Lethal Profit

by Alex Blackmore

  Inspired by the ordered and logical approach of Henning Mankell's heroes, combined with the action of a Harlan Coben thriller and the conspiracy undertones

  of a Robert Ludlum plot

  From the businesses that profit by selling us health and happiness comes the ultimate cure: a genetically modified plant supplement that claims to regenerate human cells.

  Before its launch Eva Scott travels to Paris following an instinct about her brother's death and finds herself dangerously compromised by the information he had stumbled across. Confronting a corporate conspiracy, a bio-weapon developed to make a deadly profit on an unprecedented scale and an organisation concealed by those with unimaginable power, Eva realises she has the formula to stop the spread of the lethal weapon… but will she seize the opportunity to do so?

  Alex gained an LLB and LPC in Law at Nottingham University and went on to practice as a finance lawyer in the City. After five years in the world of corporate finance and banking, she moved into legal and financial writing and editing before moving into freelance writing full time. She runs a copywriting business and a fashion retail website championing new designers, and lives in North London with Isabella, Michael and a stubborn dachshund.

  For Mum, Dad, Pippa, Kasra and B

  I would like to thank: John and Vicky for everything from listening to crazy plot ideas, to motivational phone calls; Kasra who underwrote my break for freedom; Pippa for the endless coffee and inspiration; friends who have listened and advised – Bea, Anna, Jacinta, Will, Katie, JP, Emily, Lizzie, Rachel, Alice, Adam; Annette who saw something in my writing and went out on a limb; everyone at No Exit for the support and guidance and taking a chance on a new writer with a stubborn streak.

  ONE

  THE LIGHT IN THE BAR WAS dim; the plush velvet of the seating and the garish gold leaf of the furnishings had all begun to meld into one. Eva tightened her grip around the base of her champagne glass as if it might sober her up. She looked along the small stretch of dark oak wood bar between her and the man sitting opposite her.

  He met her gaze as he continued to speak. For a second Eva thought she had seen something in those deep blue pools that sent a shiver down her spine. Something predatory and cold. He blinked, his eyes cleared and the feeling left her.

  I should go back to my hotel, Eva thought to herself. But the idea of the bleak, cold room near the Gare du Nord was nowhere near as attractive as this seductive, warm hotel bar where the waiters scrambled to pop the cork on another bottle of Bollinger each time March produced his card.

  She straightened up on her stool and forced herself to ask a question. March had been speaking for what seemed like hours – he always had liked the sound of his own voice. He and her brother Jackson had been friends at school before Jackson disappeared suddenly, aged 18. In the eleven years since then March – a nickname, his surname was ‘Marchment’ – had stopped dressing like his father and punctuating all his sentences with ‘like’, and apparently developed quite a thing for a Tom Ford suit.

  ‘You look tired,’ he was saying as Eva felt herself sway slightly on the bar stool. She stared at his expensive jacket as something metallic on his breast pocket caught her eye. Looking closer she saw it was a small acorn. She looked away when she realised he was waiting for a response.

  ‘Yeah, it’s been a long, unproductive day.’

  ‘Have you been able to speak to any of Jackson’s friends?’

  ‘No.’ She sighed. ‘I’ve been in Paris a week now and all I’ve really managed to do is track down someone Jackson apparently spent five minutes with before he dropped off the radar.’

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Shaun Thompson.’

  ‘It’s a start.’

  ‘I’m trying to look at it that way but I can’t imagine he’s going to be much help. He shared a cigarette with Jackson just before he disappeared but I don’t think they even exchanged names.’

  ‘Did the police not tell you much about Jackson’s death?’

  ‘They did and they didn’t. I’ve seen a summary police report but it’s not exactly detailed – it could be about anyone.’

  ‘Non-specific?’

  ‘Puzzlingly so. I know that Jackson and I weren’t that close any more – after he went missing at school we all thought he was dead. I spent an entire decade believing that. It was…’ She hesitated. ‘… difficult when he suddenly appeared again.’ Eva forced the words out. She didn’t find it easy to talk about.

  ‘But in that year after he was suddenly there again, I felt like he was happy here in Paris. He was working for that aid agency, he had friends, a pretty girlfriend, lots to live for. Why would he…’

  Eva’s voice trailed away.

  As she was discovering, grief tended to sweep over her in sudden waves that completely took her legs away. Although she had already grieved once for Jackson when the family was told he had died in a car accident all those years ago, and then soon after for her mother, for some reason this time it had hit her much harder. She looked helplessly at March, tears filling her eyes. She felt her mouth open and close several times before she was able to whisper ‘…why would he kill himself…?’

  March nodded in that comfortingly well-bred way which indicated enough had been said and she could stop being emotional. ‘Want some water?’

  Eva shook her head and took a big gulp of her drink. She forced herself to calm down.

  ‘What about the girlfriend?’ said March, giving her just enough time to pull herself together.

  ‘I’ve got her number but she’s screening my calls.’

  ‘If I’d have known he was living here I would have got in touch. I can’t believe we were in the same city for three years without knowing it.’

  ‘None of us knew he was here.’

  ‘He must have had other friends in Paris?’

  Eva had now succeeded in righting herself.

  ‘Same thing. Either the French are a bloody rude race, or these particular people don’t want to speak to me,’ she joked, trying to pretend she hadn’t just peeled the walls of her chest open and shown him how much she was hurting inside.

  He smiled. ‘I’ve lived here five years and I can tell you now, it’s a combination of both. You’ll get there.’

  Eva drained her glass. ‘I know you’re right.’ She was grateful for the support. Most people thought she was crazy for coming over here on a hunch. If the police said Jackson had shot himself, then he had shot himself.

  ‘I’d probably better get back,’ she said as she felt another wave of emotion threatening.

  ‘I’ll walk you home.’

  As they stepped out of the bar into the cold November air, Eva began to feel herself sobering up. The sky above them was a dark, velvety black with an orange glow and there were stars twinkling everywhere she looked. She let March direct their steps; he lived in Paris after all so he was less likely to lead them in the wrong direction. However, after a while Eva realised that she was recognising some of the sights around them and they seemed to be walking away from her hotel, not towards it.

  ‘March, are we going in the right direction?’

  He looked around. ‘Think so.’

  They carried on walking in silence for several minutes until Eva stopped. She laughed as she spoke. ‘Look, I’m not being funny but I think my hotel is the other way!’

  March smiled but said nothing. The hair began to stand up on the back of Eva’s neck. There was that same look she’d seen in the bar. He looked like a wolf.

  She took an involuntary step backwards, but he anticipated her movement and lunged for her, grabbing hold of the front of her coat, pulling her off her feet, then dragging her with him as he stepped quickly from the quiet street they had been walking down into an
alleyway lined with enormous refuse bins. Eva opened her mouth to scream but, as March shoved her upright against one of the bins, he knocked all the breath out of her. She struggled to breathe as she felt him tearing at her coat. Disbelief screamed in her head at what was apparently unfolding but she felt paralysed by the shock. She glanced at the street but it was completely empty, not even a single light on in any of the homes. Suddenly her breath returned and her senses roared into action.

  ‘Stop! What are you doing!’

  He punched her in the face, hard. She stumbled sideways, reaching out for something to hold her up but she was seeing stars and her hands flailed uselessly at nothing. She landed hard on the ground and immediately he was on top of her. He went to hit her again but she managed to block him groggily with her forearm; the pain of the blow made her scream out loud. He grabbed both her wrists, wrapped one hand around them and pulled them back over her head. His grip was like iron, she couldn’t rip her hands apart. She screamed as loud as she could and he slapped her with his free hand. ‘Shut up,’ he spat at her. ‘Just shut up. You can go when I’ve finished with you.’

  He started unbuttoning his trousers.

  Eva looked him straight in the eye. ‘Daniel, you were Jackson’s friend,’ she said, calling him by his real name, ‘you were once my friend. Why are you doing this?’ She realised she was crying.

  ‘I’m not your friend. You have no friends here.’

  Having already ripped open her coat he was now tearing at her jeans, cursing as he realised how tight they were. Suddenly he swore and stopped. He let her go, moved to a crouch and paused. Eva held her breath. Was it over?

  Slowly, March pulled out a flick knife from one beautifully-tailored pocket and opened the blade.

  ‘Take them off.’

  Eva’s pulse went through the roof at the sight of the knife. She glanced past him at the end of the alley only metres away but even if someone did walk past there were no lights where they were.

  ‘Please don’t.’ She whispered.

  ‘Do it now or I’ll fucking cut you.’

  She opened her mouth to speak again but he jabbed the blade in her direction. Eva felt anger ripple over the back of her scalp. Had this been his intention all along? She had met him because she had felt so lonely… so confused about Jackson … Stupid girl. Her tears began to dry up. She slowly undid the patent belt and slid it from the belt loops and then she began to unbutton her jeans. She tried to pull them off but they were too skinny. ‘I need to stand up. I can’t get them off lying down.’

  ‘Hurry up,’ he roared at her. For the first time that night she realised his eyes were unfocused. Whether it was lust, power, or control she didn’t know, but March was drunk on it. She hesitated for a split second and then flicked her leg up and kicked him hard in the face. March, surprised, fell back, dropped the knife, but managed to steady himself on one hand and lunged for it as it skittered towards a bin. As he dived left, Eva ran right, grabbing her bag from where it had fallen behind them and running as fast as she could out of the alleyway. She heard him curse and start running after her but she had already reached the end of the alley and as she threw herself around the corner she thought she could hear his footsteps slow. But she did not slow. Eva ran every day – seven miles, come hell or high water – and she finished every run with a sprint. That’s what she did now, in four-inch heels, down a dark and empty road in the wrong part of Paris. She ran.

  As Eva examined her face in the bathroom mirror the next day she felt pretty low. Overnight, the black eye that March had kindly given her had developed into a large purplish splat, with black bruising in the eye socket. When she had got back to the hotel she had spent several hours sitting bolt upright on the bed watching the chair she had propped up against the door. The sudden assault had shocked and shaken her; she had remained for a long time just sitting, staring at the door, catching each one of her thoughts when it came too close to out of control. She tried to work out what had happened; she briefly wondered whether she had done something to make it happen, but she quickly stifled those trains of thought as pointless and dangerous. Finally, her pulse had stopped thudding, her mind had stopped racing and she had passed out, exhausted, fully clothed in all her make-up. Now she looked like a police mug shot. Gently, she began to clean away mascara and eye-liner from the edges of her eyes. The make-up-removing wipes stung her black eye and she winced with each stroke. She stopped and looked at herself – dishevelled long dark hair, low fringe swept awkwardly to one side, face just a bit too thin.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she said out loud to herself. But there was no reply.

  As she turned on the shower and stepped into the hot clouds of steam she wondered again what the hell she was doing. Three months ago her life had been relatively normal. She edited other people’s words for a living – a dream job – she lived in London with her house-mate Isabella and she spent most of her time going from gig, to party, to shopping, to long lazy weekends. Her only real faults were an addiction to running and an inability to put the cap on the toothpaste. Then Jackson killed himself.

  She heard her phone ringing as she stepped out of the shower but she let it ring, slowly dried herself and then sat down on the bed. She had just begun to get to know Jackson again – after ten years of thinking he had died in a car crash when she was sixteen. He’d promised to tell her exactly what had happened and where he had been all that time but after a year he still hadn’t and Eva felt his presence in her life was too fragile to risk pushing him to open up. Now he never would. Eva sighed and pulled the small handset over to her and watched as the phone notified her of a missed call two minutes ago. She navigated her way through her phone records. And then she stopped. Suddenly she felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. There on the screen was the identity of the caller: ‘Jackson.’

  As she continued to stare at the white display, suddenly the phone jumped into life and the name was large, filling the whole screen. ‘Jackson calling.’ Eva dropped the phone and pushed herself away from it,as if she had been stung. What the…

  He’s alive.

  Just before the ringing stopped, she made a grab for the phone.

  ‘Hello.’ Her voice was tense and hard.

  There was a crackle on the other end of the line. Eva had absolutely no idea what to do. ‘Jackson?’

  It sounded crazy just saying his name. He was dead. But he was calling her…

  ‘Jackson…’ Her voice was now almost a whisper. She pressed the phone closer to her ear listening for signs of anything on the other end and then she heard it. A breath. An exhalation. There was someone there.

  ‘Jackson, is that you?’

  The connection cut and once again Eva dropped the phone. She stared at it. For one delirious moment she allowed herself to believe that the whole horrible nightmare of the past three months was just another bad dream. But every logical cell in her body told her that it couldn’t be.

  Jackson’s death had been reported to the family by the French police. It had a stamp of official authenticity on it which meant that no matter how much Eva wanted to believe it had been a mistake, that it was someone else who had taken his own life in a squalid flat in a Parisian suburb, it was there in black and white that it was Jackson. The police said they had found him surrounded by the paraphernalia of a serious heroin session. There were puncture wounds in his skin. The area was notorious for drugs and violence, and drugs and violence were notorious for triggering depression and suicide. They suggested he had got himself in so deep there was no other way out. They intimated he was a coward whose life had become out of control and that he had just given up. But Eva had lived with him for sixteen years and even though he had badly let her down, she knew he had never given up on anything.

  TWO

  WHEN SHE HAD RECOVERED HER composure Eva suddenly knew that there was something very wrong with the situation she found herself in. From the evasive answers she and her father had been given by the
French police three months ago, to the phone call she had just received, every one of the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death made her seriously uneasy. Her skin was still tingling with adrenaline after seeing Jackson’s name appear on her phone like that; she was naturally sceptical as to whether or not it was really him, but who else would it be? Even if it wasn’t him, it was someone who had his phone.

  Briefly, she remembered the horrible encounter with March the night before. When she had awoken that morning her mind had once again begun to turn over everything that had happened but she had quickly decided not to think about it any more. March had the problem, not her, and she needed to be clear-headed. Still, she wondered if he had any involvement in what had happened to Jackson. As he himself had said, he had been in Paris the whole time Jackson had lived here and he had attacked her so savagely the night before for no apparent reason. But realistically, what motive did he have for murder? It was more likely that he was just a serial opportunist.

  Still sitting on the bed with the phone beside her, wet hair dripping onto her shoulders, Eva realised she had a clear choice.

  Either she took the advice of the friends who kept worriedly messaging her from home, headed back to London and tried to carry on with her life; or she followed her hunch that Jackson had not taken his own life and struck out on her own: Eva Scott, vigilante. She smiled resignedly to herself. In reality she knew that there was no choice for her. She was just a regular person who had taken a few self-defence classes – she was hardly prepared for even mild peril – but she couldn’t live with the knowledge that she had done nothing to find out what happened to Jackson. That wouldn’t be right. Especially after that, she thought, looking at her phone.

  She pulled on a pair of tight, black jeans, a wide-necked, cable-knit jumper and some leather ankle boots and combed out her long dark hair. Then she walked over to the curtains, drawing them back and letting the weak, milky light filter into the room. She threw open the window and was met with a bracing gust of Parisian air – coffee-edged with a slight hint of drains.