Hard Evidence

Much as he might have wanted to, Delaney didn't tell Kate to turn right as they reached the top of the hill. She turned left past the Angel tube station and then right, off the main thoroughfare into a series of back streets that led to a bleak industrial wasteland in a matter of a few short minutes. They drove in silence until Delaney cursed colourfully as the car bucked and bounced over the uneven and broken road surface. He turned to Kate. 'Sorry.'

'I think we've got more to worry about than a little swearing, don't you?'

Delaney shrugged in rueful agreement and Kate laughed, a nervous laugh, a little too loud, betraying the tension coiled like an ache in her stomach.

Delaney put his hand on her knee. 'It's going to be all right, Kate.'

A twist or two further along the battered road led them to a series of old Victorian warehouses, long abandoned and shambled together in mutual disrepair. Kate drove slowly up to the ramshackle, slope-shouldered building that Delaney had pointed to and stopped the car.

'Be careful, Jack.'

He leaned across and kissed her. 'If I'm not back in ten minutes, call the police.'

'Not funny.'

Delaney opened his car door, and Kate put her hand on his arm. 'Maybe I should come with you.'

'I want you to stay here.'

'It's a set-up. Bonner could have cleared you and he hasn't.'

'You told me. Just keep an eye on the building. Anybody comes in after me, you phone, all right? That's all you have to do.'

Delaney got out of the car and walked around to the boot. He popped the lid open and unzipped his overnight bag, moving some clothing aside to reveal a cloth-wrapped object hidden at the bottom. He picked it up, unwrapped it and hefted it in his hand. An unregistered gun he had had for about four years now. He checked it was loaded, even though he knew full well it was, and laid it across his left thigh as he shut the boot and walked across to the warehouse door. He stopped at the entrance, looked around the corner and then walked in.

It was dark inside and it took a moment or two for his eyes to adjust. As his vision slowly returned, he could see the place was a very old building in complete disrepair. It was partly demolished, and a series of half-destroyed rooms led mazelike to a big open area. Crumbling walls, garishly streaked with different-coloured paint, spread out erratically into the distance. Upper levels visible through collapsed floors. It was like the ruins of a modernist castle. On one wall a futuristic soldier with a bare chest and improbable muscles and armed with a hand-held rocket launcher had been painted above a garish slogan written in large blood-red letters: 'PAINTBALL 3000 – SURVIVAL HURTS'. The different-coloured paints splattered on the walls now made sense to Delaney. The post-apocalyptic effect had clearly been designed with the local yuppie market in mind. War games for young professionals letting off steam by pretending to blow ten degrees of shit out of each other. Delaney smiled at the irony. A few miles down the road, the disaffected, drug-dealing youth were doing it for real.

Delaney made his way slowly through the series of rooms. Placing his feet carefully so as not to dislodge the randomly scattered piles of old brick and masonry. It was clear that there were plenty of places for the paintballers to lay an ambush, and Delaney felt the small hairs on the back of his neck rise as he moved from one area to the next.

He put his back against a wall and called out.

'Bonner!' His voice echoed around the cavernous spaces.

'I'm over here.'

As Delaney edged cautiously around the wall, the sound of a brick falling came from behind him. He dropped into a crouch and scowled when he saw that it was Kate. He held up a hand to get her to stay where she was and put a finger to his lips. Kate nodded, but walked slowly up to him and whispered in his ear.

'I couldn't just wait in the car.'

Delaney glared at her and whispered angrily, 'Well wait here. I mean it.'

Bonner called out. 'What are you doing, Jack?'

'I'm making sure there isn't a scope with my head in its sights.'

'I'm on my own here. I came to help, for Christ's sake. There's things you need to know.'

Delaney made a stay gesture to Kate and raised his gun. Kate shook her head, disapproving, but didn't say anything. Delaney moved slowly away from her and looked around the corner of the wall, then walked up to the open area where Bonner stood with his jacket off and a gun held in his right hand.

'I came alone, Cowboy.'

Delaney looked around, the gun sweeping in his hand.

'There's only me. You can put that away.'

'I should just take your word for that, should I?'

'I'm here, aren't I?

'What's it all about, Eddie?'

'Like I said. Things that you don't know, Jack. Things that happened.'

'You going to tell me?'

'That's why I'm here.'

Delaney nodded him for him to continue. 'I'm listening.'

Bonner stepped closer. 'It's just a question of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They needed a fall guy and everybody knew you were banging Jackie Malone. Didn't take a genius to put your name in the frame.'

'Who is it, Eddie?'

'They told me that Jackie's death was an accident. You know she choked to death.'

'Go on.'

'But they'd have killed her anyway. I didn't know everything that was involved. I didn't know about the kids, Jack, I swear that. And I know it wasn't you that took the cocaine from evidence.'

'You?'

Bonner shrugged with a guilty smile. 'I was caught at it a long time ago. Deals were made. People took their cut. You know how these things work.'

'Not in my world, Eddie.'

'So I had to do what I was told. Things are getting way out of hand, though…'

'Who is it, Eddie? Who told you to cover up the caretaker's statement?'

'You've got loose lips in your camp, Jack. You should know who to trust.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about Kate Walker. She's a regular little canary.'

Delaney shook his head, taken aback. 'That's ridiculous.' He fought the urge to look back at Kate.

'I'll tell you everything, but I need to know you'll cover me. I'm out of my league here, Jack, but we can help each other.'

Delaney could hear the desperation in his voice. 'Put the gun down then and let's talk.'

Bonner held his gun steady. 'I need insurance first.'

A shot rang out like the crack of a bone, bouncing around the half-demolished walls, and echoing into silence. A spurt of blood fountained. Delaney gasped soundlessly with the sudden shock of it, his knees bent and he dropped towards Bonner.

The second shot rang out as Delaney cradled Bonner in his arms, pulling him back behind the wall. The bullet smashed into Bonner's outstretched leg and he spasmed soundlessly.

Kate took Delaney's arm and pulled him around the corner as a third bullet gouged concrete from the floor. Delaney propped Bonner against the paint-splattered wall. His face was as pale as porcelain, and he held a hand to the hole in his head, letting the blood trickle through his fingers like warm soup.

Delaney leaned in. 'Jackie Malone. Who killed her, Eddie?'

Bonner swallowed drily. 'Kevin Norrell.' He looked at his fingers, at the viscous liquid staining them, and back up at Delaney, the confusion painful in his eyes. 'Is it real?'

Then he slumped forward, his mouth gaping, his eyes open but seeing nothing in this world. Kate knelt beside him, propping his head and feeling for a pulse.

A brick fell from the upper level, crashing to the floor below, and Delaney whipped his head round. A door slammed upstairs. Delaney stood up, his eyes cold with fury. Kate grabbed his arm but he shook it off.