Chain of Vengeance: Chapter Two - Part Six

6

LONDON – ENGLAND

The first thing Anna Thorpe saw near the top of page one was the name Sam Decker.

Seeing it made the muscles in her cheeks and round the edges of her mouth tighten. If not for him she could have been relaxing downstairs with Greg instead of wasting her evening going over old reports. A shallow vertical crease formed above the peak of her nose, kick-starting the beginning of a headache.

“Watchya doin’ Mummy?”

Anna inhaled, looking up at the ceiling through her eyelids and did her best not to let it out as a sigh. “I’m working. Why aren’t you in bed?” She couldn’t help smiling a little but she did try to hide it.

“Can’t sleep.” Billy came all the way into the study and put his little hand on her thigh then looked up at her with his Bambi eyes, lower lip pouting. “Can I stay in here with you till I get sleepy?” He was wearing his pyjamas at least, scratching his eye with a bent forefinger.

The study was small and pleasantly cluttered, decorated in a dark palate of browns, blacks and greens. Anna had the lights low, as always, the desk lamp and monitor the only sources of illumination. The sound of the television Greg was watching downstairs was just audible over the hum of the fans in the back of her PC.

“Let’s see,” said Anna, using her bemused mother voice. “How old are you?”

“Four and a half.”

“That’s right. And what time is it?”

Billy stared blankly.

Anna gave him the answer. “It’s after bedtime.”

“Oh.” The pout extended further over his chin. He lowered his head but continued looking up, making his eyes seem even bigger. “Can I stay up anyway? Just for a little while?”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “What would your father say?”

“Please!”

She knew she would regret being lenient all the time when he was older but it was so hard to say no. “Alright. As long as you promise not to disturb me while I’m trying to work.”

“Okay.”

“Good boy. Go and sit down.”

Billy trotted across and climbed onto the leather sofa. He made it on the second try. Anna turned back to the open file and flipped to the second page of Sam Decker’s investigation report.

There was an audit coming up and the files in front of her were cases that had shown some paperwork discrepancies in the pre-audit reviews her department was having to undertake. As one of the senior insurance investigators, she had been given the job of digging up any missing elements of the reports on these unusual claims. As luck (bad luck in this case) would have it, one of Sam’s cases topped the pile. It irritated her that it was him, he had been with the firm long enough not to be sloppy, but discrepancies had appeared apparently and because he was on leave she had to pick up the slack. There wouldn’t be time for him to do it when he returned.

“Mummy?”

“Yes sweetie?”

“Can you tell me about that one?”

Anna swivelled her chair to face the sofa. Billy was sitting cross legged, holding onto his toes. For the past month or two, he had developed the irritating/endearing habit of asking her to tell him about whatever case she was working on in lieu of a bedtime story. It was a distraction but it could be fun too and if it got him in bed without any fuss then it was probably worth the effort. Besides, with the amount of paperwork she had to bring home with her on a regular basis, she had to take her quality time where she could get it.

She flicked through the file. “It’s a strange one.”

“Goodie! Tell it like a story! ”

“Okay.” Anna settled down into her seat and scanned the page in front of her. “Once upon a time there was a woman who died.”

“How did she die?”

Anna lifted the corner of the page she was on and glanced at the cause of death. “It doesn’t matter. She died very peacefully and she didn’t mind because it was her time. Now everyone was very sad... but they weren’t as sad as they might have been. Do you know why?”

Billy’s voice was solemn and deliberate. “Because she had a viable life assurance policy?”

Anna laughed, throwing her head back. “My my! You have been paying attention, haven’t you?”

Billy nodded.

“Well that’s right. So although she had died, her husband got paid a lot of money by my company and everyone lived happily ever after.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Until the other day.”

Billy grinned leaning forward. He loved it when she put in her surprise twists. “What happened?”

“The other day the woman who had died rang up the insurance company!”

Billy’s eyes widened, more out of excitement than fear. “Was she a ghost?”

“No. She was alive and well and quite angry when we told her we had already paid her life assurance out. Her husband said he never got any money and that he had never told us she was dead.”

Billy scratched his head, trying to keep up. “Then who lied and said she was dead?”

“Somebody who wanted to make a lot of money illegally.” 

Billy giggled as though it were a joke. “So what happened in the end?”

“In the end?” Anna shrugged. “In the end I have to look into it and find out what went on, see if we can’t sort it all out, because the man who investigated originally confirmed everything was above board.”

“Oh.” Billy looked sad that it had ended.

“Now come on, let’s get you tucked in.”

“Tell me another one!”

“No. It’s time for bed.”

“Please!”

He was going to be a terror as a teen. “All right then, one more. Then you have to promise to get straight in bed.”

“I promise!”

Anna opened the next file in the stack and scanned down the front page. “Er… okay. Once upon a time a house burned down and everyone was very sad. But they weren’t as sad as they could have been. Do you know why?”

“Because their house had building and contents insurance?”

“Well done!” Billy clapped his hands. “But when Anna the insurance investigator looked into it she discovered that there was no record of the statement made by the fire brigade at the time of the accident. So she had to look at— Oh. That’s interesting.”

“What?”

“The address of this house… It’s on Chestnut Street.”

“Where’s that?”

“It’s the road where your playgroup is. It’s funny though…” She flicked forward several pages then back to where she had been, forgetting she was talking to Billy and doing nothing more than thinking aloud. “I don’t remember any fire there. When was this?” She found the date. It was six months earlier. There definitely hadn’t been anything then. She looked at the house number. “Wait a minute.”

“What is it Mummy?”

“It says number thirteen. Thirteen Chestnut Street. There is no thirteen. Your friend Martin’s mum lives at fifteen. The builders didn’t make a thirteen because it was unlucky.”

“Is this young man bothering you?” Anna looked up. Her boyfriend Greg was in the doorway, sweater sleeves rolled up above the elbows, hair still damp from the shower he had taken after dinner, a sheen of moisture glistening in his goatee beard. “Are you okay? You’re looking funny.”

Anna beckoned him over. “I’m just going over some claims and I’m noticing a pattern of incongruities.” Greg put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. “This house doesn’t exist but a policy has been set up and paid for and a claim made when it was supposed to have burned down.”

“But I thought your department investigated big claims. Why didn’t it show up that the house was never there when the claim was made?”

Anna checked the name of the investigating officer.

Sam Decker.

She looked back at the first file; the one with the dead woman who hadn’t really died.

Sam Decker again.

“Because there is something rotten going on here,” said Anna. “A pattern. And I’m starting to get a bad feeling what it is.”