Page 104 of Between the Lies

After they’d left Dickheadson in the alley – they’d used bottles from the bins to splash some alcohol on the man then pressed a bottle into his hand – Robert had led them straight here. He hadn’t bothered to explain where he’d gone or why the hell he’d contacted Anne – and then bailed on their reunion.

No, they’d spent the last hour, after Billy had put together a BLT sandwich for them, calling everyone who’d ever worked on this case. Candace had been reluctant and only acquiesced after Daisy agreed she wouldn’t be mentioned in any official documents. Finn… well, the man wasn’t happy to have been called away from a ‘hot af’ hookup.

Nina had a sneaking suspicion the man had been gaming – he’d turned up with crumbs of crisps littered all over his jumper – and not out on the town. Now he stood, shaking his head. ‘Excuse me, why the hell are we all here? It’s getting late and you’re wasting our time.’

Robert paused and shrugged. ‘I’m waiting for?—’

Joshua walked out from the back office, Dickheadson’s bag clutched in one hand and sheets of paper in the other. ‘They match, but there are still more in the bag than on the list.’

Nodding, Robert gestured for Joshua to sit. ‘Last time we met with Candace, she told us her story. And seeing as DCI Dickheadson had been there, I pulled my colleagues DI Spiers and PC MacLeod in to help, and their investigation into Anne’s supposed murder – Dickheadson’s case – revealed some interesting facts.’

Robert paused and took a breath, loud enough for Nina to hear it all the way at the back of the group. ‘Anne is not dead. Jonas’s murder and the fire was a ruse to fake her own death and blame it on a journalist. Anne is the mastermind behind this entire operation.’

A few gasps and curses floated through the air. Robert continued. ‘She played me, I’ll give her that?—’

‘Even Jonas,’ Finn interrupted. When eyes landed on him, the man shrugged. ‘You asked me to look into Jonas Pedersen. That wasn’t his real name, by the way. He’s Norwegian intelligence.’

Nina gaped, although this news shouldn’t have been a shock; somewhere along the line, she’d suspected Jonas to be someone… coy. ‘Thanks, Finn.’

Finn gestured for Robert to continue. ‘Let’s not faff about.’

‘Anne. Right.’ Robert turned to Nina. ‘I’m done being her puppet.’ Then to everyone, he explained, ‘I thought about it. Texting Anne to meet me was a ruse. I wanted to see what would happen.

‘I believe Anne knew of the pictures in the camera. That’s why she called Nina to Walls Street. The evidence in the camera was the only loose end of Anne’s entire operation. She killed Jonas – he knew about the evidence as he’d taken the pictures – then she hunted Nina.’

Holding up a finger, Robert faced Nina again. ‘Only she didn’t get the camera after murdering Jonas. But the moment you accessed it, Dickheadson found you, arrested you. He wanted that camera, but he missed it, thanks to Joshua, who’d hidden your backpack. But if you’d hidden the camera again, surely you knew what it held?’

Nina frowned, not able to understand why that mattered. ‘But we didn’t know about the hidden photos – not until Finn hacked into the camera.’

‘They didn’t know that. And when I visited the storage facility where they’d kept all these passports, it spooked them further. Enough to almost run us over. Or for Shah to want to kill you. Things had escalated. They didn’t just want the camera back; they wanted to tie up loose ends.’

Silence permeated the room as the implication sank in.

Daisy pierced it with a curse. ‘They want us dead!’

‘We all know, so we’re all liabilities. I’m sorry to have dragged you into this.’ The last part Robert said specifically to Finn. ‘I never thought your lives could be in danger.’

But the tech genius didn’t storm off or scream a rebuke; he grinned. ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about. This is fun.’

Robert raised an eyebrow. Nina shrugged. The techie was something else.

‘I’m assuming you have a plan?’ Nina crossed her arms. ‘So let’s get to it.’

Robert walked up to a table where he’d spent time earlier sketching something. ‘We have a couple of things to consider. First of all, we can no longer wait for them to make the first move.’

Joshua shook his head. ‘We’re inviting them to come kill us?’

‘If we don’t, we don’t know when they’ll attack. And I don’t want to be caught by surprise.’ Robert placed a finger on the page he’d been consulting. ‘Next up, no cops. We don’t know who’s bent.’

Holding up three fingers, Robert grinned. ‘Now the plan.’

‘Tell Anne our location?’ Billy’s expression suggested he wasn’t convinced. ‘That’s the only option we’ve got.’

Robert leaned down and set Dickheadson’s bag on the table. ‘We’re not the only loose end.’ He unzipped the bag and showed everyone the passports inside. ‘All of these belong to their victims. Joshua checked them against the list Finn gave Nina. But there are more women not on that list whose passports are in here. Like Finn said to Nina, these women are vulnerable and could be swallowed by the system.’

Cheryl stepped in. ‘I can help.’ When all eyes rose to her, she shrugged. ‘I…’ Cheryl wetted her lips. ‘I know someone who can help. They have systems in place for exactly this kind of situation. It’s not legal, but it’s effective.’

Robert narrowed his eyes. ‘The Ricci gang family?’

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