Three Weeks Dead

by Rebecca Bradley

  ‘Gordon. I’m about to update the DI. I’m sure she’ll inform you of anything she thinks you need to know.’ And with that she moved past him and up the stairs.

  A smirk passed over the lips of the man Gordon was with.

  34

  DI Robbins was in her office. There was paper everywhere, other than a small square section on the corner of her desk, where a mug sat, half filled with what looked to be cold remnants of something resembling dirty dishwater. Sally shuddered when her DI saw her look at it, nodded in recognition that it was still there, picked it up and gulped down the last couple of mouthfuls.

  ‘So, how did it go at SHIRO?’ She replaced the mug in the one spot available and waved Sally into the chair in front of her desk.

  ‘I managed to get the three lists of employees you were after.’ She handed over the photocopied lists she’d created and watched in horror as they were placed on top of a pile of paper. She wondered if she’d ever find them again.

  ‘Thanks, Sally. What vibe did you get while you were there? They are putting up real brick walls about what we can and can’t have during this investigation.’

  ‘It’s a high tech place to work. Very easy-going. It’s to make the staff more productive.’

  The DI smiled. ‘Is that so?’

  ‘Not that I agree,’ Sally rushed in. ‘It’s all very showy and not work-like. I couldn’t imagine doing any there, to be honest.’

  DI Robbins was laughing now. ‘It’s okay, Sally. You can like how they work as long as you don’t run off and leave me in the lurch.’

  It had been cool outside, but the heating was on in the office and Sally was feeling the change in temperature affect her. She shrugged off her jacket. ‘The staff love the place and were shocked by Jason’s behaviour; they couldn’t understand it, and I didn’t give them the answers they wanted. Paul and Masaaki were equally shocked, though Masaaki was the kinder of the two. He talked about Lisa as well. About what a kind a generous woman she had been and how it had all been a tragedy.’

  ‘And Paul?’

  ‘I don’t know. He was more formal. Stiffer, throughout the process.’

  ‘Ah. I imagine he’s the one who’s been blocking us with the investigations into the software, then. Thanks again, Sally. Do you mind going back to the hospital and doing another few hours up there before knocking off? I have a big meeting planned with the financial crime unit to coordinate the investigation and protect the banks as best we can.’

  ‘No worries. It’ll give me time to write my pocket-book up while I’m there.’ She turned to walk out the door.

  ‘And Sally…’ A questioning look. ‘I’m still trying to figure some things out. Jason being in the hospital is buying us some time. So if he tries to leave, arrest him.’

  35

  Sally

  * * *

  The hospital smell wheedled its way up Sally’s nose. The tang of disinfectant, with a sensory side of death. The place creeped her out. She decided she wouldn’t let Jason know that though. He’d had a lucky escape.

  The uniform cop who had relieved her earlier was still sat outside Jason’s door. A newspaper lay folded on the floor at his side, as well as two empty vending machine cups of coffee. His head dropped back, leant against the wall.

  It was a tedious job.

  Sally thanked him. He looked pleased that this duty was over.

  Jason smiled when she entered.

  ‘How are you?’ Sally asked as she dragged the chair through the door to sit in the room with him.

  ‘Oh, you know, bored. Someone’s drilling holes in my head and won’t stop. Other than that…’ He smiled again. It was the most relaxed she’d seen him.

  ‘What have the doctors said?’

  ‘It’ll ease.’ Jason shuffled up in the bed a little. ‘Lewis?’

  ‘Lisa’s mum.’

  ‘Ah. Thank you.’ He rubbed his face with both hands as though trying to rub out memories from his eyes.

  ‘You didn’t cause this.’

  ‘I’m not sure she’ll see it that way.’

  ‘She was okay when we went to see her. She was worried about you. I think she plans to come in, at some point.’ Sally paused as she tried to remember Martin’s exact words about what Lisa’s mum had said; she didn’t want to give Jason false information at this point. ‘Or she might wait until you’re home. She’s glad you got her back though.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘I told you one thing and then did another.’

  She nodded. The room was silent.

  Jason dropped back onto the mountain of pillows.

  ‘She’s your wife. You were distraught. But other than that, I can’t talk to you about it right now.’

  ‘Did you pick up the phone they gave me? It could prove to be really helpful.’

  ‘No, we only found you. But… this is difficult.’

  ‘Why, what do you mean?’

  A look passed between them.

  ‘Oh. This isn’t just for my protection is it?’

  Sally shook her head.

  The silence enveloped the room again.

  36

  Sally

  * * *

  Three hours passed in stilted conversation. Jason was withdrawn. Contemplative. He kept kneading his head, obviously struggling with the pain.

  Sally felt awkward and uncomfortable. She had completed her pocket notebook and was glad when her phone rang and DI Robbins told her that Gordon would be on his way to relieve her for an hour until the night shift sergeant could release a member of staff to cover. She tried to argue that she could wait until that happened, but the DI was adamant that Sally be relieved as she’d worked hard that shift and Gordon had enjoyed a reasonably steady day.

  She looked at Jason, who was now asleep in his bed. His breathing steady and even.

  The noise of the ward continued beyond the door.

  Sally felt stiff. Her hip was sore and her shoulders felt as though they were seizing up. Being static on the rigid plastic chair was no good for her. She stretched out her muscles then paced around the room. Jason’s eye’s flickered. She paused and watched him. Wondering if they were really going to arrest him when all he wanted to do was to get his wife back. Yes, she appreciated that all hell was probably breaking loose with the banks. DI Robbins was also probably getting it in the neck from the scary detective superintendent she’d met when she started, for allowing it to go this wrong. But still… She looked at Jason again; his eyes were open.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I needed to stretch my legs without leaving you unattended.’

  ‘In case I made a run for it?’

  ‘No. In case someone decided to finish the job they started.’

  The door opening made them both jump.

  37

  The unexpected visitor made Jason shift up in his bed, locking his elbows to force his body into a sitting position. He pulled at the pillows, trying to get them propped behind him so he could sit upright with support. His face was drained of all colour, not that he’d been healthy looking anyway, Sally thought, but now he was positively deathly. She grabbed a pillow and pulled it up for him so he could lean back.

  ‘Thank you, Sally.’

  She nodded. She’d been told not to leave him alone, and she certainly wouldn’t if this was going to get acrimonious.

  ‘Paul, Masaaki, I didn’t expect to see you.’ Jason’s voice was small. Weak. As though lost in his throat somewhere.

  Masaaki stepped forward. ‘We needed to see you, Jason. The police have told us why you did it. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you come to us? We might have been able to help you.’ His voice was quiet. Respectful. Pleading with his friend to help him understand.

  Paul standing still where he was. Jason looked at him. There was nothing. He looked back to Masaaki. ‘I’m so sorry. Truly. I am. I wish I could take it back.’ His eyes filled with tears. ‘But you knew Lisa, you knew us both, together as a cou
ple, and if it happened again…’

  Masaaki nodded. He stepped closer to Jason and laid his hand on his arm. ‘My friend. I’m so sorry you have been through this.’ He turned to Paul, who still hadn’t moved. ‘Let me go and get us all some coffee from the machine and we can talk. Detective, could you give me a hand?’

  Sally looked at Jason, who looked anxiously at Paul, still brooding at the door, and nodded. He wouldn’t be alone, and she was only going to be a minute. ‘Okay, it’s just down this corridor.’

  38

  Jason

  * * *

  The detective and Masaaki walked out the door leaving Paul standing to one side of it. Jason felt some relief at how Masaaki had been with him. But Paul hadn’t said a word, and that unnerved him. The silence was thick and heavy.

  ‘If I’d have seen any other way, Paul.’

  The other man nodded.

  Jason’s head hurt. He needed to rest but he couldn’t ask his bosses to leave. Not after what he’d done to them and to their company. Masaaki seemed to understand the position he’d been in. He couldn’t have asked for a better response. He didn’t feel that he deserved that response, but he couldn’t afford to push it away. He rubbed his temple, kneading and digging in with his knuckles. Trying to push out the pain. When he dropped his hand Paul was no longer at the door, but was at the side of his bed.

  ‘Jesus, Paul. Trying to give me a heart attack, finish me off?’

  Paul opened his mouth like a goldfish, but no sound came out. He took a step backwards. Jason watched. The movement felt familiar. The long legs, his arms.

  ‘What is it, Paul?’

  He took another step back, his too gangly body like a baby giraffe new on its feet.

  The movement clicked and rewound in Jason’s head, the film playing again, only this time the gangly movements belonged to the guy at the graveyard who hadn’t spoken.

  ‘Paul?’

  Paul’s lips moved up and down, but still no sound.

  ‘It was you?’

  Paul stopped moving. Their eyes locked. A deadly silence lay over the room. But Paul was his friend as well as his boss. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be possible. The two conflicting pieces of information smashed inside his head.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jason.’ He paused, ran his tongue across his bottom lip.

  ‘But–’

  Paul stepped forward again now. ‘Security weren’t supposed to be that on the ball. I didn’t realise they were that good. You weren’t supposed to be arrested. You were simply supposed to take the software and hand it over so we could have both bites of the cherry.’

  Jason’s stomach started to roll and the room started to pitch and roll.

  ‘You’re sorry I was arrested?’ Of course he was, Masaaki was here telling him that it was going to be okay. That’s what Paul was saying, wasn’t it?

  He crossed the divide between them in a second, his voice low when he spoke again. ‘No. I’m sorry about this.’

  With a swift but gentle movement he pulled the pillow from under Jason and dropped it onto his face. One hand either side of his head, Paul applied firm pressure, his sharp elbows pointing outwards.

  Jason was disorientated. His arms flailed. His brain swirled as he tried to suck in oxygen. Lights started to flash around his eyes.

  Paul. Paul? Why?

  The swirling in his head was vivid. Bright. Lights burst like flashbulbs in short sharp flashes.

  He had to fight this.

  Jason pulled his arms up and grabbed Paul’s wrists. He clamped down around them. Pulling. Tugging.

  Trying.

  Hurry. He had to hurry.

  His chest was tightening.

  His grip loosened. His brain was taking flight. Panicked.

  He clawed at Paul’s arms, but they were strong. Bearing down.

  His full weight.

  Jason dug his fingers in. Scrabbling, he found the soft patch between Paul’s own fingers and he pushed with all he had.

  ‘Fuck, Jason.’ A whisper.

  Paul loosened his grip. The pillow gave slightly, allowing a sliver of air in for him to grasp at. He gasped, taking in as much air as he could, and then the pillow was down again.

  ‘Stop fighting. It’ll be over quicker. You shouldn’t have figured it out. I’m so sorry, mate.’ His voice was quiet. Apologetic even.

  Paul?

  Mate?

  His chest was on fire. It was going to explode. He needed to breathe. He needed–

  The bursting lights stopped.

  The grappling arms. Stopped.

  39

  Sally

  * * *

  Masaaki was concerned for Jason. As they watched the boiling water stream from the vending machine, Sally listened as he told her how he wanted to help him keep his life together, how he wouldn’t support a prosecution, how family was the most important aspect of life in his culture and he understood how Jason could have acted as he had. Yes, he was stung by his actions, but it was nothing compared to what Jason must have gone through, so he must get over the slight and help his friend.

  Sally was in awe. She pushed another cup into the claws of the machine and selected the coffee.

  ‘And what about Paul, does he feel the same way? As forgiving?’ she asked.

  Masaaki turned from where he had placed the last two drinks, on a low magazine table. ‘We had words. Paul doesn’t understand the true meaning of loyalty quite as I do, especially to family, but he does understand money, and I understand Paul and his keenness to make as much from our endeavours as he can. So I reminded him that Jason is integral to our company and to its success and that we will continue to be successful with Jason within the company.’ Masaaki smiled and Sally handed him the third coffee and punched in her request for the last one. ‘He soon saw I was talking sense.’

  ‘So,’ Sally said, ‘money really does talk.’

  ‘I’m afraid so. We love what we do, and we are driven to make our company thrive; but there are also very different drivers behind Paul and me, and we recognise this in each other and accept it, and it works.’

  Sally grabbed the last drink and picked one up from the table. ‘I hope Paul isn’t giving Jason too much of a hard time in our absence.’

  ‘Well, we’d better not leave them alone too long. I did sway him, but he still wasn’t happy.’

  They were very quickly back at the room, its window blind pulled down. Sally frowned. She used her elbow on the door handle as each hand held a hot coffee, and pushed the door with her bum, backing into the room.

  As it swung open and she turned side-on to Jason’s bed, she saw Paul standing over him, a pillow over Jason’s face, Paul applying pressure and Jason’s arms limp over the sides of the bed.

  The two cups dropped to the floor.

  Coffee flooded out as they fell.

  ‘Noooo!’ yelled Sally, her brain changing up a gear. ‘Get off him. Off. Now!’ Short, sharp commands.

  In a couple of strides she was at Paul’s side. She bent her left arm and slammed her elbow up into his face, using all the power she could gather from her body; but he was so much taller than her and she could feel that the connection was weak. His head jolted but his arms stiffened and locked.

  Dammit.

  Sally wrapped her hands around his right wrist and pulled at his arm, simultaneously stamping as hard as she could on his nearest foot. It was enough to loosen Paul’s grip on the pillow.

  She turned to shout to Masaaki to phone for assistance and saw a shadow of someone behind him. Then a loud roar erupted in her ear as something smashed into the side of her skull with what felt like sledgehammer force.

  She slumped to the floor.

  40

  Sally

  * * *

  Masaaki was sat in the corridor with his head in his hands as doctors and nurses rushed about with their hard voices, rapid actions, bleeping machines and smooth skills around Jason Wells.

  Sally looked at him, sorry that he had lost
so much this night, but she didn’t have time to stop and talk to him right now. She swatted away a nurse who was trying to look at the swelling and bruising that was appearing around her left eye and temple; she needed to talk to Gordon. She could see the back of him as he led Paul down the corridor in handcuffs. She wanted to know what had happened. Why had he taken so long to intervene? She’d had enough.

  As she attempted to move at speed, the room shifted and the nurse grabbed her again. ‘You need to get checked out, detective.’

  ‘I promise. I’ll come back in later. I need to do something first.’

  The nurse shook her head, cherry-red bob waving from side to side, and went into Jason’s room to see what help she could offer in there.

  Sally again moved forward, but at a steadier pace, catching up with Gordon and Paul as they waited for the lift.

  ‘Don’t you need looking after?’ Gordon smirked when he saw her.

  ‘I don’t need looking after in this job, Gordon. I’m damn capable of taking care of myself. But yes, as it happens, I do need to get checked out tonight.’ She paused as the lift chimed, indicating it was at their floor. She only had a few seconds to say what she needed to say; she couldn’t lose her bottle now, she’d walked on eggshells around him constantly – but now she’d had enough. ‘And the reason I need to get my head checked out is because of you, isn’t it?’

  Paul lifted his head, intrigued. Gordon cocked his eyebrow.

  ‘I saw you, Gordon. I saw you in the doorway, behind Masaaki, as I fought with Paul as he tried to suffocate Jason. You were there, doing nothing. It’s your fault if Jason doesn’t make it, and it’s your fault I got injured.’