament for Blyham South. The pressure from above to make this disappear is immense.”

“You know that for a fact?”

“Of course I fucking do. I’ve got contacts in the force who have told me exactly that.”

“On the record?”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you think? They want to keep their jobs.”

“Then you’ve got nothing. This is more of your conspiracy bullshit. It plays well on those crappy news channels you go on, but it’s not reality. Now go, before I call the police to move you on. And if you doorstep me like this again, I’ll phone your editor and report you for harassment.”

Nadine accepted defeat and put up her umbrella. “This isn’t harassment, it’s journalism. Whether you like it or not, your brother’s death is part of a story and I’m going to write it. If you want to do justice to his memory, you know where to find me.”

Marc stood on the porch and watched her walk back to the car. He waited until she was inside and had started the engine. The rain bounced six inches off the roof as she reversed into a U-turn and drove away. The sky had lightened to a miserable shade of grey.

Fuck.

He’d known when he’d woken up at four this morning that this was going to be a shitty day and his instinct had been correct.

Marc retrieved the hidden key and went into the house. He kicked off his muddy running shoes at the front door and strode to the kitchen in his socks. His mind galloped ahead, so much information rushing through his brain. He’d had dealings with Nadine Smythe before. She was dangerous, borderline psychopathic in his opinion, but she was determined. She thought she was on to a big story and that was it. She wouldn’t let it go. The sensational detail of hisbrother’s life prior to his death would be exposed and scandalised in her shitty newspaper and podcast. He could already see her sitting on a breakfast TV sofa, smug in her moral superiority, delighting in the shock she caused, oblivious to the devastation her story would bring.

Marc couldn’t allow it. His parents had suffered enough. Theo had died in early December. Marc had thought their first Christmas without him was going to break them, but they’d got through it. Their grief was tottering on the edge of the acceptance stage.

Nadine Smythe would set them right back.

Unless he did something about it.

Chapter Two

The Detective

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