Chapter 6

  Before that though, I went to see my friend from the Chinese takeaway, Danny. I always kept a spare phone with him. I was one of the few people who never kept a phone on myself because of my weird “medical condition.”

  When my mind cracked, it usually destroyed any electronic things on me as well. I had destroyed more than five phones before I realised I couldn't carry them in my pocket. So I now left it with Danny and only took it out in emergencies. Which was quite funny because I was the only person who used a mobile phone as the old-fashioned landline.

  Taking out the phone, I made a call. The other person picked up immediately.

  “Royce, don't say anything, give me five minutes. I suspect why you're calling.”

  I could hear the other person walk outside the office, I could hear him going down the stairs, opening the far exit door, and making his way to the back of the building, which was usually empty at this time. I heard him open his car door and then sit inside and lock it. He was really paranoid today.

  “You still there, Royce?” he said,

  “Yes, I am here. Thanks for taking my call, Matt.”

  “No problem, how can I help you today?”

  “I need two favours. Yes, I know I've had too many, but I still need them.”

  “Go on. I need a favour too.”

  “First question is, I have a guy claiming to be a detective from London. I have my suspicions about him. Can you confirm whether a man called Detective Tobias from the London Metropolitan Police Force came to your office for an unofficial investigation?”

  “No, I cannot confirm that. That would be breaking many rules. I have broken many rules for you, Royce. But this is one line I won't cross. What's his second favour?”

  “I get it, no problem. The second problem is the dead body at that abandoned, burnt-down restaurant. You know, the homeless woman who was killed there? Why did your police seal off that area but not remove the dead body?”

  There was a long silence. So long I was beginning to think the call had must have dropped. “There was no homeless woman killed here,” he said. “Are you sure you have the right place?”

  “Yes, I saw a police tape there, so you must have visited that place. Why do you say there was no body left there?”

  “Now you listen here Royce! What is this? I'm hearing of a homeless dead woman. How come I haven't heard of it?”

  I quickly gave him all the info I had, leaving out the crazy parts. I told him I was meeting an informant there when I found a dead body (well, two dead bodies). Then that I had found the police tape, so assume the policeman knew about the place but why hadn't they moved the dead bodies? And that this other detective, whom he wouldn't confirm about, had claimed that secret unit…

  Stolen story; please report.

  “STOP!” he shouted so loudly I almost dropped the phone. “Don't say that agency's name. They track every single call, including on private phones, and if you say their name, it gets logged and they always investigate. I know which secret agency you're talking about, the one you've been involved with. What about them? How are they involved?”

  I gave him the brief version about how some guy claiming to be a detective had told me that this secret unit was the one who had asked the police to leave the bodies there.

  “Listen to me very carefully Royce: This friendly agency let's call them that, they do interfere in our cases but they never do so overtly; it's always very covert and hush-hush. Files get changed, sensitive stuff gets deleted from the servers, and if there are printouts they vanish from the locked rooms.

  Whoever this guy is, he's either lying or he's trying to distract you from something. Are you seriously telling me that there are two dead bodies at that burnt-out restaurant? That makes three bodies. That's far too many dead bodies for our small town.”

  I heard a fire truck go by, followed by an ambulance. Their loud sirens forced me to take a breath. I smelt fresh coffee from the local barista and freshly baked pecan nut croissants. Sadly, I had no time or money to buy them. After a few seconds pause I spoke. “My turn. What do you mean by three bodies?”

  “The police tape was there before because we found someone trying to bury a dead body behind the restaurant, not inside it. A young woman, age somewhere in the twenties, we haven’t heard back from medical yet. There is an area behind the restaurant with soft dirt. We suspect someone was trying to bury a dead body when they were interrupted by a junkie.

  This person, whoever they were, ran away. We are 100% sure he was going to return because he left some of his personal stuff there. Nothing that can identify him, but I know from experience that he is panicking right now and planning to return to that place. That's why we had the police tape there. We didn't want any more random people walking in.

  Now you are telling me there are two more dead bodies there. What the hell? Royce, I have been very nice to you and very understanding, but you are making my life very difficult.”

  “Gee, I'm sorry Matt, but I'm not the one committing murders. Ok, well, now you know. A homeless woman and a criminal were also killed there. I know you'll have to investigate, but can you give me an hour? I need to do some investigation of my own.”

  “You have half an hour. Then I'm gonna go there with CSI and everything I have. God damn it. This is getting too complex. My wife is already thinking of leaving me because she's here and I spend all the time at the office. I was hoping for a light case load this month. But three murders are gonna make everything go to hell.”

  I heard the car door open. Clearly he was going back to the office.

  “You said you wanted a favour too?” I asked him.

  “I did but it’ll have to wait. There is a dangerous drug dealer called Two Fingers Jim who escaped from prison last week. So called because he lost two fingers in a knife fight. We know he's in the area, but we have been unable to track him. We're getting a lot of pressure to bring him in. You might remember my brother-in-law is one of the guards at the prison, and he's being blamed for this escape. He might lose his job if we don't find him.

  I know you spend a lot of time with these junkies, and they seem to trust you for some reason. They might tell you things they wouldn't tell a police officer. If you could help out with that, it would really help me out and take some pressure off me. But obviously the murder takes precedence.”

  He was walking back up the stairs and into his office and I knew he would cut the phone soon.

  “Not a problem, I’ll keep an eye out for him. Before you go, are you sure our secret agency isn’t involved?”

  He laughed. “Even if they were, you know I wouldn't be allowed to tell you, right?”

  He cut the phone.