Finder - Chapter 4

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=90 BGCOLOR="#3399FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>Liz Berry Books</B></I></FONT><B>   </B></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="08bd4c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Liz Berry Books"><U><I><B>Home</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Meet Liz "><U><I><B>Meet Liz</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books"><U><I><B>Books</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Third Book/Creativity"><U><I><B>Third Book</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Messages"><U><I><B>Messages</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bookstore"><U><I><B>Bookstore</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Liz"><U><I><B>Contact Liz</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><I><B>Links</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Finder </B></div> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0033" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Chapter 4</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Matt glanced at the crowded benches in the hospital waiting area and lowered his voice. 'There was something very dodgy about that crash. It was planned.'</div> <div> Leo looked at him thoughtfully. They were nearly the same height, tall, with Matt perhaps an inch taller and broader, less fit and supple. He had a cheerful, open face that was used to laughing, but he wasn't laughing now. His blue eyes were direct, anxious, trying to convince them of the truth of what he had said.  Leo said, slowly, 'I think we'd better find somewhere a bit more private. We were just going for a meal. Want to come along?'</div> <div> This was news to Alex, but she was desperate to hear what Matt had to say. Ever since she had heard about the accident on the radio she had known that something wasn't right.</div> <div> They found a pizzeria a few streets from the hospital. The two men had deep pan pizzas and lager, and Alex had a baked potato, no butter, no cheese and a lemon tea.</div> <div> 'Not hungry?' asked Matt. 'I don't suppose you feel like eating much. Not after losing your Ma like that. I did my best but the car was pretty smashed up. They didn't stand a chance.'</div> <div> 'Exactly what time did it happen?' Alex asked.</div> <div> 'Must have been a few minutes after six. I had the radio news on.'</div> <div> '<I>Six</I>! But Bev would never get up that early.'</div> <div> 'Coming back from somewhere maybe? Up all night like me? This fishing friend sold me his van. I went down yesterday to pick it up and we were out all night fishing. But I had to get back to town for a job today. That's why I was on the road so early.'</div> <div> 'Behind Jake's car.'</div> <div> 'Right. There I am, going along nice and easy when I see your old man's Porsche in front of me shifting about all over the place.'</div> <div> Leo said, 'The radio said it was foggy. Poor visibility. How could you see?' </div> <div> 'I'd say it was misty rather than foggy, and it was breaking up a bit. The sun was trying to get through. Anyway, it got a bit clearer just then and I saw that he had this juggernaut in front of him but every time he tried to get past, the lorry pulled over and blocked the lane. I could see he was getting really annoyed.'</div> <div> That figured, Alex thought. Jake was an impatient, aggressive driver.</div> <div> 'Well, then there was a bit of a space, and he edged out again and trod on the accelerator. But, you won't believe this, the juggernaut deliberately pulled right across the lane, and this is even more incredible, <I>slammed on its brakes.</I> Well, the Porsche hit it at full speed. Pow!' He slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand. 'You know what kind of acceleration they have.'</div> <div> Alex winced.  She pushed the half-eaten potato away.</div> <div> 'After that all hell broke lose. I'd parked well over on the hard shoulder, but the next motor stopped in the middle lane, and the next one got shunted into him by somebody doing eighty and so it went on. I lost track. I could just hear them piling up while I tried to get your Ma clear.'</div> <div> 'Wait a minute,' said Leo, 'Are you saying that the big lorry was the cause of the whole pile up? The police think it was caused by the fog and the people driving without due care.'</div> <div> 'I know,' said Matt, 'They tried that on me. But hell, <I>I was there.</I> I saw it.' His voice rose. 'That lorry pulled across deliberately, and <I>braked</I>. You can't get round that.'</div> <div> Leo said, 'Black ice?'</div> <div> 'Not on that stretch. No skid marks. No thick fog. And you haven't heard it all. <I>The driver got out.'</I></div> <div> <I>'What!'</I></div> <div> 'But the radio said the driver was killed,' Alex said.</div> <div> 'Right. But what I saw as I was running down the road to the crash, was a man getting out of the cab.' He hesitated, his colour heightened, 'Well, <I>diving</I> out. Those cabs in the big lorries are high. He dived out and did a double somersault over the central reservation, then jumped into the back of an open truck, going the opposite way.'</div> <div> There was a stunned silence, then Leo laughed, 'Come on Matt, you were seeing things.'</div> <div> 'That's what the police think. They say I got a bang on the head and I'm off my trolley with concussion. They say the driver was in the cab of the lorry with his skull smashed-in. But you can have more than one person in a cab. It's God's truth I'm telling you. That man dived out like some bloody circus act. The truck must have been parked on the hard shoulder or something. It was moving slowly and flashing its lights. He vaulted into the back and they accelerated away. I'm telling you that was split second timing. I didn't get the truck's number.'</div> <div> Alex could feel the goosebumps on her arms. She said carefully, 'Let me see I've got it right. There was patchy mist.You were following Jake's car, which was following a big lorry. The lorry deliberately braked in front of him to cause an accident. The driver jumped out and got away, leaving a dead man in the cab. You're saying they were all murdered?'</div> <div> Matt looked shaken. 'Well...okay, yes, I suppose I am. I never thought of it like that though. All I know is I saw a man somersault out of that cab. I couldn't believe it.'</div> <div> 'The Police will be taking statements.'</div> <div> Matt said, 'I've already made a statement. I'm not letting it go, anyway. That smash was no accident. It was planned.'  He slammed his fist on the table. 'They're not bloody getting away with it. If the police don't do nothing, I'll write to the papers, or that TV programme. I'll stir things up.'</div> <div> 'No need to let the whole cafe know,' Leo said, sharply.</div> <div> Alex looked over her shoulder. The place was nearly empty. There was only a man who had come in after them, settled deep in his newspaper at the table next to them.</div> <div> 'Sorry,' said Matt, 'But when I think of all those people injured, and your Ma dying like that, not to mention my new van being messed up, it really makes me mad. I'm not dropping it. I know what I saw.'</div> <div> 'You're <I>sure</I>?' said Leo. 'Look, I have to say this. You've been up all night fishing and lost blood from that arm. Are you sure you didn't see something - a chunk of metal, say, falling down off the lorry?'</div> <div> 'Not unless it had legs, and could run,' said Matt. 'I saw him<I> before</I> I lost any blood. If you don't believe me, okay, but that's how it was.'</div> <div> Alex said, 'I believe you. I believe everything you've said. They were murdered.'</div> <div> 'Doesn't it strike you,' said Leo at last, into the silence, 'That there was something theatrical about that crash?'</div> <div> 'How do you mean?'</div> <div> 'Well, first the whole idea. Trying to kill someone that way. And then that somersault out of the cab. It's like cops and robbers TV style.'</div> <div> 'Effective, though,' Matt said. 'It worked, and I'm the only one who saw it. Anyway, I thought you ought to know.' He stood up. 'Look, I've got to love you and leave you. They must have done the windscreen by now. I have to get home. I'm supposed to be wiring up someone's cooker. Can't afford to lose business.'</div> <div> 'You work for yourself?'</div> <div> 'I'm an electrician. Did my apprenticeship. Got my City and Guilds. Now I'm just starting out on my own. Something tells me I'm going to regret this little trip.' He stretched to pick up the bill on the table, but Leo put his hand over it.</div> <div> 'On me.'</div> <div> 'Another time then,' said Matt, shaking hands. 'Thanks.'</div> <div> 'Here.' On impulse Alex wrote her telephone number and address on a paper serviette and gave it to him. 'Look, keep in touch. If you remember anything more about the crash, I'd be really grateful if you'd let me know.'</div> <div> 'Sure, will do.' He folded it and zipped it into the top pocket of his jacket. He winked at Leo. 'Watch out for them tigers. See you, mate.'</div> <div> They watched him saunter out of the cafe nonchalantly, holding open the door for the man with the newspaper, and Alex couldn't help laughing.</div> <div> 'He recognised you.'</div> <div> 'I'd say nothing much escapes friend Matt,' Leo said grimly.  'He'd certainly know you again.'</div> <div> 'What's that supposed to mean?'</div> <div> 'Don't tell me you didn't notice. I thought you didn't like men looking at you? He didn't take his eyes off you. Crawling all over you like honey ants.'</div> <div> 'You're imagining it.'</div> <div> He looked at her, his eyes angry. She had been careful to sit the other side of the table, away from him. 'It's just me, is it?'</div> <div> Alex stood up.  'It's time we were going.'</div> <div> She put on her coat, wound her scarf around her neck and watched Leo pay the bill.</div> <div> His long fingers flicked deftly through the wallet from the back of his jeans. Elegant. Graceful, but dangerous too. It wasn't just a screen image, there was a definite air of  'don't tangle with me'. A pity he was so good-looking and charming. A pity he was in show business. She could never trust anyone like that, even though he had helped her so much today. There was a cold space of regret inside her. A feeling of emptiness from letting something good go.</div> <div> He came back to her, smiling. 'Ready?'</div> <div> Without a word she turned and walked to the door. The hostility was back and she had retreated to her own private refrigerator.</div> <div> 'A lady of few words,' Leo said, ironically. 'Here, you've forgotten your mother's bag.' He opened the cafe door for her with a dramatic flourish.</div> <div> 'Thanks for paying the bill,' she said, shortly, took Bev's bag and stepped out on to the pavement, swinging it over her shoulder. She sniffed the air. The fog was coming down again.  They would have to drive down the motorway in the fog. She shivered and turned wearily towards Leo's car, parked further down the street.</div> <div> A powerful blow landed between her shoulder blades, shoving her stumbling forward onto her knees and hands. The bag was wrenched from her shoulder. As the mugger passed, she saw briefly, a tall, well-built figure, in a dark tracksuit and blue and white trainers, running fast and noiselessly into the fog.</div> <div> Leo, behind her said, 'What on earth...?' Gave a bellow, and took off after him.</div> <div> Alex shouted after him that the man had a knife, but he took no notice. She sat on the pavement, and rested her head on her knees, trying to get her breath back.</div> <div> Her first thought, incredibly, had been that Leo had lost his temper and hit her. Now she felt a surge of angry exasperation. Mugged in <I>Swindon</I>, for heaven's sake, after all the years of rambling safely around the rougher parts of London at all hours.</div> <div> She climbed to her feet, still feeling shaky. Nothing broken, but plenty of bruises. Thank goodness she hadn't tried to hold on to the bag - she might have been nursing stab wounds now. Leo hadn't wasted a second. His reflexes must be in top gear. She hoped desperately that he wouldn't catch the mugger.</div> <div> She tried to brush her jeans down, but her hands were scraped and bleeding. She was still trembling. Violence always affected her that way. Nausea caught her and she heaved up into the gutter the half-potato she had just eaten and felt better.</div> <div> To her relief Leo came back at last, dishevelled and furious. 'He got away in the fog. Are you all right? What have you lost? We'll go back to the hospital and then on to the police.'</div> <div> 'No.'</div> <div> 'Are you crazy?'</div> <div> 'I'm all right. Just a few bruises. No need for hospital.'</div> <div> He looked at her doubtfully. She hid her hands in her pockets.  'Come on then, if you're sure, let's go find the police station.' He put his arm around her shoulders and hurried her along to the car.</div> <div> 'Leo, I'm not going to the police either.'</div> <div> He unlocked the door. 'Get in.'</div> <div> She slid into the seat and locked on the seat belt. 'I mean it. I'm not reporting it to the police. Let's get back to London.'</div> <div> 'He got away with your mother's shoulder bag, and you don't want to go to the police. What was in the bag?'</div> <div> 'Make-up. Some letters.' <I>One addressed to Sandy Wallis. </I>'A wallet.'</div> <div> 'Notes? Coins?'</div> <div> Alex said reluctantly, 'Notes.'</div> <div> 'How much money was in that wallet, Alex? And why don't you want to tell the police?'</div> <div> Alex slid her eyes sideways to his in the driving mirror. 'You go in for telepathy?'</div> <div> 'I'm picking up strange vibrations.'</div> <div> She shrugged. 'A packet of fifty pound notes about three inches thick. At least eight thousand pounds, I'd say.'</div> <div> The car swerved slightly.  'Eight thousand!'</div> <div> 'Eight to ten thousand. Brand new notes.'</div> <div> 'All right.  I've got the message. You mean you've been robbed of eight thousand pounds and you're not reporting it.'</div> <div> 'Think about it.'</div> <div> 'Nobody goes around with eight thousand in cash.'</div> <div> 'Right,' said Alex, quietly. 'Not if it's legal.'</div> <div> Leo glanced at her. 'You're a very suspicious lady.'</div> <div> 'That bag was real crocodile skin. And she had a gold cigarette lighter. Solid gold. There's Jake's Rolex watch - what's that worth? Matt said they were driving a Porsche. They were in the money all right. I ask myself, <I>where did it all come from</I>? They were totally broke when I left home.'</div> <div> 'Photographic assignments? He was a well-known photographer, wasn't he? All the celebs.'</div> <div> Alex shook her head. 'There was no way that Jake could have got hold of that kind of money.'</div> <div> 'Something dodgy then, as our friend Matt would say.'</div> <div> 'Jake was that sort of man. He could have made money with his photography. He knew a lot of the right people. But he was always working on sleazy get-rich-quick deals that were going to make him a millionaire.' She thought about it. 'I suppose you'd call him a loser. I never realised that before. He was always so cocky and confident. He never worked at the right things and everything slipped away from him. Greedy, that just sums him up.'</div> <div> 'What about your mother? She must have known.'</div> <div> Alex looked out of the window. How to explain poor, discontented Beverley, always wanting a good time, always feeling she'd lost out?</div> <div> 'She isn't...wasn't...a criminal type. Just silly. She'd do anything Jake wanted.'</div> <div> 'What are you suggesting then? Something stolen and fenced? A bank raid?  Drugs? Forgery?'</div> <div> Alex thought. 'Blackmail. That would be more in Jake's style.'</div> <div> 'And yet you won't go to the police.You hated him.Why are you protecting him now?'</div> <div> 'I'm not protecting <I>him</I>,' Alex said, disgusted. 'It's my mother. She had a rough life. She was just...kind of naive. She did everything he said. She doesn't deserve to have her name dragged into the tabloids now she's dead. Not for something Jake did.'</div> <div> 'What were they doing in the Cotswolds anyway, do you know? A holiday cottage? Did they have friends there?'</div> <div> Alex was puzzled.  'I don't think so. They never went out of London. All their friends were in London. They live in Oakwood in North London. Bev hated the country.'</div> <div> 'Worth a trip to pick up eight thousand pounds.'</div> <div> Alex looked at him. 'You think that's what they were doing? Visiting the person Jake was blackmailing?'</div> <div> 'A powerful person, who was able to lay on a nasty surprise for them on the way back.'</div> <div> 'A powerful person <I>with friends</I>,' Alex said, slowly, thinking. 'An <I>organisation</I>. A lorry. A truck. The man in the cab, the man driving the get-away truck, and...' She stopped abruptly and met Leo's eyes.</div> <div> 'A mugger, who can run real fast.'</div> <div> 'Could be the powerful person has got his money back.'</div> <div> 'Right.'</div> <div> But what had been in the envelopes in Bev's bag? Alex wondered, watching the darkening countryside flowing past. Something Bev had thought was important.</div> <div> Too late to worry. Whatever it was, the gang had it now.</div> <div> But they didn't know about the red bag hidden away in the Oakwood house.</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id119.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 5"><U><I><B>Chapter 5</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Copyright Liz Berry 2002.  All rights reserved.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>________________________________________</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder"><U><I><B>Finder </B></I></U></A><I><B> |  </B></I><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books"><U><I><B>Books </B></I></U></A><I><B> | </B></I><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Liz Berry Books"><U><I><B> Home</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <I><B>                  </B></I><I><B>                                </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >                                                                    </FONT></div> </td> <td valign="top" width=125 BGCOLOR="#3399FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder"><U><I><B>F</B></I></U></A><A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder"><U><I><B>inder</B></I></U></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0033" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder"><U><I><B> </B></I></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="45a57500.jpg" border=0 width="87" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 1"><U><I><B>Chapter 1</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 2"><U><I><B>Chapter 2</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 3"><U><I><B>Chapter 3</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <I><B>Chapter 4</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="id119.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 5"><U><I><B>Chapter 5</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id120.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 6"><U><I><B>Chapter 6</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finder Chapter 7"><U><I><B>Chapter 7</B></I></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>