“Well?” Mrs Mortlake snapped out the single word. She really was like a teacher now, a headmistress about to select the punishment.
“It was his fault!” Hovey chipped in at once, eager to get over his version of events. He glanced at Banes. “He made serious mistakes. He should have known about the dog.” He raised an arm, wincing at the same time as if to prove his point. Underneath his suit jacket he was covered in bandages where he had been bitten. He’d had to be injected against tetanus and rabies. “And he should have had more men waiting at the stage door.”
“Mr Banes?” Mrs Mortlake turned her head back to him. She was wearing long earrings that jangled as she moved.
Banes shrugged. “It’s true,” he said. “I didn’t know about the dog. The kids were lucky. Sometimes it happens like that.”
Mrs Mortlake considered. She already knew what she was going to do. She hadn’t risen to a position of power in the Nightrise Corporation without being able to make fast decisions.
“It seems to me that you half succeeded,” she began. “Which is to say, you half failed. One boy got away but we still have the other one. If both boys had escaped, I would have no choice but to make you both redundant. As it is, one of you can be spared.” She smiled sweetly. “Mr Banes, I’m very sorry…”
In the chair next to him, Mr Hovey relaxed.
“But I’m going to have to ask you to strangle Mr Hovey. I know you’re friends. I know you’ve worked together for a long time. But the corporation really cannot allow failure and the fact that Mr Hovey is a bit of a whiner, I personally find most displeasing.”
“Do you want me to do it now, Mrs Mortlake?” Banes asked.
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
Colton Banes stood up and walked behind the other man. Kyle Hovey sat where he was. His entire body had slumped in on itself. He was carrying a gun – it was in a holster under his jacket – but he didn’t even try to reach for it. At least this would be quick. Fairly quick, anyway.
Banes’s hands rested briefly on the other man’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, Kyle,” he said, “but for what it’s worth, you always were a loser.” His outstretched fingers reached underneath the black ponytail and closed on the other man’s throat. He began to squeeze. From the other side of the desk, Susan Mortlake watched with interest. It took just a minute. Then Colton Banes went back to his chair and sat down. Next to him, Kyle Hovey remained where he was as if nothing had happened.
“Will there be anything else, Mrs Mortlake?” Colton Banes asked.
“No, thank you, Mr Banes. You can wait for me here in Los Angeles.”
Kyle Hovey slid gently to one side, then toppled to the floor.
“You’d better get your friend cremated,” she continued. “And send flowers if he has a family. As for me, I’ll be heading out to Silent Creek. I can’t wait to meet this boy, Scott Tyler. I think we need to begin his treatment right away.”
JAMIE'S STORY
They saw her come out of the office building, the woman dressed in black with the closely cut grey hair. There was a limousine waiting for her and they watched her as she was driven away, up West 4th Street towards the Harbor Freeway. But they didn’t know who she was or where she was going. They would find that out later.
Jamie and Alicia were sitting in a car in the business district of Los Angeles. It was the same car that Alicia had rented in Reno – the two of them had driven out the day before.
Jamie had slept for much of the journey although he had been awake at the start. An hour after they had left Reno, the highway had sloped upwards and suddenly he had found himself passing through forests of fir trees that rose steeply on both sides. If he looked up far enough he could see clumps of snow still refusing to melt and he had realized that he was finally going over the mountains. Beyond the snow. He had once dreamt that he would make the crossing and this was where he would find a new life. Now he wasn’t so sure. All he knew was that his old life had been shattered and he was leaving the pieces far behind.
Alicia would have preferred to take a plane. But Jamie had no picture ID. He couldn’t fly. And with the police still actively searching for him, it wouldn’t have been safe to go near an airport. So she had driven, stopping overnight in another motel in Fresno before arriving in Los Angeles the following afternoon, grimy and bleary-eyed from so much driving.
As they came down over the valley, Jamie had caught sight of the famous Hollywood sign, the white letters reflecting the rays of the sun. He’d seen it often enough on TV. This was the city of angels, the dream factory, home to the stars and the beautiful people. All sorts of cliches tumbled through his mind. But he felt nothing. He had come here because he had to. Los Angeles meant nothing to him. And as for the sign – what was it? Just some big letters on a hillside.
He was exhausted, hollowed out. Don and Marcie had been killed and the police thought he’d done it! The story had been reported all over America. After all, he was only fourteen. A juvenile, on the run, guilty of two homicides. The newspapers had lapped it up. But worse than all this, worse than anything he had ever experienced, was the knowledge that Scott had been taken. Driving into this new city, he once again reached out for Scott’s thoughts, wondering if – against all odds – he might get some tiny sense of his brother’s presence. But there was nothing. In fact, Scott felt further away than ever.
Jamie had wanted to stay in Reno but Alicia had persuaded him that it would be too dangerous. They had one clue: a name on a small white card. Nightrise Corporation. Alicia had checked on the Internet. Nightrise was based in Hong Kong but had offices all over the world. Two addresses were listed in the USA: one in New York, one in Los Angeles. Driving all the way to the East Coast was out of the question. Coming here was their only option.
And so here they were, parked opposite a skyscraper that was nothing more than a rectangular block, fifty storeys high, its identically sized windows punched in with mathematical precision. The top six floors belonged to Nightrise, with banks, insurance companies, law firms and dozens of other businesses below. Jamie and Alicia had been here for an hour, watching people come and go. Right now it was five o’clock and the rotating doors were never still as workers hurried out, eager to get home.
But there had been no sign of Colton Banes or the dark-haired man with the ponytail who had been sitting next to him at the theatre. Perhaps they weren’t here at all.
They waited another hour, then Alicia sighed and started the engine. “This is a waste of time,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
Jamie nodded. He had no real appetite, but he hadn’t eaten anything since the morning and he could feel his energy levels falling. Alicia pulled out and they drove back towards where they were staying in West Hollywood. Alicia had mentioned she had a sister. It now turned out that she was a flight attendant and lived in Los Angeles. She would be away for a week and had gladly lent them her house. Alicia had telephoned her from Fresno. She hadn’t mentioned Jamie.
They stopped at a restaurant on Melrose Avenue, a shabby, colourful street full of shops mainly selling antiques or clothes. They sat in the open air under a giant pink umbrella. A waitress came with the menu. Alicia chose a salad. Jamie hesitated. He looked awkward.
“What is it?” Alicia asked.
“I’ve never eaten in a smart restaurant like this,” Jamie said. Alicia smiled. “It’s not all that smart,” she said. “It’s just a cafe really.”