VINNY LED the way with Freya by his side, her looking around all the time. Darian could see that she hadn’t known where she had been taken and still didn’t know where the hell she was because she’d never been on Geug Place before. As they walked the slow tilt of the lane they could see the blue lights flashing and the orange glow, the thick plume of black smoke yawning into the sky. For someone who hadn’t been outside that basement room for twelve days it was an assault on the senses and Freya was holding onto Vinny’s arm to make sure it didn’t overwhelm her.
She said, “Finn? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Worried witless about you, but he’s doing okay. We can go see him, right after this.”
“Where are we going now?”
“To see the person who did this and if he doesn’t tell me why he did it I’m going to throw him back into the fire Darian just got him out of.”
Darian already suspected something close to the truth, but he wanted to hear it from Simon. They turned into the drive and walked past the fire engines and onto the grass where Sholto was keeping watch over Simon, Harold and Phil. They stood looking at each other, Simon sheepish, Freya unsure. Harold raised his chin slightly, defiant.
Before Freya could utter a word, Harold said, “Whatever you are about to accuse my nephew of you should be very careful. He is not a well man, and he has just been through a terrible trauma. Our family has sympathy for whatever has happened to you but we will defend ourselves. I have already contacted people to that effect.”
He spoke fast, breathlessly. He was a man rowing against the waves. Freya glared at him and said, “I know what happened. I know.”
Sholto said, “You contacted people? You contacted Noonan? Must have been before we got here, and he hasn’t turned up yet. You’re about to find you have fewer friends than you thought.”
Vinny looked back and forth and said, “Hang on, what? This is about Simon, right? It was Simon.”
Freya shook her head. “Will Dent told me it was Harold behind it all. Dent was the only one I saw and I didn’t know if I could believe him, but he was right. Where is he?”
For a few seconds the group fell into an awkward silence before Vinny, with no hint of sympathy, said, “He died yesterday, probably trying to stop us from finding you. Tried to break into Sholto’s office, got chased, ran across the railway lines and had an argument with a speeding train. He lost.”
Simon Sutherland said, “He did everything because I asked him to. He did it for me, so, I’m sorry.”
Harold grabbed his nephew by the shoulder and said, “Say nothing, Simon. Not a word. They’ll use it against you.”
Simon looked at him. There was a moment where Darian wondered, where it seemed that the strength of his uncle’s hold on him might be enough. Not this time. Simon stepped away from Harold and Phil and moved over to stand next to Darian. Vinny was watching, the bulky, menacing presence. When Harold took a step toward Simon, Vinny moved between them.
Freya glared at Harold and said, “Will told me he was trying to stop me from being killed. He said it had happened before and that him and his friend were going to stop it happening again. I take it you’re the friend.”
Simon nodded when she turned to him and said, “Yes, I’m the friend. Harold is my uncle; he killed a young woman called Ruby-Mae Short. Will was able to tell me about it because he was there. Uncle Harold told him they were going to pick up a girl he was dating but they went to Earmam and picked a drunk girl off the street. Will drove them to a flat Uncle Harold had in Bakers Moor and left them there. He didn’t like it, the young woman didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t stop it. Then Uncle Harold called him two hours later and made him come up to the flat. He took her dead body and dropped it at the railway line. It was only when Uncle Harold put the bra in my house that Will decided to tell me what happened. I know I should have told the police but he’s family and the bank needs him. He looked after me when my mother died. When Will told me about you, about the accident and Uncle Harold saying he liked you, we decided to keep an eye on him. If he was going to make a move we would be a step ahead of him. When he started sending you gifts we knew we had to act.”
Harold was shaking his head and laughing. “This is nonsense. No one believes this. Simon, I know you’re ill, God knows I’ve done more to help you than anyone, but you need to stop talking. We’ll get you help, okay. I will.”
While Harold spoke, loud above the shouts and actions of the firemen, the rest of them looked at Simon and at Vinny. Simon held the truth. Vinny held the violence.
There was a short lull before Sholto said, “Why kidnap her? Why hold her there?”
“I thought if we kept her out of reach for a week or two he would realize what had happened. He would know that we were onto him, or someone was, and it would stop him. Instead, when he found out it was me, he came round and burned down my house. He thought I would stay inside and be burned with it, and that no one would try to rescue me.”
As he spoke he made eye contact with Darian and there was a nod between them.
Vinny, with a snarl, said, “Why the hell didn’t you just tell someone this bastard was on the prowl?”
Harold stepped back at the fury in the look Vinny gave him. The big man was flooded with relief and energy he hadn’t had much chance to use yet. When Harold moved back it was Phil who put out a hand and grabbed his uncle by the arm. He held him tight. Harold turned and glared at him. Shocked. Two family members turning on him. Sutherland against Sutherland.
Vinny turned to Simon. “The police are going to have a lot of questions for you, what you did was still rotten. Kidnapping her and then accusing me to my face of killing her, you wee bastard.”
Phil said, “Actually, Simon didn’t take her, Will Dent did, and there’s nothing to prove Simon ordered it or had any control over it. The worst you could say is he knew about it and he did nothing, but he had reasonable motives for that.”
Sholto, in a high whine, said, “He just bloody said he ordered it and we all heard him.”
Vinny gave Phil a sideways look that suggested he wanted to put a fist through his young partner and said, “Aye, you’re still a Sutherland all right.”
A car turned into the driveway behind them with a screech, drove up toward the house and pulled recklessly onto the grass to avoid going into the back of a fire engine. Harold looked up hopefully. It could have been Noonan. But Harold would never see his pet cop again. Noonan only backed the winning team. You always backed the Sutherlands because they always won, that was common logic. The police knew that. The Sutherlands were in control. Maybe, just maybe, he would have been able to solve the problem. The Sutherlands had bought their way out of plenty of scandals before. Defend the family. Protect the bank. Those were the rules and as long as all the family stuck to them they had a chance of surviving any scandal. Not this time. The car door opened and DC Angela Vicario got out.