by Riley Banks
If he got the laptop, a good lawyer could get the charges down to manslaughter.
But the chances of them walking free were pretty slim.
Which meant as of a few minutes ago, Frank was unemployed.
Frank squeezed his eyes shut and was instantly back in the motel room, Helen Baker’s beautiful face was contorted in the ugly grimace of ensuing death; her breath coming in short, laboured gasps.
Her last thought had been to protect her child.
Frank had never failed a directive before but Bill’s command was in direct opposition to a promise he had made a dying woman.
Where did his loyalties lie?
The answer should be simple.
He had been a Harvey employee for half his life but, faults aside, Frank Campagni had always considered himself a man of his word.
It was a flawed theory but in his line of work, a man had to cling to whatever remained of his humanity.
A battle raged inside of him. Loyalty to a company that had made him rich beyond his wildest dreams or an impromptu promise he had made a dying mother?
Which would it be?
It was now or never. The police were ushering Charlotte towards a waiting police car.
Take the shot now. You can even get a two-for-one and take out Damon too.
He wound down his window, lifting the gun into place.
Charlotte looked up, her eyes locking with his across the street.
She knew what was coming but she continued to stare, as dogged in the face of death as her mother had been all those years ago.
They stared at each other for an eternity.
Finally, Frank smiled, tipping his head in silent salute as he put the car into gear and pulled away from the kerb.
Today was as good a day as any to retire.
Chapter Fifty-Five:
Slaying Goliath by Charlotte Burke
Monday morning – 17 January
William Sydney Harvey, founder and director of Harvey Incorporated and the world’s richest man, is dead.
The global property giant was found strangled at a secluded Vaucluse property.
Police have a suspect in custody – the victim’s son and heir, Bill Harvey. They are also in possession of a laptop, containing a taped confession along with critical files, implicating both Harveys in a conspiracy to commit murder, with a crime spree spanning two decades and three continents.
It has since been revealed that father and son were complicit in the deaths of as many as eight people including Scott Critchlow, Helen Baker, Jacqueline Harvey, Miranda Evans, Zac Wilson, Isaac Jacobs, Joanne Parker and, indirectly, Nancy Robertson.
Early reports suggest the Harveys used former Vietnam Veteran, Frank Campagni, to carry out a number of the murders.
Police are still searching for Campagni who is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.
In a further twist, Bill Harvey’s son, BJ is being questioned about the fatal shooting of Paul Baker, a former employee of Harvey Incorporated and the husband of the late Helen Baker.
Baker, a convicted criminal wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of Joanne Parker, was himself shot dead at Harvey’s Waterfront Suites Hotel.
Police have since uncovered evidence that has posthumously acquitted Baker of all charges including the original charges of corporate fraud.
Both men have been remanded in police custody. Charges range from conspiracy to commit murder, assault, fraud, blackmail, sexual battery, kidnap, illegal wiretapping and invasion of privacy.
With the upper echelons of the corporate Goliath in tatters, many are questioning what will become of Harvey Incorporated now.
Former Communications Director and newly appointed CEO of Harvey Incorporated, Damon Harvey, had this to say.
‘My family and I are deeply ashamed of the crimes committed by our father, brother and grandfather. We intend to make a generous contribution to the victims’ families, as well as take the business in a new, philanthropic direction.’
It seems William Harvey may have belatedly found a conscience.
One of his final wishes was the destruction of his London mansion to make way for a state-of-the-art hospice for victims of violent crime.
The demolition is slated for later this week.
Charlotte folded the newspaper in half.
It was ironic that she was the investigative journalist and yet had uncovered almost nothing in the article herself.
Miranda discovered the truth about Jacqueline Harvey and Mark stumbled upon the time machine concept – though she thought it best not to confirm his suspicions.
Charlotte was just happy Mark was alive. It seemed Frank Campagni spared two lives that fateful day.
The remaining evidence had come from her dad and, most surprisingly of all, William Harvey himself.
So what had Charlotte actually done?
Nothing besides put it all together, which made writing it under her by-line seem almost fraudulent in itself.
Charlotte begged Highgrove to at least publish the article as collaboration between Miranda Evans, Mark Barclay and herself but the politics of different newspapers won out in the end and Charlotte was forced to take full credit.
Not that Mark cared.
He’d decided journalism wasn’t for him, resigning the first chance he got, preferring to ride off into the sunset with his girlfriend, Eden.
Charlotte laid the newspaper on a pile of freshly dug earth.
At least she had one consolation.
‘We got them, Dad.’
There was more she could have added to the report - the truth behind William’s meteoric rise to fame for one.
He bought his first property for such a bargain price because he knew it survived the war.
It still boggled her mind to think that every property purchased between 1941 and 1974 had been fraudulently acquired using a time machine.
Revealing it to the world would have made Charlotte famous and won her a swath of awards.
But at what cost?
The innocent would be punished - Damon, Anita and the rest of the Harvey family.
They knew nothing about the inner workings of a secretive family clique.
Why should they be guilty simply by familial association?
Besides, publishing a tale about a disgraced scientist who built an empire with a time machine was the stuff of science fiction.
Even if people believed her, the inquiry would freeze Harvey assets, leaving many innocent people with nothing.
It was right to leave it out.
In the end, only a handful of people knew of the machine’s existence. Two were dead. Another two languished in jail.
Charlotte knew Bill and BJ could be counted on to keep quiet. Admitting the truth would only reveal the true depth of their conspiracy and would not help their case.
She didn’t tell Highgrove about the machine, knowing he would have demanded she include it in the story.
This left only her and Damon – and Charlotte’s biggest dilemma yet.
What to do with the machine?
It was obvious from William’s final wishes that he wanted it destroyed but could she do it?
Damon stepped behind her, gently massaging her shoulders. ‘Are you okay?’
She nodded. ‘A bit bruised and sore, but otherwise alive.’
It was more than she could say for her parents and her friends.
She squeezed Damon’s hand, forever grateful to him for tracking down her mother’s grave.
Having no family to claim her, Helen Baker had been buried in a council grave, her final resting place marked only with a crude number.
Charlotte kicked at the dirt mount. It would be a few weeks until the headstone arrived but her parents were back together.
They were at peace.
Across the row was another recent grave, the headstone only put in place that morning.
Saying goodbye to Joanne had been so much harder than she had imagined but it mad
e her feel better to know her parents would be close to Jo in death, even if lies had separated them in life.
Having worried for so long about the ghosts of her past, it was a strange feeling to lay them to rest.
There were always regrets, especially about how much time she had missed with her parents.
So many lives had been cruelly cut short.
Damon must have sensed the trail of her thoughts because he asked, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to use it to right the past?’
He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.
Charlotte would be lying to say she hadn’t thought about it.
Having a time machine at hand was a mighty tempting prospect.
There was just one problem.
Changing the past also changed her future and Charlotte now knew her future lay with Damon.
As much as she wanted her family back and her friends alive, as much as she wished she could undo the horrific things BJ had subjected her to, doing so would put her future at risk.
Charlotte bent forward, placing an aging photograph of happier times on her parents’ grave.
‘My life is just how I want it to be.’
THE END
