Page 21 of A Simple Mistake
He resisted.
Disrespect wasn’t in his make-up and intuition was not to be rushed.A single, hurried glance at the autopsy images wouldn’t give him the answer he sought.
Safe in his flat, he placed Aidan’s packet on the kitchen counter and made tea.Only when the smoky, earthy fragrance of his favourite oolong filled the kitchen, and he’d taken a first careful sip, did he sit down and open the sturdy envelope.
Photographs spilled out, large and glossy and gruesome in their detail.
Skylar flipped through the stack and frowned.Death aside, the woman in the photos bore no resemblance to the person her apartment and possessions suggested.She appeared…untidy, with hair that needed a trim and eyebrows unaccustomed to tweezers.The deep lines around her mouth hinted at bitterness and resentment when Margot McTavish’s niece had described her aunt as a woman happy with her lot in life.
The discrepancy puzzled him.
Skylar turned on the overhead light, reached for a magnifying glass and scrutinised photo after photo.When he’d gone through the stack four times, he poured himself the last of the tea and sipped it as he wandered into his living room, where photos covered every surface.
He’d arranged them by room, and now walked through Margot McTavish’s flat, comparing what he’d seen there to his most recent impressions of the dead woman.Circuit after circuit he walked, until the shapes, patterns, and colours blurred and vanished and only one detail remained: nail varnish.
Nico stared at his phone, the text from Rachel telling him that she’d be picking them up that afternoon.“Jack’s not coming,” he said, glad Daniel was chatting with Jess and hadn’t found out yet.“Damn it!”
“My mum can’t make it, either,” Carol said, matching his low tone.“In her factory, there’s always a panic on Fridays.Usually I don’t mind, because if she stays until she’s done, she can relax at the weekend.But…”
Nico heard what she wasn’t saying.Carol was putting a brave face on it.Just like Daniel.Just like Yvonne and the other girls Manville had singled out, and whose parents either worked or didn’t know.Nico found it beyond unfair that instead of looking forward to the weekend, they were all dreading the last class of the week.
Even more galling was that Manville had stuck to his smarmy personality every time Jack had been there.Jack had said he believed what Nico and Daniel had told him.But believing wasn’t the same as knowing.Or having proof.
“I have an idea,” he said to Carol.“But I need to sneak out for a few.”
“Out of the school?”
He rolled his eyes.“No way am I missing music.”He’d skip dance without batting an eyelash, but that wasn’t the point.He wouldn’t, anyway, not while Daniel was going.“If I’m not back by the bell… say I had something in my eye and have gone to the nurse.”He slipped out of the dining hall, grateful Carol wasn’t Jess.Daniel’s squeeze dreamed of being a lawyer and would have asked him fifty thousand nosy questions.By the time he’d answered them to her satisfaction, it would have been too late to put his plan into action.
He crossed to the large, single-story building housing the sports hall.A dance class without parents present would be uncomfortable, but maybe he could turn it into an opportunity.Jack and Gareth would stand up for him, would confront Manville if he asked, but…
Nico remembered the many timeshe’ddone that.Stood up to Goran, got between Daniel and a cane or a fist.He remembered how that worked, and he wasn’t the scared boy he had been.He wouldn’t lead Manville on—the very idea made him gag—and it’d be stupid besides, offering the slimy bastard an out.But he could collect proof of his behaviour.
Nico listened at the door to the hall, heard nothing, and stepped inside.The large space was empty, and Nico stopped by the door and let his eyes roam over basketball hoops, mats, the pommel horse, and the large bin holding balls.
There!
In the corner beside the climbing poles, central heating pipes ran from floor to ceiling, fixed to the wall at intervals with metal brackets.
Perfect.
Nico crossed the hall and climbed the nearest pole.He’d done a lot of climbing over the last few weeks while he worked on his escape route, and getting to the top took little more than moments.Clinging to the pole with his legs, he shoved his phone—with the camera app open—between the wall and the central heating pipes, the bottom resting on the retaining bracket.
It fit as if designed for the space.
He checked the camera angle, tested the remote control, and slid to the ground, satisfied.Now Manville had nowhere to hide, and by the end of the class, Nico would have proof of his behaviour.All they had to do was endure ninety minutes of dance lesson, and with all of them working together, they would.
Julian hosted shareholders’ meetings in the smaller of Nancarrow Mining’s top floor conference rooms.He stood at the head of the table when Gareth, Aidan, and Jack trooped in, and—to anyone who knew him—the midnight blue Brioni suit and pale amethyst shirt did little to hide his discomfort.
“Not looking forward to the family reunion?”Aidan asked to ease the tension.
“Not even a little.”Julian turned his gaze on Jack.“Thanks for agreeing to sit through this farce.Did Gareth mention why I wanted you here?”
“He did.I’ll try to look suitably menacing.”Jack saluted with his tablet.“Maybe see what they’re up to.”
Jack showed no sign of the reluctance he’d displayed earlier, and Gareth breathed a small sigh of relief.He watched Jack find a seat at the bottom of the table before he turned to Julian.“Do you expect more than the usual trouble?”
Julian shrugged.“Depends what mood they’re in.I’ve rarely seen them anything but hostile.Challenging market conditions and the string of attacks launched against us?They’re going to be ecstatic.”Outside the conference room, a chime announced the lift, and Cecily Nancarrow’s high-pitched, whining tones preceded her.“And there’s the first unhappy voice.”
