Hunter Hunted, Jack Gatland [good story books to read .txt] 📗

‘You can’t speak like that to an elected official!’ Gladwell looked for support, but Charles Baker was still staring down at his desk.

‘Let me tell you a story,’ Declan began. ‘Ten years ago you create Rattlestone. Even name it after a street where one of your family died. Nice touch. You build up some nice contracts, create a fake board, all of that.’

‘Hearsay.’

‘I have files in a mausoleum safe that say differently,’ Declan replied.

‘So there you are, living the life, skimming some nice defence contracts, and then the Balkans incident happens,’ Monroe continued. ‘You pass the blame onto other departments, but it’s swept under the rug and Rattlestone makes a nice hefty chunk of coin. Over thirty pieces of silver, even, considering you climbed over the dead to get it.’

‘But here’s the problem,’ Declan took over. ’Now we’re a few years on. You’re in the Star Chamber, Baker there is newly admitted, you’ve got a chance to really do something here, but people are complacent. Will Harrison is using Rattlestone as his stepladder to greatness, and that’s pissing you off. Francine Peace is using it as her personal security and there’s nothing you can do and Charlie there is taking substantial payments for ‘lectures’.’

‘I’m confused,’ Gladwell smiled. ‘You’re saying that I’m the moral one here?’

‘It looks it,’ Monroe nodded, now sitting against Charles’ desk. ‘But then the shite hits the fan. Literally. The Davies murder comes out. We learn Pearce has been blackmailing Baker. He has a son, now murdered. Terrible affair. And from that a journalist, one that was in the Balkans, who saw the betrayal first hand starts digging.’

‘First, she thinks it’s Baker, so she aims at him, finding Donna’s name on some documents. She pressures her, hoping to gain a source, but Donna doesn’t do that. She tells you what she’s learned.’

‘Donna spoke to me, Will and Charles that day.’

‘True, and all of you told her to ignore Kendis,’ Declan continued. ‘But that night she’s found dead.’

‘I didn’t kill her,’ Gladwell protested.

Declan shrugged. ‘We’ll never know,’ he replied. ‘And besides, that’s only the start. At this point Laurie Hooper, Donna’s PA, gets involved. She’s Donna’s confidante, she knows that something smells here. And she contacts Kendis as an anonymous source. Meanwhile, you each go into protection mode. Harrison creates this fake legend, informing Charles that Kendis is a terrorist sympathiser. Charles, grieving and desperate to focus blame on someone, accepts it as truth. He utilises a government department, maybe one he has connections with through the Star Chamber to get it out there. To ‘flick the switch’, turn on the light, reveal this dissident. But Will Harrison starts his own campaign, sending a text to Frost, telling him to kill DCI Monroe, dressed as me.’

‘I never knew about this,’ Charles replied. ‘I swear.’

‘King John never knew he was being played by Sir Hiss in the Disney film, either,’ Declan muttered, looking back to Gladwell. ‘You didn’t know any of this because you were planning your own political assassination of Harrison and Baker. You started an affair with Laurie, convincing her you were the only one that believed her. On the night of Monroe’s attack, you went with her to a meeting at The Horse and Guard with Kendis, ensuring that by the end, Kendis believed that you, not Laurie, was the whistle-blower. Maybe you told Laurie that it’d be more believable from an MP; I don’t know. What I do know is that the following day you met with Kendis in St John’s Park, playing the part perfectly.’

‘And how do you know this?’ Gladwell asked. ‘I mean, I’m not saying I didn’t; I felt I had a duty to bring a full transparency—‘

‘Shut up!’ Declan shouted, his face filled with anger. ‘Enough with the lies! I know because you brought in one of your assets, Nasir Gill. He followed Kendis for you, taking photos. It’s how I know you met her. But you had to explain why you needed him to do this, you had to make him think that Francine Pearce was involved, and in the end he had to be taken out before he realised the truth.’

Gladwell sat silently now. Declan took a deep breath, gathering his composure. Monroe, seeing this, continued.

‘Personally, I believe you wanted to remove Harrison, maybe even Baker there. Being seen as the man who learned that one of his own colleagues, a man that he had once championed for Leadership had done such a terrible thing, using a force created for good… Nice PR there. And you’d have shown how they’d followed you too, taken photos that showed you to be a target as well.’

Still no response from Gladwell, now staring balefully at the two detectives.

‘But here it goes off the rails,’ Declan, calm again continued. ‘I think Kendis took something, maybe your key to get into Brompton. She doesn’t trust you, you see. And she sneaks in once it’s closed and goes to have a sniff around. Unaware to her, she sets off your motion alarm. It’s three miles to the cemetery from your house. A cab could get you there in ten minutes.’

‘I was at home all night,’ Gladwell replied. ‘You can check my phone records.’

‘Oh, we did,’ Monroe smiled. ‘Not your normal phone though; we looked at the burner phone you used to speak to Sutcliffe and Frost with. You thought that one was safe. And so you went to Brompton for about 8pm, according to the cell tower data. The same time that Kendis is believed to have been murdered.’

‘I went into your mausoleum,’ Declan added. ‘There’s blood on the floor and also on a broken vase, shards of which I’m sure will match the ones found in Kendis’ head. Also, there are scorch marks on the wall, made from a circular taser, the same marks found on her body.’

Gladwell leapt up. ‘Conjecture! This is a farce! Will Harrison could easily have killed her there! And he had the taser in