Cuts Both Ways

by Solomon Carter

  “Here it comes,” she said. “Good cop turns bad cop.”

  “It’s nothing like that. I need to know the truth. The information we were given at the outset,” said Dan, shaking his head. “It’s all faulty.”

  “Good then,” said Alma.

  “I mean, you’re clearly no damsel in distress.”

  “You worked that out all by yourself?” said Alma.

  “That’s what we were told.”

  “People have always underestimated me,” she said

  “And we weren’t told you had a companion, either. That’s a very important omission.”

  “You’re blaming me for your lack of intel? You should point the finger back to the boss man. Besides, Cripps has always liked to stay off the radar. He’ll be very pleased you didn’t know.”

  Boss man? thought Dan. Another odd phrase – with a seemingly specific meaning… “Is Cripps one of the guys who brought you down from Watford? One of the people you ran away with. Or maybe he took you against your will at first, like we were told. But then things changed between you?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” said Alma.

  Dan scanned the girl’s dark eyes. They gleamed at him, angry and confused. It was always hard to be certain, but Dan didn’t detect a trace of a lie.

  “I don’t get it,” said Dan. He looked at Mark, but the kid looked bamboozled and just shrugged.

  Dan rubbed a hand across his brow and grimaced. They were at an impasse. He only saw one way he might be able to break it. It was time to put his cards on the table.

  “Okay, Alma, this is how I see it. You got involved with the wrong crowd back in Watford. It seems to me you’re the classic hedonist who never grew up. And that’s fine. Some people never do. But the point is that your culture, as you call it, your lifestyle, left you open to some very bad people. Now these people either took you by force or persuaded you to come to Southend, for whatever purpose they had in mind. We’ve been told that they’re drug dealers. We’ve been told that you’re in with them, and you’re in way too deep. But you weren’t to blame. You were off the rails when it happened. And by the time you came to your senses it was too late.”

  The woman stared at Dan, eyes widening as she took it in. Her eyebrows flicked up as soon as Dan had finished.

  “Seriously? You believe all that?” she said. “I’ve never been ‘on the rails’ in my whole life, sunshine. Never wanted to be. And screw your idea of ‘my culture’ and ‘my lifestyle’. I’m a thirty-two-year-old woman. I’ve been right around the block and I know how to handle a few dipshit blokes without too much worry. You’re right, I’m no damsel in distress. Who the hell spun you that crock? And… why are you even here if you didn’t come to…?”

  “Come to what, Alma?” said Dan.

  Alma gave Dan a quizzical look and changed her tone of voice. “You didn’t come here to kill me?”

  “Do we look like a pair of hitmen?” said Dan.

  Alma looked at Dan, then considered Mark for a moment before quickly shaking her head.

  “No. You two look like Margie’s latest sign ups for the Albany. A couple of confused misfits with some personal problems.”

  Dan took a breath to avoid shouting the house down.

  “Come on then,” she said. “Why are you here?”

  “We’re here because your brother sent us. He’s worried about you. He hired us to track you down so we could get you back to safety.”

  The woman frowned and her eyes narrowed.

  “Damn it… I was safe as houses here until you came along. Nobody but Cripps knew I was here. Look. We have a perimeter wall, a courtyard like a moat around a castle, and even a big metal gate… We were safe.”

  “You say that, but we got in okay, didn’t we?” said Dan. “You seriously think someone is out to kill you?”

  The woman frowned harder and ignored his question. “Did you just say my brother hired you?”

  “That’s right. Your brother – Robert.”

  “I don’t have a brother. But if I did, he’d never be called Robert. I’d never be related to anyone with that name.”

  Dan blinked in confusion and Alma stared right back. “I was an only child, right? Precocious little brat I was too, and I liked it that way… I was safe here. Safest I’d been in a long time. What the hell have you people done?”

  But Dan couldn’t answer – because he was asking himself the same question…

  Twelve

  Eva scanned her text messages to measure the full implications of Robert Poulter’s snooping.

  “I don’t believe it. How could he have seen it?”

  Eva wracked her brains. She struggled to recall the exact last moments before the man’s disappearance.

  “I looked at my mobile just before we went to the kitchen for that quiet word. I left the phone out here, sitting on the desk… Trouble is, I don’t remember locking the damn thing after I checked Dan’s text…” said Eva, shaking her head. Her eyes misted over in self-recrimination.

  “No, I didn’t,” said Eva. “I was too distracted. I needed to talk with you, so I left my phone out here - just after using it. I didn’t think. And then Poulter disappears and we find my phone on his side of the desk. He saw them, Joanne. He must have seen my texts to Dan. Which means he now knows for certain that I was holding out on him about his sister’s whereabouts. And he walked out of here soon as he knew the address. That tells me everything. That’s what he wanted to meet with me for. He was only ever interested in getting his sister’s whereabouts. That’s not just devious, that’s worrying.”

  “Don’t panic, Eva,” said Joanne, although a hint of alarm was already evident in her own eyes. “The guy was nervy, you said so yourself. And yes he’s a bit of a creep, but maybe he was just stressed about his sister being missing. Stressed enough to steal a look at your phone when he had the chance. Maybe that’s all his weird behaviour is about. He’s desperate to find her.”

  Eva bit her bottom lip. She listened to Joanne’s theory but wasn’t even marginally convinced. It was wishful thinking, and Eva guessed the reason. Joanne had brought them the lead. As ever, she had been trying to prove herself. The very last thing she would have wanted was to fail at the first hurdle by handing them a poisoned chalice instead of a good new case.

  But Eva couldn’t pretend the case was good. There were new perils and dangerous possibilities written all over Robert Poulter’s actions.

  “No, Joanne. I don’t think that’s it. We made a mistake, a bad one as it turns out.”

  Joanne looked pained.

  “We made a mistake? Who did?” said Joanne, sounding defensive. “But I know it was a sound lead. He paid you an advance too, didn’t he?”

  “Oh, yes, he seemed sound enough. And yes, he paid us the advance. Maybe I let our cashflow issue blind me to the obvious questions about whether Robert Poulter was ever telling us the truth about his reasons for finding his sister. No case is ever as simple as the client says it is. Especially a missing person case. I should have known better.”

  Eva picked up her mobile phone, selected Dan’s name from her list of recent calls and dabbed at his name on screen. The phone started to make the call.

  “But why wouldn’t Mr Poulter tell you the truth?”

  “There are a lot of reasons why people want to track down a missing person. Most of them are understandable and obvious, like looking for a loved one, wanting to make things right and good. We can all sympathise with those.”

  “But isn’t that what Poulter is doing?”

  But Eva continued to answer Joanne’s first question. “Then there are other motivations, far less noble. Things we’d never want to assist anyone with.”

  “Such as?”

  “We didn’t consider other possible reasons why Alma Poulter was on the run in the first place.”

  Eva’s call wasn’t answered. It went straight to voicemail and her brow lowered over her eyes. She frowned at her phone and closed the ca
ll.

  “Eva, I don’t understand,” said Joanne.

  “There’s always a reason why someone runs away from home. It’s almost always a drastic move, highly charged and emotional. Quite often, it’ll be because of self-made circumstances. An unpayable debt. An affair gone wrong. Actions that have affected other people who have to be avoided at all costs. It’s possible that Alma Poulter could be in that category. But if she is, I’m concerned that I might have just helped the man she was trying to escape from.”

  “You’re serious? You think Robert Poulter is out to get her? Sorry, Eva. I know the man is a creep, but I don’t see him as a villain. He’s a middle-aged guy, and a nervy little one at that.”

  “That’s what he seemed to be, yes. We took all that at face value. But what if we were wrong about him? And why he is he so nervous?” Eva dialled again, pressing her phone to her ear. “Damn it, Dan, why won’t you pick up your phone?” Eva ended the second call and instead opted to send a text. She typed rapid-fire with her thumb, then hit the green button and sent her message into the ether.

  Dan, Rob Poulter discovered Alma’s Albany Centre location by sneaking a look at my phone. My mistake. I think he could be after Alma for wrong reasons. I’m sure he’s coming your way. Be careful.

  Eva bit her lip and waited for a one-line response to prove Dan had gotten the message – any response at all would have been fine – but nothing came. Eva’s eyes soon took on an edge of panic. “Something’s not right,”

  “What now?” said Joanne.

  “Dan should have been back by now. Nelson Road isn’t far. It’s just on the other side of Vic Avenue.”

  “But Dan’s only just found her, hasn’t he?”

  “No, it’s been a while now, and he’s not responding to my texts or calls either. Something must be up.”

  “Well, Robert Poulter can’t be the problem. He’s only just left the office.”

  Eva nodded. “True…” Eva turned to Joanne and looked her in the eye. “Listen. Your contact. The one who gave you all the details of the Poulter case. I need to call them. I need a word to see if I can find out anything about him and his sister. I have to check this guy out.”

  Joanne hesitated. “But Eva, my colleague really wanted to stay out of this. I told you, it’s a friend of a friend thing. It’s sensitive.”

  “This case is going wrong,” said Eva. “People could get hurt. Considerations like that have to be set aside.”

  Joanne squirmed and swallowed. “My contact works at the council, and there’s a whole endless list of things you must never do as a council employee. He could lose his job if it came out that he’d broken confidentiality or had a conflict of interest of any kind. He won’t want to get involved with any trouble, believe me. And besides, he only wanted to help.”

  Eva listened, but there was something wrong with her answer. Confidentiality or a conflict of interest? So which was it? There was a struggle about her, a hint of fabrication to her words. Eva’s concerns began to deepen, but she kept her face as blank as she could.

  “I wouldn’t ask unless it was important, Joanne, and you must see that it is. We need to know exactly who we’re dealing with here.”

  “Yes…” said Joanne, allowing herself time to think. “I get that, but I think I’d better stick to my word and keep my colleague out of it. Let me help you. I could speak to him. I could ask the questions for you. Tell me what you need to know and I’ll get the answers back to you as soon as I can.”

  Eva’s eyes stayed on Joanne’s. She felt them harden, showing a little of her doubt. She needed Joanne to come through with the information.

  “Then you’d best be thorough. I need to know everything there is to know about Robert and Alma Poulter. I mean everything they know. The man’s background, when his inquiry actually first came to your contact, why he came to us… what is he really after? But I need the real reasons, Joanne. I need the truth.”

  “I already told you everything I know, Eva.”

  “But Robert Poulter lied. We need to know why, and we need to know why his sister really ran away, for one…”

  Joanne looked rattled. “I’ll do my best,” she said.

  “I could come with you..?” said Eva, I could ask those questions myself.

  “No,” said Joanne, too firmly, “it’s best that I handle this one on my own.”

  “If you insist. But please, soon as you know anything at all, make sure you call me.”

  Joanne nodded. “I will.”

  Eva watched the girl gather her things. Questions and doubts stormed around Eva’s mind. She wanted to give voice to them, but needed the answers even more than she needed to vent.

  “I meant to tell you before, Joanne, I like your new outfit,” said Eva. “Very smart.”

  Joanne nodded and gave a coy smile. “Thank you”

  “And that tablet looks good too. The council give you that, did they? They must value your work.”

  “What this?” Joanne turned the tablet in her hand and gave it a dismissive look. “Uh, no. I bought it myself. I thought it might come in useful for all the stuff I do these days, work included. I thought it might even be useful for helping out here too.”

  “I’m sure it’ll work well for whatever you have in mind,” said Eva, leaving more than a trace of suggestion in her words.

  Joanne looked disconcerted. Her eyes flicked to Eva as she slipped on her jacket. Seeing her reaction, Eva couldn’t resist saying something more.

  “The ideal tool for a budding private eye.”

  Joanne frowned. A question passed over the girl’s face, but it never reached her lips.

  “Maybe,” she said, with a false chuckle. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’d make a great PI, Joanne. You already know my opinion on that. So… as one PI to another, here’s some free advice. Learn from today. Don’t make the mistake that we did. Don’t get so blindsided by stress and money that you ever forget the rudimentary basis of the job. Always think about your client’s motives for hiring you. I was never very sure about Mr Poulter. I should have looked at him more closely, followed my gut instinct.”

  “Gut instinct?” said Joanne. “I thought that was more Dan’s department.”

  “And it is. But like you said, Rob Poulter came across as a creep. He made us both feel uneasy. There was a reason for that. I should have paid attention before we took the case on.”

  “Eva, are you blaming me for this?”

  “No. Not one bit. But one day, when you’re in this business for yourself, remember what you learned. We made a very big mistake. Let’s hope our missing person doesn’t pay the price.”

  Joanne nodded. The girl’s eyes were big and earnest, and apologetic. But with the apology came a hint of defiance simmering beneath. Joanne still believed Eva was blaming her. And maybe she was – just a little. But not for passing them the Poulter case, that had nothing to do with it. Eva was blaming her for all the small deceits, because now they were beginning to mount up.

  “I’ll call you when I can,” said Joanne.

  “Thanks,” said Eva.

  As the girl turned to leave, Eva started to gather her things. Her bag, jacket and keys. She checked her mobile phone screen again but there was nothing new.

  Joanne paused to watch Eva as she slid her jacket on. “Where are you going?” said Joanne.

  “Dan’s not answering my calls or texts. I think I’d better go over and take a look at The Albany Centre myself. Robert Poulter will be there by now. Dan needs to be told what happened.”

  Joanne nodded. “I’m sure it’ll be okay. The guy’s probably just freaking out about his sister.

  “Yes,” said Eva. “I hope you’re right.” But she wasn’t sure at all.

  As Eva followed Joanne to the door, a figure rapidly approached on the street outside. Eva and Joanne slowed and stopped, as the office door swung open and the bell rang. Eva’s heart lurched and her stomach burned. The visitor was Lauren Jaeger, ey
es on fire with some new revelation, her pursed mouth ready to spill her news at the first opportunity. Lauren held the door handle in her hand as she looked at them both, their jackets and their belongings in hand. It was obvious they were about to leave. Joanne gave Eva a sideward glance and saw her frustration in close-up detail.

  “Lauren?” said Eva. “I was going to call you soon as I finished my next job.”

  Joanne gave Lauren a faint, polite smile of greeting then edged past her and walked out into the noisy street. Joanne cast a little wave back to Eva. “Promise to call you soon as I can, Eva.” Eva studied the girl’s back as she disappeared from view. Joanne seemed in an amazing hurry to get away. Eva envied her. She was just as keen.

  “I’m so glad I’ve caught you. Where were you going?” said Lauren. Even though she asked the question, Lauren blocked her way by shutting the office door, and walked past Eva into the office behind her. Eva watched the glass gently rock in the door frame. Nice move… subtle as a brick. She thought of Mark and Dan. She thought of Robert Poulter.

  “There’s an urgent issue with another case, Lauren. I’ve got some news I must pass on to Dan before I can move on. Dan needs to hear this face to face.”

  Lauren frowned. “Why? What’s happening?” The woman took a few more steps into the office, passed Eva and dropped her handbag onto the front reception desk, Mark’s desk. The gesture said she was ready to settle in.

  Eva shook her head and declined to answer. It wasn’t good for Lauren to know too much about anything. Once bitten, twice shy and all that. Lauren’s lips crumpled at Eva’s silence and she nodded in understanding. “It’s confidential, right?”

  “Every case is confidential. Yours included.”

  “That’s good, Eva. I know I can trust you.”

  “Lauren, listen – I must speak to Dan. And I have to speak to him before something—”

  “Eva… I tried, Eva. I really did,” said Lauren.

  Eva looked at the door and the traffic beyond the glass. But Lauren’s words had caught her interest. She was both curious and irritated in equal measure, and as she gathered Lauren’s meaning, Eva’s irritation grew. “I tried, but he’s been watching me like a hawk. Even to get over here I had to drive halfway across Basildon and go all through the back streets to make sure he wasn’t following me.”