An Offering For Sin by Vince Vogel

Author:Vince Vogel [Vogel, Vince]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

8

7th September 2018

Derek Murray, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom in charge of everything regarding the law of the land, sat signing paperwork at his desk. Usually he had someone else do most of it, but today he wanted anything to take his mind away from the phone conversation he’d had last night with Charles Holsworthy.

He’d called not long after Patricia had, and the conversation had not been a pleasant one.

“They’re trying to fuck me, Derek,” Charles had said breathlessly down the phone.

“Who are, Charles?”

“All of them. Patty included. Her brother went to the police.”

“About what?”

“Don’t you know?”

“Should I?”

“You’re the bloody Home Secretary.”

“Well, I’ve heard of no investigations involving yourself.”

“But you would say that to save yourself. Wouldn’t you?”

“You’re being paranoid, Charles. Where’s Patty now?”

A few seconds of silence in which Derek’s heart held its beat.

“Why would you care?” Charles asked.

“Because I’ve known Patty many years and am concerned. That’s why.”

“She’s all right. Shut up in the bathroom… We had… a…”

He burst into tears.

In their more than forty-year association, Derek had never known Charles to cry about anything. Not even the death of his mother had prompted so much as a lump in his throat.

“What’s the matter, Charles?”

“They’re all turning against me, Derek,” Charles sobbed.

“Who’s them?”

“But you won’t, will you?”

“Never, Charles.”

The man on the other end of the phone began laughing. It was a strange laugh, pathetic and menacing at the same time, the sobbing and the snickering merging.

“Not because of loyalty,” Charles sneered in an undertone. “Loyalty no longer exists amongst our class. Only loyalty to position, power, money. The three merely the same thing. Your loyalty, Derek, has always been to your position. Imagine what would happen if you lost it disgracefully.”

“What are you saying, Charles? And I warn you, choose your words carefully.”

“I’ll choose whatever words I like. Two years ago when you were minister for agriculture, you handed me some…”

His voice drifted off and Derek realized Patricia had been correct: there was a threat and it was real.

“You told me,” Derek began before Charles cut him off.

“For aid. Yes. We lie to each other the same as we lie to them. But one thing’s for sure: I will not go down alone.”

“What have you been up to, Charles?”

“What I’ve always been up to: making lots of money. Billions in arms trading, Derek. Funneling it all back into my hedge funds. A whole network of it. Money you wouldn’t believe. Some that’s found its way into your hands, too.”

War crimes! screamed in Derek’s head as he sat in his study at home.

He’d had to think quickly.

The man on the other end of the phone was paranoid and filled with rage. To argue with him would only bring fury down upon Derek’s head.

So instead, he said, “Whatever you need, Charles, you have my word I will do.”

“And what about the police?”

“Your name was mentioned loosely in an Interpol investigation.”

“What investigation?”

“They claimed some smugglers had been using a warehouse you owned shares in. However, as you’re merely an investor in the company, you were never suspected of direct involvement.

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