The End of the Game by Holly Watt

Author:Holly Watt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526625625
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2023-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

26

‘What do we know about this Theia person?’ Miranda addressed the room randomly.

‘He’s very rich,’ Hessa said simply.

‘But he may not be the sort of person to show it off,’ said Miranda. ‘Like Aidan Gardiner, for example. If you passed Aidan in the street, you’d never guess he was worth a fortune. Even his house in Kennington … It looks like success, but not world domination.’

‘But maybe this person is more focused on money than Aidan is?’ Casey suggested. ‘Aidan’s an observer. A superpowered observer, but an observer nonetheless. I think this person is more proactive, more aggressive, enjoys the power. I think they actively like manipulating people. Find it interesting.’

‘They use attack as the best form of defence too, and quite ruthlessly,’ said Miranda. ‘Foscliffe and Fairbairn were a threat so they were destroyed. It was clinical.’

Casey was doodling in her notepad. She had spent most of the previous night staring at the ceiling of her flat, her mind flicking through the options until it was a blur. When she finally slept, she dreamed of seaweed coating her face and woke to the sound of her own screams.

‘What do they collect?’ she asked abruptly.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Hessa.

‘Almost every very rich person I’ve ever come across enjoys collecting things. They get started and suddenly they’re obsessive. Because that’s their mindset anyway – they can’t do anything half-heartedly. Art, vintage cars, yachts, land, whatever. There’s always something. And there’ll always be someone around to enable that. Your canny art dealer, your cute estate agent. Even Aidan’s started collecting footballers, if you think about it.’

‘Well, what else are you going to do?’ asked Hessa wistfully. ‘With your billions.’

‘You’re talking about hobbies, basically.’ Miranda rolled her eyes.

‘Sort of,’ said Casey. ‘But on a grand scale. You don’t celebrate your billions by taking up crocheting.’

‘But how do we identify this obsession?’ asked Hessa.

When she had arrived in the investigations room that morning, Casey had nicked Hessa’s and Miranda’s laptops. Now she sat them all in a row, cueing the footage from the three offices.

‘Obsession,’ Miranda threw a piece of Blu-Tack at Casey, ‘can be surprisingly easy to spot actually, Hess.’

Casey ignored Miranda, all her attention focused on the three screens.

‘There just isn’t a common denominator between those offices,’ Hessa sighed. ‘I’ve watched them all several times.’

The footage spooled silently. Casey drank her coffee and then was surprised to find the mug empty.

‘Antiquities,’ she murmured. ‘Private jets. Wine.’

‘Stamps?’ Hessa was laughing. ‘Star Wars memorabilia? A harem?’

‘I’d collect jewels,’ said Miranda. ‘A magpie hoard of rubies and sapphires.’

‘I bet you would.’

Casey got another round of coffees and then sat down again. The cameras continued to make their jerky way around the offices. When one ran out, she started it again.

Her phone bleeped. Lucas Fairbairn, probably sitting in his Parliamentary office. The more I think about it, the angrier I am. If there’s anything I can do to track down whoever is behind all this, please let me know. L

Casey smiled to herself and typed a reply.

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