See No Evil by David Fennell

Author:David Fennell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

25

A

RCHER TAKES A DETOUR HOME and walks up Blackfriars Road, stopping at a recently built block of modern council flats. She presses Flat 9 on the intercom.

‘Hello,’ comes a familiar voice.

‘Cosmo. It’s Grace.’

After a pause he says, ‘I’ll . . . I’ll be right down, Grace.’

Archer figures he does not want his wife to witness him being grilled by her.

Fair enough.

He appears moments later, looking sheepish. ‘Hello, Grace – cold tonight. How are you?’

Archer cuts straight to the chase. ‘Are you going to tell me what’s been going on?’

Cosmo’s bushy grey eyebrows rise in surprise. He shifts on his feet with a look of faux confusion. ‘Not sure what you mean, Grace.’

Archer is not in the mood for this game. ‘Why were you and Grandad talking with Troy Whitehouse last night in the King’s Tavern?’

Cosmo’s face drops. ‘H-how did you know?’

Archer wonders if Grandad is not the only one with dementia.

‘You weren’t hard to miss.’

‘Shit! I knew this was a damn fool’s errand. Shit!’

Archer folds her arms, waiting with a patient front that she is just not feeling.

‘How on earth did you get mixed up with Whitehouse?’

Cosmo looks away from her and begins to wring his hands together. ‘Grace, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do. Jake insisted and I thought he just wanted some muscle, you know?’

‘Why would he want muscle from Whitehouse?’

A pained expression shrouds his face. ‘I’m sorry, Grace. So sorry. I thought I could do better with Jake. I really did . . .’

Cosmo doesn’t seem able to find the words.

‘Tell me what Grandad wanted from Whitehouse.’

Cosmo shifts back and forth on his feet, avoiding Archer’s gaze.

‘Cosmo?’

Cosmo casts his eyes downward. ‘A gun. He wanted a gun.’

Archer feels her stomach lurching.

Cosmo continues, ‘Jake saw the article about Frankie White and went bananas. I’ve never seen him so upset, so angry. He cried, Grace, wept in my arms. We sat in St Patrick’s for three hours and I thought being there might calm him down, but it seemed to do the opposite. He wanted to scream and tear the place down. Honestly, Grace, I thought he was about to have another stroke.’

‘What was he planning to do with the gun?’

Archer suspects she knows what the answer to that question is but wants to hear it from Cosmo.

‘He wants to shoot White. Kill him dead for what he’s done.’

Archer closes her eyes and sighs.

Cosmo pulls his coat together to stay warm. ‘He’ll go mad at me for telling you.’

A chill runs down Archer’s spine. She shudders in the cold and thrusts her hands deeper into her coat pockets in a vain attempt to warm them.

‘There’s something else. He kept going on about a secret – a secret that he’d just discovered.’

‘What secret?’

‘I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s eating him alive, and I don’t doubt it’s to do with Frankie White.’

Archer’s mind races.

‘Promise you won’t say anything, Grace!’

‘I can’t promise anything, but I will deal with this.’

‘Grace . . .’

‘I’ve already dealt with Troy Whitehouse. So don’t contact him again, or anyone like him, Cosmo.

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