Under Hidden Skies (Shadows Between Lies Book 3)

by Nicky Webber

Frustration muted each man as they walked on in silence.

  CHAPTER 43

  Unraveling

  The first fraught days gradually moved into weeks, and then the months stretched into the New Year. Fred sat at the dining table, finishing his lunch alone. He felt the full weight of the looming annual tax deadline and the stress of submitting the final IRS and VAT returns. It wasn’t the accounting documentation; he had completed most of it months earlier, but the fear of exposure haunted his waking moments. One query or mismatched receipt could raise a red flag with those number crunchers lurking in the back rooms of the IRS. He made sure that over the twenty-one-month duration of the phony business transactions; he claimed no credit.

  Now in the heart of cold reality, he worried that this could raise a tax alert. Most new businesses claim expenses and show running costs with no profits for at least two years. While Panda Bear Holdings was a brazen criminal activity, he had principles. Fred could readily imagine them all behind bars for fifteen-years because of this minor oversight. In these circumstances, he didn’t believe in taking money from taxpayers, and besides, they were reaping in plenty of cash, so why add to the take by claiming tax credits. This dichotomy now tormented him. For the sake of ethical expediency, he had risked putting his thick neck firmly under the IRS blade.

  His cell phone, almost permanently kept on silent, urgently vibrated in his jeans pocket, rousing him from his torturous imaginings. He reached down and swiftly brought the screen into sight. It was a text from Maddy.

  [Logan gone with Police for questioning. Call me ASAP.]

  Fred gasped in horror, immediately realizing that the letter from the IRS was the first volley, and the net was closing in. He pushed the dining chair back and stood up; the room seemed to swirl around him as his heart thumped uncontrollably. The worst-case scenario was now unfolding. He had to calm down, carefully modulate his voice, and call Maddy back. Fred took several deep breaths and exhaled through his mouth before swallowing hard. He slumped back into the chair, knocking his knife to the floor, but ignored it. Stunned and horrified at what was about to unfold, he leaned onto the table with his elbows. Breathing heavily, Fred ran his hands over his face and up over his bald head.

  ‘Shit!’ he shouted, but no one heard him. He reread the message, just to confirm it said what he thought. The text jangled like bells, warning sirens in his head. Fred squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling deeply, and looked at the phone screen again. He had to phone Maddy back.

  His cell phone rang and rang. She did not answer. Fred panicked, anxiety at an all-time high, and needed to front up at the police station too. Did he have the courage to unleash the security box evidence and evade the criminal spotlight? It was his only choice. But first, he needed to assess the situation and get a reasonable idea of what the police were investigating. His phone vibrated again. Maddy calling.

  ‘The Police arrived at the front door and asked for Logan to accompany them the station,’ blurted Maddy, her voice tight with fear.

  ‘What did they say? What was it about?’ Fred asked as calmly as he could, pacing his words.

  ‘No, they wouldn’t say,’ came her immediate response.

  ‘Was he handcuffed?’ Fred asked.

  ‘No. Logan just kept laughing and saying there must be some mistake.’

  ‘I’ll go there now and call you back as soon as I know what’s going on.’

  ‘Fred, this is just crazy, don’t you think?’ her voice strained. ‘Logan has done nothing wrong. It has to be a mistake.’

  Fred clutched onto her lifeline. ‘Of course, Maddy. They’ve made some stupid mistake and picked up the wrong guy. Don’t worry, I’ll call you as soon as we’re both on our way back home.’

  He bolted to the front door, jumped into the driver’s seat, and raced down the road. It was only after speeding past two blocks that he slowed down. Fred knew he had to tread carefully and determine the situation with the Police first. Unpacking his planted evidence against Logan may not need to be delivered instantaneously. Somehow it must appear as if the police found the evidence themselves. He would plant the security card key amongst Logan’s clothing when he got back to the house. The police would search the place in the next twenty-four hours.

  Fred’s thoughts fell to Maddy. He could still hear the tight self-control in her alarmed voice. The best thing would be to take her out for the day, give the house keys to the police, and make sure they were both out. The thought rolled around in his mind, like pebbles rattling in an empty tin can. Was he already thinking of ways to spare her the full impact of the stress and misery? He planned to cause her as much upset as possible, to pay her back for the years of torment she had caused him. He pressed his lips together, resigned to the fact that he really didn’t want to hurt her. Bravado was one thing, but now, at the coal face of harsh reality, he hesitated.

  He pulled up in the visitor’s bay outside the local Police station. His course of action was to remain ignorant and ask stupid questions. He reminded himself that he knew nothing about anything.

  Inside, the Sargent at the counter indicated for Fred to sit on one of the reception area plastic chairs and wait to be called. Ten minutes later, an officer called his name from the doorway, and Fred followed him down a narrow corridor and into a small room.

  ‘Take a seat,’ the man said, pointing to three armless chairs in front of a wooden desk. As he ambled around the desk to his office chair facing Fred, he finally introduced himself.

  ‘Sam Hollows,’ he said, reaching over the stacks of files, folders, and papers laying across the desktop between them. They shook hands, and both sat down, facing one another.

  ‘I believe you’re here asking after Logan Jones?’ the officer asked, his passive face soaked in disillusion, disinterested in everything except the horses. He lived for betting on the winners every Saturday. It was also reasonable to assume Sargent Hollows had been a lifelong smoker. His craggy gray skin sagged around his jawline. A dead give-away, thought Fred. Although the dingy office smelled musty, there was no trace of cigarette smoke.

  Fred gave a perfunctory nod.

  ‘What do you want to know?’ asked the jaded Officer Hollows.

  ‘Well, what’s it all about? Logan lives with us, so I thought I better come down and see what I can do to help,’ Fred responded, talking a delicate balance between nonchalant and polite.

  ‘Look… errr… Mr. Davis. Logan Jones is currently being interviewed. We consider this a serious matter, and until he has satisfied the detectives talking to him, there’s nothing much you can do.’

  Thirty-seconds of silence filled the room as Fred sat dumbfounded. Sargent Hollows assumed there was nothing else to discuss, and so raised his right hand showing the office door.

  ‘You can see yourself out,’ the Police Officer signaled before clutching a pen and opening a folder on his desktop.

  ‘Should I wait?’ Fred asked hesitantly, wondering how Logan would get home.

  Sargent Hollows glanced up at Fred. He shrugged. ‘Up to you, but you’ll have to wait in the reception area.’

  Fred guessed the Sargent dismissed him as Hollows looked down at his papers again and ignored Fred leaving the room.

  Again, Fred ran through every kind of permutation and scenario. It was like playing a combo of Russian Roulette and Snakes, and Ladders all merged into a complex series of layers that couldn’t bear scrutiny. One false move and he could have a gun to his head or be sliding down the tail of a snake with a long slow crawl up the ladder of life again.

  To Fred’s surprise, Logan emerged from the corridor with another investigating officer. They shook hands as Fred leaped up to greet them.

  Fred and Logan exchanged the look, and it was easy to tell Logan thought things would work out and be okay in the end. Fred knew otherwise.

  They drove home laughing and joking about the near miss with the police and what pricks the neighbors were.

  Arriving home, the two men burst through the front door as M
addy sprung from the sofa.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked anxiously.

  ‘Not really,’ said Fred. ‘You tell her, Logan.’

  ‘I need a drink first.’ he smiled. ‘What a saga.’

  Maddy scuttled into the kitchen and uncorked a Pinot Noir, a favorite and definitely a requirement after this day from hell.

  Logan had driven off with the police officers, who had appeared at their front door. They wouldn’t say anything about the reasons for bringing Logan in for questioning.

  ‘I just knew it couldn’t be that serious because I have done nothing illegal. Apart from living with a man and our wife,’ he joked.

  Maddy’s mouth fell open as she grew more confused.

  ‘So I really wasn’t too worried until I was in their interview room and they started asking me about threats a European male had made against the neighbors,’ Logan explained.

  ‘What? They wanted to arrest you for that?’ Maddy didn’t find this amusing, although Fred kept grinning.

  ‘The neighbors want charges laid for Fred putting that bullet in their mailbox,’ Logan elaborated.

  ‘Why didn’t they arrest Fred, then?’ Maddy asked, still looking genuinely concerned.

  ‘When they picked me up at the house this morning, the first and only question they asked was which one of us had put a bullet with the neighbor’s initials on it in their mailbox.’

  ‘But it was Fred,’ Maddy interrupted.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Fred. ‘But he told them it was Logan. So they marched him down to the Station and ripped into him.’

  ‘When I discussed all the issues with the inconsiderate noisy idiots next door,’ Logan continued, ‘they explained that the bullet thing made the perpetrators, the victims. And it made us, the original victims, into the criminals. Especially so, as they viewed this action as a threat against human life.’

  ‘How could they prove it?’ Maddy asked.

  Logan drew in a deep breath. ‘I saw the video that prick had taken.’

  ‘Surely they saw it was Fred?’ she asked.

  ‘No, a baseball cap, same height as me,’ said Logan, ‘and in the middle of the night. Hard to tell but they warned me, and I guess all of us, that threatening to kill someone through words or actions was something they viewed seriously.’

  ‘What now?’ she questioned, feeling a little more relaxed after two large gulps of red wine.

  ‘Exactly!’ laughed Logan.

  ‘Sweet Nada, that’s what!’ Replied Fred.

  ‘An official warning—boo hoo,’ chuckled Logan. ‘But they had me going for a while there. Thank heavens there’s no death penalty in California.’

  As the evening wore on, Fred realized how grateful he was for Logan, after all. It astounded him that Logan would claim to the police that he threatened the neighbors, taking the heat to protect his close friend. Waves of remorse and guilt rolled over him like a tsunami of relief. All the angst and misery of his anxious fears evaporated. At one point he thought he may confess to Maddy when everything calmed down. But he immediately dismissed it as being under the influence of the wine and remained in the status quo so the three of them could get on with their lives together. Fred would not be dismantling his security evidence against Logan for three long years.

  ‘Just in case,’ he said to himself.

  CHAPTER 44

  Epilogue

  A small gathering of excited friends and family assembled at a local restaurant and bar to celebrate Hawke and Sacha’s engagement. Music played, and glasses clinked as they sipped champagne and chatted in the upstairs cordoned off area of the establishment.

  Two servers dressed in white-collared shirts and long black aprons mingled amongst the happy guests carrying enormous platters of canapes with silver trays of champagne and a selection of excellent wines. The newly engaged couple had not yet arrived, giving the happy throng reason to discuss their recent tribulations and accept Hawkes’s new status. It was a time for celebrating good health, happiness, and a bright future.

  Unexpectedly, the music stopped, and someone clinked a knife against a glass to capture everyone’s attention.

  ‘A few moments of silence please,’ a family friend called out from the front of the bar as the two servers sprang into action. They bustled into the middle of the crowd and waved their hands, working from the center of the fifty-seven guests to the outer edges, forcing them to part. This left a wide walkway through the middle of the gathering.

  The crowd was silent apart from a few mumblings and whisperings, which added to their consternation. Everyone was confused and unsure about what was unfolding in their midst. Within seconds Sacha, dressed in a beautiful cream cocktail dress with wildflowers in her hair, appeared at the outer edge of the room, holding Hawke’s hand. Everyone cheered and clapped with delight. Someone in the crowd shouted, ‘Congratulations!’ and everyone raised their glasses in a toast to the happily engaged couple.

  They walked down the hastily formed isle between the guests and arrived at the front of the bar. With shock and surprise, a stranger, a tall woman dressed in pink satin and strappy cerise sandals, appeared in front of the smiling couple. Someone clinked their glass again, and the audience fell into a hushed silence.

  The lady in pink raised her head and voice at the same time and stared at the couple standing before her. ‘Have you both come here of your own free will?’

  ‘Yes!’ they responded, turning their heads and smiling at the crowd standing behind them.

  ‘Let’s begin,’ the woman said, and paused.

  ‘Sacha, do you promise to love, honor, and cook for Hawke?’

  ‘Yes!’ she replied.

  ‘Do you promise to surrender your share of the blankets and the remote on Hawke’s request?’

  ‘Just remember, I’m totally worth it,’ Sacha said, and the gathering burst into laughter.

  The celebrant restored silence and continued. ‘Hawke, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you.’

  More shrieks and laughter from the gathering.

  ‘Do either of you have anything you would like to say?’ the celebrant asked with a broad smile.

  ‘I had written out five pages of vows, but I’ll read it to Sacha later tonight.’ he grinned and winked at the guests. ‘I do promise to be with you forever. I promise to listen to everything you say, even if I don’t agree with you. I promise to love you and our children even when they are as annoying as you can be.’ Hawke grinned at Sacha.

  Everyone laughed, enjoying the spectacle and the fun that was obviously a step or three beyond a mere engagement party.

  The celebrant turned towards the bride. ‘Sacha, do you have anything you would like to say?’

  ‘Yes,’ Sacha said. ‘Because I will love you for eternity, you need to remember that everything that is yours is now mine, except for your X-box!’

  Once the guests had calmed down again, the celebrant spoke in a more formal tone. ‘Take this ring and place it on Sacha’s finger,’ she instructed.

  There were a few excited gasps from the assembled wedding guests as the room became hushed with anticipation. Glancing at Suzie holding Bruno’s hand, Fred wondered about their remoteness in recent weeks. Ordinarily, Fred would never notice such a subtle shift, but with so much at risk, he sensed their recent coolness towards him. He would make more of an effort to chat to Bruno during the reception and try and heal any tension or confirm if his suspicions were justified.

  Fred’s gaze shifted to Maddy’s face as her eyes welled and she gave him a weak smile. A wave of remorse flooded through Fred’s thoughts as he glanced at Logan’s cheerful face, standing on the other side of his wife. A rush of deep unease washed over him, knowing his friend was a potential target, standing in the crosshairs for a crime he did not commit. He swallowed uneasily, trying to block out his dark thoughts. The penetrating voice of the celebrant re-captured his attention.

  ‘Repeat after me; I Hawke Frederick D
avis take Sacha Mila Jones to be my lawfully wedded wife.’

  The celebrant turned to Sacha; ‘I Sacha Mila Jones take Hawke Frederick Davis to be my lawfully wedded husband.’

  ‘I’ve been terrified of this all my life.’ Sacha added, causing the guests to burst into laughter again.

  Sacha continued speaking as she placed the wedding ring on Hawkes’s finger. ‘Take this ring as a sign of my lifelong love and commitment.’

  Hawke took Sacha’s hand in his and leaned forward, kissed his beautiful bride, and repeated the wedding vow as he placed the wedding band on her finger.

  The celebrant stepped forward and announced, ‘You may kiss the bride again!’

  Hawke laughed and embraced his wife in a long kiss as the celebrant raised her voice above the noisy wedding guests.

  ‘I now pronounce you man and wife!’

  END

  GLOSSARY

  Bach: a holiday house or cottage

  Chuff: a slang expression for one’s backside

  Kawhai: a native ocean fish with white flesh

  Tea: can be a colloquial reference for dinner

  Tui: a native bird with a beautiful song

  Fantail: a small native bird with a fan-like tail.

  Pohutukawa: a tall native tree found throughout coastal New Zealand. It displays unusual bottle-brush type red blossoms over Christmas and summer holidays.

  Ponga: native to New Zealand and looks like a magnificent fern on top of a tree trunk.

  Tairua: a small vibrant seaside village with a population of about 2,000.

  Pauanui: A small upmarket coastal village of 750 people and is situated of a spit of land with waterways and jetties positioned outside many of the luxury homes.

  Whangamata: a small coastal town with a pop of 3,500 which explodes to 60,000 over summer.

  Auckland: the largest city in New Zealand with over 1.5m population, not to be confused with the smaller capital city of Wellington.

  Tagine: a Moroccan dish of delicious spicey meat and vegetables served with steamed rice.

  Souq: a local open-air market with stalls and good that are bartered for.