Chain of Vengeance: Chapter Eight - Part Five

LONDON

 

 

When nobody answered her knocking, Anna tried the door. The office was locked.

“Damn it.”

The name on the brass plaque was William Harrison but it was hard to read. The metal was scratched and cigarette burn scars had been made on much of the black lettering in an apparently dedicated attempt to distort what it said. The entire building was as much slum inside as the neighbourhood was out. There were scuff and finger marks on the painted brick walls. There wasn’t a lampshade or bulb in the fitting hanging over the stairwell.

This was becoming frustrating. Time was passing quickly and there had been no sign of Sam since his appearance at the Tower building. She’d worked as best she could with the police but no avenues had opened. The likelihood of him having already fled the country with the fortune he’d accumulated was near to being one hundred percent. This call was just the last in a long line: Will Harrison, private investigator and long-time acquaintance of Sam’s.

Sam had been using Harrison for additional legwork for years and though Anna suspected there was no tangible friendship beneath Sam’s insidious façade, Harrison was probably the closest possibility of a confident she was likely to find who she hadn’t already checked. Except he wasn’t here.

A broken cuckoo clock leaned against the wall to the right of the door. Anna kicked it with her high heeled shoe then made her way back outside. She couldn’t escape the sense that she was wasting her time. There was every reason that Sam was long gone and only one reason he might have stuck around.

Jack Catholic; the man the newspapers were now saying had been staying with Lucy, Sam’s sister, when she was murdered: the boyfriend. Like Sam, he had reportedly fled the scene of the crime and there was much predictable speculative gabble in the press about who the more likely killer was, Jack Catholic, from all accounts a gentle and popular artist or Sam Decker: gun toting insurance fraudster. It seemed fairly clean cut except for two things: Jack had gone missing too and Masters had told her that when Sam had returned to Tower it had been only to borrow resources to allegedly track down his sister’s killer. Anna didn’t know, but killer or not, it was past time that Sam went to prison for his crimes.

At the front of the building, a row of five dustbins were lined up, rubbish piled high in each and accumulating nearby in doorways, blown by the wind. Half a dozen extra heavy duty bin bags had been tossed close by as well but there was no sign that the local dustbin men ever came. Several of the bags were split where some animal had got inside. Anna didn’t look too closely; she had a thing about rats.

Across the street was a corner shop with what looked like a dense version of chicken wire covering the windows. Despite the extra security it looked open. On a hunch, Anna walked across and popped inside.

Harrison was at the drinks cooler, fetching out a pint bottle of full creamed milk. In his other hand was a jar of value coffee; under his arm a bag of Dorritos. Tucked into the elbow of the other arm were two beer bottles. He still had something of the boyish good looks she remembered. Back in the day, when she was partnered with Sam, she had been slightly infatuated with him; now though, his looks were withering. He looked like an older man trying to keep up a part he was no longer completely suited for. His bushy hair was receding at the temples and was peppered with tiny white hairs.

“Well look who it is,” said Anna. He didn’t realise she was talking to him until she added, “Will Harrison, private detective.”

He looked surprised to see her; maybe even concerned. He couldn’t have known for sure what she was after but four and a half years earlier she’d tried to enlist his aid to bring Sam down and now that Sam was on the run it didn’t take a genius to realise it wasn’t a coincidence she was there. Harrison wasn’t a genius but he was shrewd, and cleverer than he looked.

“Anna Decker. It’s er… great to see you.” He closed the fridge and turned away from her, making his way up the aisle.

Anna walked after him. “I changed back to my maiden name a long time ago Will. Didn’t like to be too closely linked with a sociopath.”

Harrison glanced back at her, looking pained as he reached for a jar of salsa dip. “C’mon Anna, he’s not that bad.”

“No? Have you watched the news lately?”

“I’ve known Sam for years. He sure as shit isn’t capable of murder. Can you give me a hand with this?”

Anna grabbed the jar of dip before it toppled off the shelf onto the floor because of his clumsy probing. “What about cheating Tower out of all that money? Do you think he’s capable of that?”

Harrison’s expression as he turned the corner at the end of the aisle confirmed what Anna had been suspecting since she found out about the fraud. “Look… it’s nice to see you; you’re looking great; but I have to get back to work and if you’re here to ask me about where Sam is then you’re wasting your time. I haven’t seen him for six months or more.”

“Six months? Oh right. That’s a real shame.”

Harrison set his things on the counter awkwardly. Anna placed the salsa jar next to them and stood back. The cashier was an elderly Indian with a straggly white beard and drooping eyes. He rang the groceries through silently. Harrison was clearly uncomfortable. When the cashier quoted the price he remembered he wanted a pack of cigarettes and had that added on, then he paid the bill and looked at Anna guiltily while his bag was packed.

As he walked toward the door he finally spoke again. “Honestly Anna; I haven’t seen Sam for ages. I was as shocked as you when I heard about what he did.”

“I know,” said Anna. “You already told me. That’s fine. I believe you.”

She followed him out of the shop and across the street to his building. When they got to the foot of the stairs Harrison’s tension finally broke. “I haven’t got anything to tell you Anna. I mean it. Why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you. I’m just coming upstairs to use your phone. I want to call the police. Is that okay with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Anna put her hands on her hips. “Sam has been stealing money from the company for years and I have a feeling he was using you to help him out from time to time.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it? That’s interesting. My information says you did.”

Harrison was trying to look nonchalant but doing a bad job of it. “What information?”

“A journal.” It was a lie but she had a feeling it would do the trick.

“What… kind of journal?”

“You don’t have to worry Will. The police don’t have it. Yet.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Listen, I don’t want to do this to you but I have to know where Sam is. He has been in contact with you, hasn’t he?”

Harrison looked sullen but answered “Yes.”

“Where is he staying?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will. Where is he?”

Harrison broke off and climbed the first few steps of the staircase. “Look he’s not even in the country anymore, okay! I don’t know where he is. He’s not in contact with me.”

Anna’s heart sank. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know; America somewhere. He’s after that guy off the news; the guy who was supposed to be seeing his sister. That’s all I know.” Harrison walked up the rest of the stairs. “Now why don’t you get lost.”

Anna let him go. She walked outside.

That was it then; he was long gone. She’d never be able to catch him now. If he’d left the country he wasn’t going to risk coming back.

She’d lost him.