AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What happened?”
“Her manager attacked her. I ran in to help. I’ve tied him up.”
“We’d better come up, then,” Ellis says a little stiffly. He’s still wary.
We both climb up the stairs towards Sion, who backs off into the kitchen.
“Annie!”
Claire rushes to me with a bloody towel on the side of her face, and I hold onto her tightly.
“It’s alright.”
“Kevin cut me. What’s it like?”
She lifts the towel tentatively away from her face, and I guide her over to the window so I can take a proper look at it. I can see the deep, thick line that’s been slashed right down her neck.
“It’s nasty but we’ll get you sorted, don’t worry.”
“Will it scar?”
When I don’t answer, I hear her sniffing back tears.
It’s only then that I notice Kevin tied to a chair. His face is covered in blood too, and he looks mean.
“Yes, you can enter the flat safely, over... Roger that.”
Ellis’ voice into his police radio cuts through the air.
Then, silence.
The detective appears frozen for a second. I’m not sure why. Surely, he must have dealt with worse incidents than this?
“If it’s alright with you, I’m gonna take Claire to Accident and Emergency.”
“Stay put for a minute.”
The detective’s eyes are fixed on Sion.
“The gun? Where is it?”
Sion looks at him innocently.
“Gun?”
“Yeah. The police outside heard gunshot.”
Ellis scans the room, then points upwards to his left.
“The bullet’s probably embedded in that hole. Right there, in the ceiling.”
“It’s in his bag.”
The detective swivels around towards Kevin, who’s piped up for the first time.
“Annie, can you hand me that sports bag, please?”
Sion watches on impassively, as I take the bag over to the detective.
“Open it, please.”
I put the bag onto the ground and unzip it fully for the detective. Inside, we can all see a handgun.
Ellis’ eyes meet Sion’s.
“I’m arresting you for possession of an illegal firearm.”
He produces a set of cuffs from his pocket and places them around Sion’s already outstretched wrists. Locking them shut, he continues.
“And on suspicion of murder.”
“Murder? Who’s murder?” I ask, dumbfounded.
He motions to Kevin bound to the chair in front of him.
“Your father, Glyn Evans. It’s the same rope.”
Claire and I watch speechless and shocked, as both Sion and Kevin are handcuffed and taken away by the police.
Sion doesn’t speak either. His head is bowed, but as he leaves, I see his eyes fixed on Claire’s with unshakeable imploring intensity.
“I didn’t do it.”
Claire lets out a loud sob when we’re finally alone.
Placing my arm around her, I take her out of there and on to the hospital. After that, we’ve got a trip to the police station to make a statement.
While she’s getting treated, I call the farmhouse and talk to Jac.
I don’t believe it. Why on earth would Sion, Jac’s best mate, murder my father?
CHAPTER 26
-----------?----------
“Are you sure that you’re up to this?”
Detective Ellis smiled kindly at Claire, who was sitting across from him with large sterile pads taped along her neck up to her ear.
“Yes. I want to get it over and done with.”
“So, you went to get your wages?”
“Right. And Glenda, the cleaner, told me that Kevin was up in the flat. So, I went up the stairs and he attacked me from behind as I went in. He held a knife to my face, and he threatened to use it on me if I didn’t phone Sion.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why was he interested in Sion?”
Claire shifted in her chair.
“I dunno.”
She felt Ellis’ eyes searing into her.
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would Kevin grab you, so you could call Sion?”
“You need to ask Kevin that.”
“But, why Sion?”
“No idea,” she repeated, her voice rising with emotion. “He had a knife, and he slashed me when I tried to get free.”
She was getting upset. He pushed the paper pad and biro towards her.
“Interview terminated at five-thirty. Write out your statement here, Claire, and then you can go home. It’s been a traumatic day. Is Annie waiting for you?”
She nodded.
“And Jac’s here too.”
She began to jot down the sequence of events as they ended the recording.
Ellis leaned back in his seat. She was holding out on him. It didn’t matter, for now, it would all come out sooner or later.
After a wall of silence from Sion, he’d given him his phone call.
But, he’d spent a very productive hour with Kevin, while Sion was left to stew back in a holding cell.
Kevin had sung like a canary.
According to him, Sion was a wanted man. The Scousers, the notorious Liverpool drugs outfit, had put a large price on his head. They had their tentacles in Wales. But, out here too? In the Cross Keys pub? In the middle of nowhere?
The Baikal IZH-79 confirmed that Sion Edwards was no angel. His bag was full of professional kit, and his gun was the semi-automatic firearm of choice on the black market.
The picture was becoming clearer.
This ex-SAS soldier was a professional gangster.
So, what was the connection to Glyn Evans?
Ellis picked up the vending machine cup of cold, sweet black coffee and knocked it back like a shot.
“Annie and Jac?”
Ellis threw out casually as Claire finished up writing her statement.
“What’s going on there?”
“Back together,” Claire responded, not looking up.
Ellis nodded pensively.
Two deaths. A large inheritance. Two elite ex-soldiers.
Motive, opportunity and means.
It was going to be a long night.
Taking Claire’s statement, he signalled to the uniformed officer by the interview room door.
“We’ll get someone to take you home.”
Claire was confused.
“But, Jac and Annie are waiting for me in reception?”
“They’re going to be a bit busy, I’m afraid. Helping us with our enquiries.”
???
“How the Hell could I have known that Sion murdered my father?”
He’s drilling again.
“I was away in London. I was hardly ever back home.”
“No, I didn’t meet him when I was back at Christmas. Or Jac…. That’s right, I was home for three days…. No, I’d never heard of Sion Edwards, back then.... I hadn’t spoken to Jac before my father died for twelve years…. Detective, where are you going with this?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
First, Jac and I are called in from the front reception area. Then, we’re then taken to different interview rooms to give statements. And now, all of a sudden, I’m sitting here, listening to all manner of lies being knitted together about us.
Ellis presses on, aggressively.
“You and Jac? You’re lovers now? Isn’t it, kinda perfect how it’s all worked out for you?”
“Yes. It is. It’s the one positive outcome from weeks of pain. The shock of dad; then, watching my mother die. Have you any idea what that’s like?”
I’m getting angry and upset.
“So what, about Jac and me? We were together when we were eighteen, and we are again now. Ask Claire or Cal? Even better, check with Jac? They’ll all tell you how we got together after Mam
and Dad passed.”
“Cal?”
He reads off his notes.
“Is that Callista Jones?”
“Yes.”
“Jac’s mother?”
He’s staring smugly at me. Jees! Now he thinks she’s in on it as well. Whatever ‘it’ is.
I throw my hands in the air in exasperation.
“You can keep on with your conspiracy theories all night, but you’re wrong! I hadn’t been in touch with Jac for years. In fact, not until you guys asked him to call me.”
???
“So, you and Sion go way back, right?”
Jac raked his fingers over his head and took a deep breath.
“Yeah. We joined up at the same time.”
“And you say he’s like a brother to you?”
“Yes.”
Jac paused to find his words.
“When you’re on the front line with someone, dodging a bullet, watching out for snipers and IUDs every day, you develop a bond. He saved my life one time. And I saved his. We’re like brothers.”
“So, you’d say that you really know him?” Ellis pressed. “About as well as anybody could?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.”
Ellis swung back on his plastic chair.
“So how come, then, you knew nothing about his gun?”
Ellis leaned in, eyeballing him.
“Or his involvement with the Scousers?”
“Who?”
Jac glanced away.
“He didn’t tell me,” he uttered quietly.
