Page 34 of The Burnt (The Declan Hunt Mysteries #3)

Declan drove as quickly as the roads would allow. They made it to Banff in three and a half hours. As they approached The Paddock, Declan and Charlie kept their eyes peeled for Freddy’s car, but there was no sign of it.

“Maybe he parked on another street,” Charlie offered.

“We’ll see.”

Declan pulled up to the gates, leaned out and pushed the intercom button.

A voice said, “Yes.”

Charlie leaned past Declan. “Mr Griffin, it’s Charlie Watts. Can you let us in please?”

The gate slowly opened and Declan parked the van. There were two other cars already in the drive. As they walked to the front door, it opened.

“Tom,” Charlie said extending his hand. “This is Declan Hunt.”

“Simon’s in the living room,” Tom said, as he led Declan and Charlie inside.

“So, you must be the famous Declan Hunt. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Simon said, standing and reaching out to shake Declan’s hand.

“Mr Griffin,” Declan acknowledged.

“Please, take a seat. May I offer you a coffee or tea? My housekeeper Jasmine is off for the day, but I’m sure I can figure out how to use that fancy silver machine in the kitchen. Or , if it’s not too early for you, I could offer you a real drink.”

“I think we’re fine,” Declan answered for both of them as he and Charlie sat side by side on a wide leather couch at the side of the room.

Simon sat down on a chair to their right. Tom sat in a chair opposite Simon.

He wants to keep an eye on all of us, Declan thought.

Simon broke the ice. “So what is this all about?”

Charlie started. “Simon, we’ve found Milo, but the news isn’t good. And we think that you may be at risk from the person who wrote the note.”

Simon sat back in his chair. “From the way you worded that, I assume the person who wrote the note wasn’t Milo?”

Charlie said, “No, it wasn’t.” He glanced at Declan before he continued, “When your son disappeared, you said that he was seeing a young man, and you said you didn’t know his name. Have you ever heard of a person by the name of Freddy Whitcher, or his father Archie?”

Simon’s brow furrowed. “The name sounds vaguely familiar. Now why would I know that name?”

“Well,” Charlie replied, “Freddy Whitcher was the boy who was seeing your son when he disappeared.”

“Oh. I see,” Simon said.

“And Archie Whitcher might sound familiar because it was reported in the Calgary papers that he was murdered just over a week ago.”

“That’s probably it. But what does all of this have to do with Milo?”

Charlie cleared his throat. “Well, it seems that around ten years ago, the newspapers reported that the boy your son was seeing, Freddy Whitcher, died in a fire. But we know now that the boy that died in the fire wasn’t Freddy… It was Milo.”

Simon’s face remained emotionless. “So, you’re saying my son is dead?”

“Yes,” Charlie replied.

“And do you have proof?” Simon asked.

Declan reached into the bag he’d brought, and pulled out the photograph of the two boys—the one he’d borrowed from Katherine O’Grady. He passed it to Simon. “Have you ever seen this photo of your son and Freddy?”

Simon looked at the picture closely. “I haven’t seen this picture. But it’s interesting…the boy on the right, when I was at your office, there was a picture of him on the credenza, wasn’t there?”

“Yes. I was with the Calgary Police at the time. I was the one who found what remained of a boy’s body. All that was clearly identifiable was a leg with a tattoo.”

“And you kept his picture?” Tom interjected. “Rather macabre.”

Declan turned to him. “That case impacted me deeply and I kept the boy’s picture to remind myself why the work I do is important…

to help the young and defenceless.” He turned back to Simon.

“The boy was identified by his father based on the tattoo on his leg, but it wasn’t the right tattoo.

If you look closely at this photo you’ll see that the tattoos on their legs are similar, but not identical.

The tattoo of the boy burnt in the fire matches the one on Milo’s leg. ”

Simon frowned. “So who sent the threatening note then?”

A sound behind them indicated that someone had just entered the room.

“That would be me.”

“And who the hell are you?” Simon yelled.

“Freddy Whitcher,” Declan said.

Freddy stood at the entrance to the living room.

He had a gun in his hand and it was aimed directly at Tom.

“I would have been here sooner, but I stopped to get gas and the battery conked out on my car. I see you’ve got company, Mr Griffin,” he said, pointing at Declan and Charlie.

“I guess there’s no harm in them hearing what I’ve got to say. ”

“And that is?” Simon asked.

Freddy sneered. “Well, first of all, you may be interested to know that your friend Tom over there knew that your son was dead all along. In fact, he’s the one who killed him.”

Simon’s eyes widened. “Is that true, Tom?”

Tom’s face was still, but his eyes turned a shade darker. “No, Simon. He’s lying. You know I looked far and wide for Milo. On the night he ran away, we used the tracking device on your car and we found it at the airport. There was no Milo. And then he just disappeared.”

Freddy laughed. “Well, the car may have wound up at the airport after your friends moved it, but first it came to an industrial park in Forest Lawn to pick me up.”

Freddy turned to Simon. “Milo and I were running away that night. But Tom here got in the way.”

Freddy moved closer to Tom.

Declan stood. “Freddy, don’t do anything stupid.”

Freddy pivoted toward Declan pointing the gun at him. “You stay out of this.”

He turned back to Tom. “You see, Tom, when you arrived, Milo spotted you and waved at me to hide. I watched as you beat the life out of him. I watched as you piled wood around him and lit the fire. And I watched as you drove away. I was sure you would come after me, but you never saw me, did you?”

Tom smiled coldly, “You’re making this up. What do you want? Is it money? If this is blackmail, Simon has lots of money.”

Freddy said, “Oh no, I don’t want money. I want justice.”

Tom started to rise from his chair and Freddy took another step toward him.

“By the way, Tom, what was it you were looking for on the night you murdered Simon’s son?

Anything particular? Because you checked the car.

I saw you. And you weren’t happy when you didn’t find it.

” He took another step closer. “What did Milo have that you wanted so badly?”

Tom said, “I didn’t look for anything. I just wanted Milo to come home.”

Freddy nodded. “Ah, so you admit you were there?”

Tom’s neck muscles tensed.

He’s not going to take this much longer , Declan thought.

Freddy continued, “Simon, I should let you know, you can’t really trust Tom. He didn’t do a very good job. Not only did he kill your son, but he left behind something Milo had hidden in a backpack. It was right behind the dumpster Tom got the paper from to start the fire.”

Simon folded his hands. “And what exactly was in the backpack, young man?”

“Money. Lots of it…and a USB key that has a rather interesting conversation recorded on it. Does the name Roger Feist mean anything to you?”

The edges of Simon’s lips began to twitch.

Who the hell is Roger Feist? Declan thought.

Freddy continued. “I don’t know how, but somehow when you were on a call on speakerphone in your office, Milo managed to record it. You can clearly hear someone say that if you sent your man Tom here to kill Roger Feist—the son of the head of Monarch Holdings apparently—”

Monarch! Declan shot Charlie a glance. It was clear from the pallor of his face that he had also clocked the name of the company.

“—that the person on the other end of the call would help you acquire some sort of relic. It was all highly illegal, of course, but something you apparently wanted badly. It was quite a lively call.”

Simon put his hands in the pockets of his sweater. “I think you’re lying.”

Freddy said, “I assure you, I’m not. For a long time, I was afraid of your organisation, but after ten years, it’s time to put things right.

You might be interested to know I looked up Roger Feist’s father.

It appears he’s heavily involved in real estate, and it was pretty easy to get a number for a secretary that could pass him a message.

She gave me a phone number with an answering machine.

I didn’t leave a long message. I just said that I was phoning, anonymously of course, to let him know that Simon Griffin was responsible for the death of his son.

And that the person who had killed him was Tom Semple.

And then I mailed his office a copy of the USB key.

I don’t know if he got or not. Probably not yet, but he will soon. ”

Tom lunged toward Freddy. “You little fucker.”

Freddy pulled the trigger on the gun. The bullet tore open the floor near Tom’s feet. It stopped him in his tracks.

“Freddy. Put the gun down,” Declan ordered, but Freddy didn’t waver.

“You think you know so much, kid,” Tom sneered.

“You don’t know the half of it. After I saw the article about Freddy Whitcher’s supposed death, I put two and two together.

I tracked down your father and staked out his house for close to a year after you disappeared, but you never came home.

I had a hunch that Milo might have said something to his little boyfriend, but you were like a ghost in the wind.

And then last week when that note showed up, I knew I must have missed something. ”

Tom clenched his fists and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He looked like he was about to explode.