Page 64 of Nothing But the Night (Basic Instincts 2)

“Meet with me. I’m on my way to Blyham now. I should be there in a couple of hours. Come to my office around six-thirty. The staff will have left by then. I’ll tell you all about my…acquaintance with your brother. Just hear what I have to say, and afterwards, I’ll help you decide on the best course of action going forward.”

He really is worried. Soloman wasn’t due back in his constituency for another week. He’d obviously dropped whatever he was up to and rushed to Blyham. “You’re only frightened of a scandal.”

“Of course I fucking am. What the hell do you expect, man?” There was fury in the voice now. “When this all comes out, I want to be in control of the narrative. Helping you to catch your brother’s killer is going to play a lot better than…well, the alternative truth. It’s in my interest as much as yours to get to the bottom of this. Do you want to know what happened or don’t you?”

Marc couldn’t have detested the politician any more than he did at that exact moment. Soloman had something to hide, and the quickest way to discover what that was, was to go along with him.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll be there.”

* * * *

As Nadine drove east, into the city suburbs, the bleak, late afternoon sky ahead was illuminated by a startling flash of lightning. Moments later, thunder boomed in the distance.

She gave an exasperated breath. “No fucking surprise. I feel like I’m living inBlade Runnerin this bloody city.”

“It’s just the time of year,” Jason told her. “It’s a lot nicer in the summer.”

“I’ve been here on and off for six years and you’re talking shit. The summers are miserable too. If this story takes off, I intend to get out and I won’t be coming back.”

Jason smiled to himself. He was starting to realise that a lot of Nadine’s toughness was a well-crafted act. He even suspected there was a nice person underneath it all.

She deserved her dues. Nadine had achieved what he’d been unable to. Blake Remar had agreed to talk to them. They were on the way to meet him before he changed his mind. Jason tried to stay positive, but with the way things had gone lately, he hoped Blake was still alive when he got there in order to talk.

“You’ve hit it off with Marc,” Nadine said.

“And that matters because…?”

“Just an observation.” She kept her eyes on the road. “I’m glad. Marc thinks I hate him, but I don’t.”

“You intrude on his grief and published photos of his husband’s funeral. He’s got good reason not to trust you.”

“I’m a journalist. It was a newsworthy story. I had a duty to report it.”

“I doubt he agrees.”

“Even so, I’m glad to see him moving on.”

The windscreen was peppered with a couple of heavy splats of water, before the rain came down in earnest. The wipers came on automatically and Nadine reduced her speed.

Jason kept quiet. What was happening between Marc and himself was nobody’s business but their own. And he would not betray Marc’s trust by spewing his emotions to Nadine Smythe.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Marc’s ID on the screen. Nadine saw it too.

“Put him on speaker,” she said.

Jason ignored her and answered. “Hi. Everything okay?”

“You won’t believe who I’ve just got off the phone with,” Marc said before telling him all about the call with Soloman Archer.

“There’s no way he’d be here unless he was rattled,” Jason said.

“That’s exactly what I thought. I’m going to meet him as he asked.”

“Whoa, hold on. Are you forgetting everything that’s happened so far? Wait until I get back from seeing Blake.”

“You’ve found him?”

Jason and Nadine had been in such a hurry to leave the office and get to Blake, he’d neglected to call Marc and fill him in. He gave him a brief update. “We’re heading there now.”

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