Page 55 of Between the Lies

‘You were desperate.’ Dickheadson took up the thread. ‘Your camera guy wasn’t helping. And any lead you could find… well, you jumped at it. But that night turned sour real quick. You didn’t get what you wanted, so you lashed out. At your lead and at your camera guy.’

‘I didn’t,’ Nina muttered.

The lawyer placed a hand on hers to stop her from speaking then pushed the papers away from Nina. ‘This is all hypothetical. Do you have any actual proof?’

Dickheadson produced another piece of paper, this one a picture of a beautiful woman – blond, a glorious smile on her face, her blue eyes bright with laughter. She belonged on the cover of a magazine.

Nina raised her eyebrows. ‘Who’s that?’

The crony chuckled. ‘Don’t recognise one of your own victims?’

Dickheadson smirked. ‘Oh aye, the blackout, aye. This is Anne Muller. You’re well acquainted with her husband, aren’t you?’

That was a blow Nina hadn’t expected. This was Robert’s wife? The woman was beautiful, with a delicate bone structure and a face that would make the most celibate man fall to his knees to save her.

How could Nina compare to that? She was no beauty, though she didn’t much care. She’d focused on her job and building a career instead.

Yet once again, Robert had her thinking of things she never would have previously. What did he see in her? Where had that hunger for her come from?

It was probably just that he’d been starved of human touch, and she’d been there.

Nina joined her hands together as if she was pleading. For men like Dickheadson, that was a pleasure trigger. ‘I’ve never met Anne Muller.’

Dickheadson chuckled. ‘Didn’t you?’

He flapped another image on the table. What was this, a presentation?

The image was a logo of Malcolm and Associates, the solicitors. ‘Anne Muller was a receptionist for them. You visited Malcolm and Associates – it’s in your calendar. You met her there.’

Had she? Nina couldn’t remember. That day, she’d been pissed at Jonas. He’d turned up fifteen minutes late to their appointment and forgotten his camera. Who forgot the one thing that helped them do their job?

When they’d finally made it to the law office, she’d hurried along to the conference room where she’d been asked to conduct her interviews. But even so, Nina wouldn’t have forgotten that face. There was something compelling about Anne Muller. ‘I don’t remember seeing her. And I certainly wasn’t introduced to her.’

The crony snorted. ‘Really? Given your penchant for memory lapses, are you sure?’

‘I don’t have lapses in memory!’

‘Just that night then?’ Dickheadson shared a smile with his colleague. ‘Tell me, why did you black out just that night?’

The lawyer finally interrupted their merry party. ‘Please stick to the facts.’

Dickheadson pointed to the papers he’d scattered on the table. ‘They’re all there.’

‘Yet they don’t say that my client committed the crimes you’re accusing her of.’

Apparently her lawyer had finally woken from his defeated slumber. Nina relaxed her muscles a little, hoping the man could now do his job.

The crony pointed at Anne’s image. ‘She worked for this firm. We have reason to believe the solicitors were involved in some underhand activities as they have since gone to ground. Their website, for example, was taken down the night before Anne Muller was killed. They also surrendered their offices the next day.

‘Now for a journalist working so hard on this case, when a major lead like these lawyers go missing and then Anne Muller comes forward with evidence… Ms Banerjee took the bait, went to see Anne Muller above that club. But when Anne had nothing to give Ms Banerjee, she lashed out, killing both Anne and Jonas.’

Dickheadson nodded. ‘The fire was a ruse to cover your tracks.’

Nina turned to her lawyer, waiting for him to call their bluff. The man turned to her and shrugged.

Seriously? Fucking men!

Nina smacked the table hard enough to startle Dickheadson. When he saw her face, his smirk evaporated. ‘Those are not all of my notes. As an investigative journalist, I’ve worked on enough cases to know how to protect my data and my leads. Some things are better off recorded with pen and paper. So yes, that file looksthreadbare. And it includes no names of any of my leads.’

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