69

  Chaos had erupted on the Shumacker Estate.

  Murder. Kidnap. The mysterious suicide of a once famous starlet. A long dead phantom thug reappearing. A poisoned ex-copper. A half starved, badly beaten and concussed Owner were all a recipe for a shitshow of epic proportions.

  Police men barked. Politicians gabbled. Lawyers fluttered around in frightful excitement. Conway had almost burst a blood vessel at Shumacker’s estate getting all parties under control and off his crime scene. Shumacker’s lawyers had arrived en masse and were threatening to sue everyone involved if a word of what had taken place was uttered anywhere. The police were more focused on getting Hubert Hess into custody. Despite being manacled, the big man was still dangerous and Conway wanted him disappeared before anyone figured out who he was. Then the body of Leanne Shumacker was discovered and now it was a murder scene which sent all parties into near hysterics. Friedrich Shumacher had regained consciousness at some point and was wailing piteously while his lawyers berated the medical officers and threatened their careers and livelihoods.

  And Ridley was in the middle of the maelstrom. As the only witness to that night’s events, Ridley had suddenly become the most important person in Valderia, even if everyone still looked at him like he was something they had stepped in. Ridley, for his part, crossed his arms obstinately, and told them to in no uncertain terms he wasn’t saying a word until Nairo and little Teddy Shumacker was taken to the hospital. There was more screaming and threatening but Conway bulldozed in and threatened to arrest everyone, including some of his own officers, for obstruction.

  That was how Ridley now found himself sitting in a dark room in the Silver Leaf General Hospital. Nairo had been rushed into emergency care and Teddy had been disappeared away into the arms of the nurses to get checked on. Meanwhile, Conway had grabbed Ridley by the elbow and frogmarched him into what looked like a disused airing cupboard and told him not to move.

  Ridley sat down, lit a smoke and hunched over. He was soaking wet, aching all over, and with a mouth full of blood. He was glad he was alone when the shivers came. Near death experiences, adrenaline, wrath, and freezing rain tended to have that effect on the body. He curled over, tucking his hands under his armpits and fought for control over his exhausted body. Silently, his mind wandered down the treacherous path of this case. He didn’t know what to make of it all. It was just so… petty. So many people had died, lives had been ruined, marriages destroyed, a child was essentially an orphan now. So many bodies. Just trying to count them all up made a thick lump form in his throat. All for what? Gold? Greed? Leanne Shumacker hadn’t even been acting out of anger or vengeance. He could have at least understood the betrayed lover snapping and lashing out. But this? This was cold, calculated murder over the span of a decade for nothing else but Shumacker’s riches. Hess and Leanne had murdered dozens of people just so they could snatch little Teddy’s inheritance. And Quinn… tears began to sting the back of Ridley’s eyes. His friend… his mentor was dead… for what? For trying to protect an innocent young girl? For getting in the way?

  Ridley clenched his fists so hard he crushed his smoke in his hand and burned his finger. The sudden flare of hot pain drove the tears away at least. Ridley cursed and sucked on his singed digit, already reaching for another smoke, when he heard a furor approaching his closet. He took a deep breath, smoothed back his dirty blonde hair, lit his smoke, and reorganised his face. Within seconds, the exhausted, wounded, grief stricken shade disappeared, and the sardonic PI had taken his place.

  He heard irate voices and heavy footsteps coming closer. He couldn’t make out the words but he certainly recognised the voices. The door burst open and there was Cap’n Mallory, the Dwarf Chief of Police, beetroot red and badly winded from marching and yelling.

  “Youuuuu!” he breathed, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Ridley.

  “Hello Cap’n, you’re looking… well.” Ridley shot the Cap’n a smirk that made the Dwarf’s face turn an even uglier shade of red.

  “I should have known!” the Cap’n bellowed. “At the bottom of every mountain of shit that gets dumped on my desk is you! And what have you done to Sally? You beardless worm eating malcontent!”

  “Maybe we should discuss this behind closed doors,” Conway, who followed up behind Mallory, said.

  The Dwarf cast the lieutenant a dark look before stepping inside the cupboard. Conway followed and closed the door behind him. For a few seconds the only sound was the rattling, nasal breathing of Mallory.

  “So?” he growled.

  Ridley shrugged.

  “Got a case. Worked the case. Found over a decade of murder and poisoning that your lot missed. Oh, and it turns out that notorious Villain, Hubert Hess, is alive and still killing. Plus, an Owner got kidnapped and locked up in his own attic, something else your lot missed, while his missus was having it off with the butler, who was secretly Hess, and planning to kill Shumacker and steal all his gold. Did I miss anything lieutenant?” Ridley asked.

  “No,” Conway replied slowly. “That sounds like the measure of it.”

  “Well Cap, I would say this is a cock up of epic proportions, a real shit show from the boys in blue,” Ridley needled.

  Mallory was practically quivering with rage as he tried to process what he had just been told.

  “Oh, did you tell him about the latest string of OD’s?” Ridley asked Conway.

  The lieutenant coughed and grumbled something.

  “What about ‘em?” Mallory grunted.

  “Oof that’s a doozy,” Ridley said flippantly, and then took an annoyingly long drag of his smoke. “Turns out that was Hess too. Him and the mental Lady Shumacker needed it to look like the OD’s were continuing so as not to raise any suspicions when they offed Shumacker. Hubert Hess has been wandering around the RatHoles poisoning junkies and making it look like overdoses.”

  “What!” Mallory thundered.

  “Yeah, you boys actually had got all the bad Burn off the streets, so kudos for that I guess.” Ridley said.

  “You knew about this?” Mallory rounded on Conway.

  “Two rookies had a theory that they were pursuing, but we had no evidence, and there was nothing about Hess.” Conway said.

  “Ahh, Washbottom and Edgewater, two of the finest young coppers I know,” Ridley said, flashing the irate Cap’n another smirk. “You should give them one of those commendations you like so much, Cap.”

  “And then Ridley and Sally came to me with this whole insane story,” Conway continued, shooting Ridley a narrow eyed glare. “Again, with no real evidence, so I offered a few plain clothes to assist them. When it all went down there wasn’t time to run it up the chain.”

  “This is it,” Mallory said. “This is how I die. Of a damned aneurysm in an airing cupboard with you two pricks!” Mallory howled and clutched his chest, a thick vein pulsing in his forehead. “Do you know what will happen to us if this gets out?”

  Before Ridley could continue to turn the screw there came a sharp knock at the door.

  “Piss off!” Mallory roared.

  “I certainly will not!” A sharp and very haughty voice snapped back from the other side of the door.

  Before Mallory could respond the door opened and a tall, very slender man in a light grey suit clutching a briefcase, stepped into the airing cupboard followed by three other dark suited individuals.

  “Oh shit, it’s the lawyers,” Mallory grumbled.

  “My name is Phillip J Phillipson from Phillips, Felipe, and Phillipson.” He rattled off while one of his dark suited companions held out a business card that Mallory snatched from them. “I am a representative of the Shumacker’s and I demand to be included in all public and clandestine discussions of my client’s case!”

  Before Mallory could protest, the four lawyers shuffled into the now very claustrophobic airing cupboard and snapped the door shut behind them.

  “This is an informal discussion…” Mallory began but the lawyer held up a slender hand.

  “Formal or informal, I am sure you understand the incredibly delicate nature of these events and considering who my client is I am sure you would want to handle this matter as sensitively and discreetly as possible.”

  “Well maybe your client shouldn’t have been shagging half of Valderia if he wanted discretion!” Mallory barked back.

  “What my client has done, or will do, with his private parts in his private time shall remain exactly that: private! And as such, I have here several documents that will assure…”

  “I ain’t signing any NDA’s!” Mallory roared loud enough to make their ears ring. “I’m the damned Chief of Police!”

  “And I’m a lieutenant, so you can shove that,” Conway added.

  “And besides, they don’t know anything,” Ridley said. “I do.”

  “And who are you?” The lawyer said, turning a cold eye on Ridley.

  “I’m the man that cracked this whole case, and the only reason your client ain’t floating face down in his bathtub with a syringe sticking out of his arm.”

  “Ahh yes,” the lawyer said, surreptitiously flicking away a bead of sweat from his forehead. “You are the private investigator who has been harassing my client.”

  “Harassing!” Ridley said indignantly. “I saved his life from his mad murdering wife!”

  “Lady Shumacker tragically lost her life in an accident!” the lawyer snapped indignantly. “Anything else is simply unsubstantiated rumour and will be pursued as liable and slander!” The lawyer turned on Mallory. “Captain Mallory, I assure you that if any of these defamatory lies reach the newspapers…”

  “Newspapers!” Mallory cried out, his eyes bugging from his head. “No, no, no!” The Cap’n shook his thick head so hard his beard waggled. “I assure you, we don’t want this shit show hitting the papers anymore than you do!”

  “Good,” the lawyer said. “Now there’s just the matter of my client’s compensation…”

  “Compensation?” Mallory barked.

  “Is he not stinking rich enough?” Ridley snorted.

  There was another bang on the door, this one rattled the door on its hinges.

  “What? Mallory, Conway, the lawyer, and Ridley yelled simultaneously.

  “Mallory!” All the occupants of the secret cupboard meeting recognised that animalistic bark.

  “Shit,” Mallory sighed, wiping a thick hand across face. “Yes sir?”

  The door flew open and a furious Albert Stubbs loomed in the doorway. He barreled into the cupboard, swallowing the remaining space and crushing the three lawyer lackeys against the wall.

  “Mallory!” Stubbs roared again. “What the in blue hell is going…”

  “Good evening sir, have you met the Shumacker’s legal representative?” Mallory put a heavy emphasis on ‘legal representative’ while shooting his eyes at the lawyer.

  Stubbs stopped mid rant and his demeanour suddenly shifted. In the tight space he had to take several small steps to turn to the lawyer.

  “Good evening Mr Stubbs,” the lawyer said, inclining his head stiffly.

  “Ahh… Phillip, how are you? Fine to see you again.” Stubb patted the lawyer on the elbow, since it was too cramped for him to raise his hand higher. “Quite a pickle we’ve found ourselves in.”

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  “Pickle?” Ridley hissed. “Do you even know how people are dead?”

  Stubbs turned his dark eyes on Ridley.

  “You,” he growled.

  “Me,” Ridley replied with a curl of his lips.

  “What is leech doing here?” Stubbs said to Mallory.

  “He… umm… well he broke the… case, sir.” Mallory said, looking down at his feet.

  “That’s right,” Ridley said smugly. “There’s only two people in this whole world who know what actually happened tonight and why, and I’m the only one in this room.”

  “Careful,” Stubbs said, his voice barely audible. “Loose threads tend to get snipped.”

  The air felt like it had been sucked out of the room as Stubbs’ threat hung out in the open. Ridley’s face broke out in a broad grin.

  “Come on Al,” Ridley said. “We’ve done business before, you know how this works. As long as I get what I want, you know I’m a Diamond geezer.” Ridley pulled just short of giving Stubbs a conspiratorial wink.

  The only sound in the airing cupboard was Stubbs’ heavy breathing and the nervous tapping of Mallory’s foot.

  “Well?” Stubbs breathed after a small eternity.

  Ridley took another drag of his smoke and then dropped it to the floor and grinding it out beneath his shoe. He exhaled and then smoothed back his hair.

  “I want a small treasure chest of gold,” he began. “And I mean a treasure chest, consider it my fee for services rendered to the Shumackers. I want those two rookies, Edgewater and Washbottom, to get some sort of public commendation, something shiny and their names in the paper since it was them who made the connection between Hess and the murders in the RatHoles.”

  “We won’t be going public about those,” Mallory said quickly.

  “Then make up some bullshit, but I want their names in the paper,” Ridley said. “Next, I want all medical bills covered for the Sarge, and she gets the best of the best care. I want whoever’s looking after Shumacker to look after her too.”

  “Anything else?” Stubbs growled, glowering at Ridley.

  “Oh I’m just getting started,” Ridley said. “There’s a dead investigator named Quinn, his initial cause of death was overdose. I want a new obituary printed for him that states he was murdered in the pursuit of justice. You don’t have to name Hess but I want it known he didn’t OD.”

  “We can make arrangements for this,” Mallory said.

  “Conway here gets to keep the Drug Enforcement Squad, if he wants it. And gets free rein to go after any bastard selling poison in Valderia.”

  Mallory cast a withering eye at Conway who simply shrugged noncommittally as if he wasn’t bothered either way. When Mallor looked at Stubbs, Conway gave Ridley a little wink.

  “Anything else?” Stubbs said.

  “I want Hubert Hess to hang,” Ridley said bluntly. “No life in BlackWater, no chance of reprieve or retrial. He hangs… and I get to watch.”

  Silence engulfed the room again. Stubbs looked at Mallory and then at the lawyer.

  “Hess is accused of multiple murders?” Stubbs asked.

  “Yessir. As well as kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and faking his own death.” Mallory replied.

  “Then the wheels of justice will move swiftly and with finality,” Stubbs said, nodding to the lawyer who nodded back.

  “And in exchange,” the lawyer said. “You will keep your silence about this entire affair and anything to do with Friedrich Shumacker?”

  “Don’t worry,” Ridley replied. “Freddy’s dirty laundry will never see the light of day.”

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Oh for heavens sake!” Mallory grumbled. “There isn’t anymore bloody room in here!”

  “Sir?” A voice called from the other side of the door. “Is Lieutenant Conway in there?”

  “Aye, I’m here!” Conway called back.

  He shuffled awkwardly around the bulky frame of Stubbs and slipped out of the cupboard. There was some murmuring outside and then the door opened again.

  “PI, come with me.”

  Ridley took a breath and looked at each one of the men in the cupboard in their eyes for a long second.

  “I’ll leave you boys to chew over the details,” he said. “Mallory knows where to send my treasure chest to.”

  He strode out of the cupboard, bumping his shoulder against Stubbs’ who growled like a feral dog on a short leash. Ridley stepped out of the cupboard. As the cooler air hit him, he realised he was dripping in sweat. Conway wiped a hand over his red face and then sighed.

  “You can’t help yourself, can you?” he said.

  “Dunno. I’ve never tried,” Ridley replied flippantly. “What’s up?”

  “Hess wants to talk to you.”

  “What?”

  “He’s down in the cells receiving medical attention. He asked for you by name.”

  Ridley’s face darkened.

  “What does that piece of shit want?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Conway replied and led the way down to the cells.

  *

  Silver Leaf General Hospital’s basement had been fitted out with a small cell that was little more than a windowless concrete room for dangerous patients. It was freezing cold down here and eerily quiet. Ridley followed Conway to the last room on the corridor. There were two officers stationed outside. They nodded at Conway and unlocked the door. Conway strode into the cell followed by Ridley.

  The cell was almost entirely bare. There was a small metal table, a single bed, and a lone figure sat on the floor, chained to either wall by his wrists. Hubert Hess sat hunched over on the floor. His face was a mess. Ridley hadn’t realised how much damage he had done to the formerly dead murderer. Hess’ face was lumpy and swollen. One of his eyes was completely shut and it looked like a couple of his teeth had been knocked out. But it was still him. He wasn’t broken, just beaten and bloody. As they walked in, Hess raised his head and there was that arrogant smirk plastered all over his bloody face.

  “Hello again, PI.” Hess said, his voice gravelly but clear. “You’re looking well.”

  “You look like shit,” Ridley replied.

  Hess chuckled, but the sound was harsh with a slight wheeze behind it.

  “Dying was easier than being caught,” he admitted.

  “What do you want?” Ridley said. “I don’t have time to waste on dead men.”

  “All I got left is time, PI.” Hess replied.

  “Not much of it,” Conway said. “You’re doomed to hang, Hess. The powers that be are just figuring out the logistics.”

  “And daddy can’t ride to the rescue and save you this time,” Ridley said.

  Hess sighed and shrugged.

  “It is what it is. I played the game and lost.”

  “Game?” Ridley snarled. “Game? You sick fuck! That’s all this was to you? A fucking game!”

  Hess looked at Ridley with disinterested eyes.

  “Don’t give me your bleeding heart bullshit,” he spat. “Valderia’s one giant fucking con. You either step on or get stepped on in this city and I wasn’t about to taste shoe leather my whole life. No one’s got clean hands in this city. Not you, not you, and not me!”

  “Save us the villainous sermon,” Conway growled. “What do you want?”

  Hess glared at Conway.

  “I want to talk to the PI alone,” he said.

  Conway looked at Ridley who shrugged.

  “Try anything, and I’ll make the last few hours of your life more than unpleasant,” Conway said to Hess before leaving them alone.

  Ridley leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

  “So?” he said to Hess.

  Hess licked his cracked, bloody lips.

  “My boy,” he said finally. “Teddy… is he safe?”

  “He’s being looked after,” Ridley said curtly, feeling a stab in his gut at what the poor boy had been through tonight.

  “Good,” Hess said. “Does anyone know?”

  “That he’s yours?”

  Hess nodded.

  “No,” Ridley said. “Just me.”

  “Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell Shumacker he’s not his.”

  “Fuck off,” Ridley snarled. “You want me to do you a favour?”

  “Not me!” Hess said. “For Teddy! None of this is his fault! What do you think will happen to him if Shumacker finds out he’s not his son? You think that fuck Freddy will just care for him out of the kindness of his heart? He’ll dispose of him. Throw him away and wash his hands of him and leave my boy in some fuckin’ orphanage to let who knows what happen to him!”

  Ridley paused. He knew all about what happened to kids without parents or gold in Valderia.

  “Please,” Hess said, and for the first time, his malevolent disposition faltered. He was scared. “Shumacker doesn’t need to know. Let him raise Teddy as his own and give the boy the life that I always wanted. Let him be a Shumacker, not for me, but for him. He’s lost his mother, don’t take away his father too.”

  Ridley’s jaw clenched. He stood up off the wall and dusted himself down.

  “On one condition,” Ridley said.

  “Go on,” Hess replied.

  Ridley walked across the space between them and squatted down in front of Hess so they were face to bloody face.

  “You die,” Ridley hissed at him. “You fucking hang for what you’ve done and you finally rid the world of your evil. No games. No escape attempts. Nothing. You walk into the hangman’s noose and you just fucking die.”

  Hess met his eyes levelly and he nodded a single time.

  Ridley straightened up and looked down at Hess.

  “Then Teddy’s secret dies with you. He’ll be a Shumacker and hopefully, he’ll forget all about you and his deranged mother.”

  Hess let out a rattling breath and he bowed his head, staring down at his manacled hands. Ridley turned and walked away. He raised his hand to bang on the door and then paused.

  “Was it really worth it?” he asked. “Was all this really worth it?”

  Hess didn’t reply for a long time.

  “If I won I would have had it all.” He looked up at Ridley, his eyes blazing. “If I had my time again. I wouldn’t have done a fucking thing differently, other than killing you when I had the chance.”

  Ridley shook his head and banged on the door.

  “Well, when you get to hell, you can chat with all the other people that wished they killed me when they had the chance. Bye Hess.”

  *

  Ridley was silent the whole way back up the main hospital and Conway didn’t ask what Hess had said. Ridley wanted to make a beeline straight for Nairo and hide away for a few hours. He felt completely empty. There was no buzz from solving this case, just a sick, nauseating sensation in the pit of his stomach.

  As they arrived at the ward there were more officers on duty. The whole floor had been segregated and guarded as Shumacker was also here being treated. Ridley stalked through the rows of empty beds when someone called to him. He turned and saw Friedrich Shumacker lying in bed with his head heavily bandaged. He looked worn and old. Next to him sat Teddy Shumacker, happily snacking on some chocolate. He was sitting in the lap of an elderly, severe looking woman, dressed in all black. Ridley limped over to them.

  “Mother this is the man that saved my life,” Fred croaked to the elderly woman. He reached out his hand and shook Ridley’s. He then paused and looked up at Ridley in surprise. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Ridley,” Ridley grunted, trying not to look at Teddy.

  “A fine name,” Fred said, patting Ridley’s hand warmly.

  “Who are you?” Mother Shumacker asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “A private investigator,” Ridley replied curtly. “I was working another case that led to us discovering the plot against Friedrich.”

  Mother Shumacker chewed over that response silently.

  “And what do you want?” she snapped.

  “Mother!” Fred admonished her.

  “Nothing,” Ridley said.

  “Everybody wants something,” the old woman croaked.

  “I got what I wanted,” Ridley said. “That murderer will hang for what he’s done.”

  Mother Shumacker cracked a wicked smile.

  “Then consider yourself a friend of the Shumacker’s,” she said. “You saved my son’s life and I will not forget that.”

  Ridley nodded and then looked at Teddy for the first time.

  “Is… is he okay?” he asked.

  “My boy’s a fighter,” Fred said, smiling warmly at Teddy. “Although I don’t know what we will do without his mother…” Fred’s voice cracked and his eyes filled with tears.

  “Oh hush Freddie, do not cry in front of the help,” his mother snapped at him. “My grandson will be absolutely fine. It’s about time he went off to school anyway. I always said his mother was a bad influence on him. Serves you right for breeding such low stock, Fred.”

  “Yes mother,” Fred said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

  And for a sick, spiteful moment, Ridley almost blurted out the secret of Teddy’s origin. Why not? It would be one last fuck you to Hess. He was going to hang anyway. Why not twist the knife one final time. And the look on the old hag’s face would be priceless. But then Ridley looked at the sweet little boy covered in chocolate. The Owners might be twisted and corrupted, but at least the boy would never know what it was like to be starving on the cobbles of Valderia. Ridley did, and he wouldn’t do that to someone else.

  “Just… make sure he’s looked after,” he said.

  “Of course,” Mother Shumacker said.

  Ridley cleared his throat and straightened his coat.

  “I need to see my partner, she’s in here too.”

  “How is she?” Fred asked.

  “Recovering.” Ridley said. “I guess it wouldn’t be too much to ask you to make sure her bills are taken care of?”

  Fred waved a flippant hand at him.

  “It’s the least I can do.”

  “Yeah it is.”

  *

  Ridley opened the door to Nairo’s room and stumbled in. He was dog tired now. He pushed back the curtain around Nairo’s bed and saw his partner laying there in the moonlight. Her bushy brown hair was laid out around her. She looked pale but the antidote seemed to have worked. He eased himself out of his coat and dropped into the chair next to her. Nairo’s eyes fluttered open. She turned her head and gave him a weak smile.

  “Case cracked,” she muttered blearily.

  “Another one in the books,” Ridley said.

  Nairo reached out her hand and Ridley clasped it gently.

  “Ridley…”

  “Yeah?”

  Nairo drifted back to slip, her lips parted, and her eyes closed.

  Ridley smiled at her and then leaned his head on her bed and was unconscious a second later still holding her hand.