Impact by Robert Clark

Author:Robert Clark [Clark, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-22T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

I stared at the page with giddy anticipation, like a child inundated with presents on Christmas morning.

‘I think I've got something,’ I said. ‘Wait, I know I've got something. We've hit the motherlode here, Marie.’

She got up from her seat, discarding the laptop on the sofa, and hurried over to me.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

I spun the page round to show her.

‘That's the guy,’ I said. ‘Charles Neagley. That's the name I saw on the hotel records.’

She stared at the page.

‘Why did she have his number?’ she asked.

‘Beats me, but it makes this theory practically ironclad. This can't be a coincidence.’

‘I don't understand,’ she said. ‘If he murdered Amie, how did she get his number?’

‘One way to find out,’ I said, looking from the number to Marie.

Amie Giroux did not have a landline, and her mobile was either in a police evidence locker or burrowed in the dirt half a mile from the wreckage, so Marie dug her hand into her bag and retrieved a slim flip phone.

‘Who should make the call?’ she asked, holding the phone like it was a hatching egg or vial of salmonella.

‘I think I should,’ I said. ‘I’m a third party, after all. I’m not notably involved.’

She nodded and held the phone out to me. I took it and dialled in the number on the page. Hit the call button and held it to my ear.

The purr of the outgoing call drifted out into the world like a hand reaching blindly into the night, searching for something to hold. The purr sent a tingle down my spine. We were close.

The call was answered. The dull bass of heavy breaths vibrated into my ear. No words were spoken.

‘Charles Neagley?’ I asked. My voice sounded strangely timid.

A moment of silence.

‘Who is this?’ asked the voice on the other end of the line. Definitely male. Definitely American. Almost certainly the same man I’d seen in the car park and in the forest. The voice fit the man.

‘We’ll get to that,’ I said, regaining more bravado in my voice. ‘But first, I want to know if this is the man I saw lurking around in the dark the night before last, around a certain crime scene?’

More silence.

‘Mr Neagley, let me put this nice and simple for you. In two hours, I’ll be standing at the exact spot you and your two companions parked up, and I’ll be waiting.’

‘Waiting for what?’ asked Neagley.

‘For you, Mr Neagley. For you to show up with fifty thousand euros in cash, otherwise I’ll go to the police with all the proof I have.’

Neagley said nothing.

‘What proof, I hear you ask. Well, you’re a smart man. You wouldn’t leave behind evidence.’ I said. I looked up at Marie. Her face was plain. Her eyes on the phone, no doubt imagining the man on the other end of the line. ‘But I’ve got news for you, pal. I’ve got all the proof I need. I have photographs of you and your two friends. I’ve got pictures of the car you used, and I’ve got a recording of you discussing what you did.

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